Surprise Chicago Trip

"Pack your bags, we're going to Chicago!"  My birthday weekend, Matt and the kids surprised me with a trip to Chicago.  He had Fall Break that weekend and had come to eat lunch with the kiddos (and bring me flowers) :) and told the kids to keep it a secret.  Amazingly, neither child ruined the surprise!

 We went to Fashion Outlets of Chicago and did some shopping.  This is a new outlet mall with some really nice (but still expensive to cheap, old me) stores.  The kids were super impressed with the parking garage that had red, green, and blue lights above each space to tell which spots were available, taken, or handicapped.  The kids enjoyed the Disney Factory store and Matt and I got a few new clothes.

 Landon (who is the world's slowest eater) actually almost finished a piece of pizza bigger than his head!

 After shopping, we checked into our hotel and then went to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill..  It was a really neat restaurant with yummy food and live music.

Some guy was carving these HUGE pumpkins and Landon wanted a picture!

Emerson forgot to pack her pajamas so she slept in Daddy's t-shirt.

 The next morning, we got up and ate a FANTASTIC breakfast at the hotel.  It was $20 extra, but well worth it for 4 of us to eat.  And, of course, we had to check out the huge indoor/outdoor pool.  It had a glass roof where you could see the airplanes from O'Hare airport take off.  You could also swim underneath a rubber bar and go outside into the heated outdoor part.  I never would've thought we'd be swimming outside in Chicago in October!

 On the way home we HAD to stop by Cabela's. :)  The kids and Matt love that store.  We also saw Mrs. Jones (our art teacher) there.  It's always weird to see people you know hours away from your home. :)

 

 We had an awesome weekend together.  Matt was so thoughtful to plan out a surprise weekend for us.  We can't wait to go back!