We'll start on Thursday. We left about 7:30 to drop Lex off at at his kennel, then headed north. We made a pit stop at Pilot Mountain in NC. We drive by there every time we go to Ohio, and have never stopped...and since we had planning downtime, we made that a stop. We were able to drive right to the top (well, close to the top anyway). The view was spectacular!
Here is the view of the knob from where we were
We spent the night Thursday night in Frankfurt, KY, then continued on our way on Friday. We made it to Chicago in plenty of time to check into our awesome hotel, then headed out for a pool party! Here is Luci with Marg, the lady of the weekend - we were all there to celebrate her 90th birthday...I hope when I make it to 90 I have half the fun she had for her birthday!
Toby LOVED the pool...he was quite the little fish! On Thursday night I had taken him to the hotel pool, but he clung to me, afraid to loosen his grip at all. But on Friday we put on the water wings and as soon as he realized he floated it was "No help!" from him!
Luci loved the water too! She kicked and splashed just like a little swimmer. This photo is a little fuzzy - the camera lens steamed up as soon as they hit the humidity in the pool room.
Our hotel had a wonderful breakfast - cooked to order omelets, muffins, french toast, fruit...anything you could want! Here we are in the atrium where they served breakfast.
A little fishpond wove its way through the atrium and Toby loved the fish...every morning he wanted to eat with the fishies! The front desk even gave us fish food so he could feed the fish...the boy was in Heaven!
Saturday morning we all headed to a HUGE mall near our hotel. I have never seen such a conglomeration of stores and escalators, elevators, ramps, and stairways. It made me grateful for our simple malls down south, though it was definitely something to see! We took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch...it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. Toby loved it, although he was terrified of the leopard sitting just above us...I think if we'd been at any other table in the place he would have been great, but no they sat the 2 year old under the leopard...go figure! He still says he had fun though :)
There was a Lego store at the mall...Curtis said it was pretty awesome (I never made it in). He said some of the kits they sold there were unbelievable!
Saturday night was the big party to honor Marg's 90th birthday. The gala was held at the MidAmerica Club, on the 80th floor of the Aon Center in Chigaco. Believe it or not, there were two 90th bday parties there the same night! What are the odds of that? (Ok, don't ask Curtis, he'd probably run the figures, but really, it's just a figure of speech).
Here are Curtis and myself at the hotel before leaving.
We ended up renting a limo between 6 families...very cool! I had never been in one before and it was a fabulous trip! Here's Toby in front of the limo
This is Curtis and myself (he had nothing to drink before this, I swear)
Our group before the party, in front of the Aon Center
I lugged Luci's carrier up 80 stories in 4 inch heels - Whew!
The view of Navy Pier from the room where we enjoyed hordeurves.
Looking DOWN on skyscrapers...see the one with a pool on top?
Luci in her Windy City Dress....and my brother Joe being himself :)
3 generations - my mom, myself, and the star...Luci!
We went to another room for dinner. Toby was such the little gentleman!
We had cold mango soup as an appetizer...it was HEAVENLY, although apparently I was the only one at our table to enjoy it. For dinner we had lobster tail, steak, and veggies (see plate below). Toby had chicken fingers and fries!
For dessert we enjoyed Baked Alaska - a show and dessert in one! Toby was terribly impressed.
Curtis and myself
The limo ride on the way home
On Sunday we checked out of our hotel and headed for a boat tour of downtown Chicago. Very fun! From here you could see our boat on the other side of the river.
Mom and I before the boat tour
The four of us on the boat
Luci and Mama
Daddy and Toby
Grandma and Luci
Daddy and Luci
After the boat tour we ate lunch at Weber Grill - YUMO! They had delicious food there! The kid's meal for Toby even came with ice cream for Toby - when we told him, he asked "Cooked ice cream?" - his term for baked alaska. We had to tell him no, that's only for very special occasions!
From Weber Grill, we went our seperate ways. Curtis and I and the kids drove to Indy to spend the night, and had planned on doing something with the kids there on Monday, but as Monday came and we were pretty tired, we changed plans and drove to Newport, KY to the aquarium there. We had a lot of fun, it was a great break from travel, and Curtis got to see fish!
Curtis and Toby in front of the giant octopus...just kidding! But I love the way this mural looks like it's real!
Toby L.O.V.E.D the frogs...he was just mad about them. We're trying to figure out if we can get him a frog pet in his room...although they eat live crickets and I'm not sure whether I'm up to feeding with live bugs :) It may not happen for a few years.
Toby watching jellyfish
Toby in the bubble window watching the sharks - he loved sharks!
And there is our Chicago trip in pics. Bless you if you made it the whole way through that!
I think I am still recovering. Yawn. I'm very glad we have no plans to travel before October!
3 comments:
Oh Michelle, I'm glad you all had so much fun and you looked beautiful in that dress! I think I might have told you that already, but I'm sure it doesn't hurt to hear it again! The whole family looked very handsome!
Cute photos! It looks like everyone had a great time! And you look awesome in red btw!
Good gracious alive - if there was a "Super Travel Mom Of The Year Award" I'd hand deliver it to you myself! Ya'll's trip looked like the BEST summer vacay ever! And you were rock'n in that red dress!!!
cLOVEr U!!!
Post a Comment