he qualified on a thursday and came home from the office the next day and said, "come to chicago with me monday." so, i thought of all of the things i had going on, did some rearranging and cancelling and boom. we were on a flight to chicago memorial day. we were already planning on going to dc for a friend's wedding that weekend, but this just made it a little easier (and more fun).
i didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a few of what we did. chicago is such a fun city and we are excited to go back in a few weeks!
we stayed on michigan avenue, which is also known as "magnificent mile" for it's magnificent shopping. mostly high end shops, but there were 3 banana republics and a huge j.crew within a few blocks of where we are so, it was fine. also, we were a five minute walk from the "beach" on lake michigan. growing up near the beach, like huntington/newport beach, it's hard to consider a little area on a lake a beach, but sand meets water, so i guess.
always making friends at the airport. and ew, where are your shoes kenley :(
i can count on one hand the number of selfies i've taken. i try and stay behind the camera. but, here it is. my eyes are sleepy, steven is happy, and kenley looks mad.
"my kind of town, chicago is..." good ol' frank sinatra.
"chicago, chicago, chicago!!!"
snacks for the run. note to self, apparently kenley stopped liking puffs sometime before our trip, so basically she just pulls them out and throws them.
kenley and i went to the children's museum. she was a little young, but there were things that she could play with, like this sock ball catapult.
and she went canoeing.
there's that headband she loves to put on.
it should be noted (and you can kind of see on the right), that the wind on the lake started blowing just a minute or two after this was taken. and man, it was so cold!!! we booked it off the beach along with everyone else.
the view from our hotel room.
and the view when that lake blew in some cold.
girl was tired.
also, WE ALMOST LOST LAMB!!!!
well, we DID lose lamb. kenley doesn't love being in her stroller and she had been in there through our 45 minute run and then 20 minute walk to whole foods, where she got a little break, and then i put her back in for the 10 minute walk back to our hotel. which she was not happy about and was throwing things out of her stroller. i didn't notice lamb was thrown out because i was trying to navigate through the street and book it home. people probably thought i was nuts with my baby crying and me walking like no big deal. then i stopped to get her out of the stroller and noticed NO MORE LAMB. so my heart stopped, i turned around and was praying the whole way as we retraced our steps the few blocks we had gone. i was looking in every kids hand to make sure no one had taken it. but, we found him laying face up on the corner of luckily, not a very busy street. that would have made for a BAD trip.
a cool window front i loved. and another really cool one with a ton of old school singer sewing machines. i will have to get a picture next time.
breakfast at whole foods. and i forgot her bip. wa waaaa.
roomservice. for kenley. when i ordered, the lady asked, "how many people will this be for?"
"um, it's actually just for a baby..." but kenley did share the fruit with me so i could put it in my oatmeal.
we found a swing! she was really happy about it, but it just doesn't look like it here.
as steven's team was flying back thursday, we were able to meet up with him early and go on the architectural river tour. it was so cool! it got a little chilly, and it was difficult to keep kenley occupied since she couldn't crawl around and we couldn't really sit near the side or she would dive off, but we still enjoyed it a ton. and man, that tour guide had a lot of information! this building above, the wrigley building, was our favorite!
one thing we love about southwest is that we can choose our own seats. and sometimes, when the flight isn't full, we can sort of save a seat for kenley and if no one takes it, the flight is that much nicer. no one really wants to sit by a baby, anyway. also, southwest may not have tvs like jetblue, but they do have tv on the wifi, so we found this pet shop show that kept her entertained for a little bit, like 5 minutes. she loves puppies!
we rented a car in dc and she fell asleep nearly every time we got in the car. this is not normal. she slept really well while we were traveling, but her naps were shorter (and we had just transitioned to one) and she was getting to bed late every night, so she was still going on less sleep than normal. she slept through half our dinner the first night and when we got back in the car and drove around the monuments and back to hour hotel in bethesda for an hour and a half!
and gosh, we LOVE dc so much. our favorite city.
unfortunately, there was a little mix up and kenley and i hung out in the visitors center at the temple while steven was in for the ceremony. he loved seeing this picture. having served a mission for our church in baltimore, he has many pictures taken in this spot (or more in the spot below) with the people he was teaching. it was neat for him to see his daughter, 5 years later, looking at the gorgeous temple. albeit, on one leg.
this rental car was kind of silly looking and barely fit all of our stuff in it. should have gone for the larger option. oops.
there was dancing at the wedding reception and we decided to take kenley out for a few songs before we headed home. she was getting pretty tired (and of course, fell asleep within 2 minutes of getting in the car), but man, she LOVED dancing with us. it was so fun! steven was holding her up in the air and moving her around. she was laughing and had the biggest smile on her face. girl is a party animal!
we had so much fun!!!! we can't wait to go back to dc again, and we'll be back in chicago to explore more in just a few weeks!
Heidi!! Your sweet little baby is so cute!! Also your dress in front of the temple is beautiful! So classy you are.
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