A, G, and E: vacation

Chicago Part 3--August '13

The next morning we fed Eliza breakfast in our room, packed up, checked out, loaded the car (that was with valet), then headed out on foot for another morning on the Mag Mile.

This morning, we headed south to Millennium Park. Eliza enjoyed being on the bridge over the river and we joked that next year, we'd stay at Trump Tower! ;)

With shades...

and without!

Hi, sweet girl!

"Boats in the water!"

Up next, we hit the Park.

Last summer we enjoyed time at a Family Festival in a big tent at the Park. I didn't see that it was going on this weekend, but when we arrived, the festival was happening! Yay! And this day, it was sponsored by a circus-type organization. So we hung out in the tent for awhile and got some of my favorite action shots ever!

Dancing to the band

Having FUN!

There was a tightrope!!

So ready to do this. Arms outstretched!

Not scared at all, just concentrating so hard!

Walking the tightrope!

Stretching for the finish!

Watching Eliza walk the tightrope was so much fun! She really enjoyed it and tried very hard. She did amazing!

From here, it was time to meet our good friends Josh and Lauren for brunch! Eliza's first trip to Chicago at 3 months old was for Josh and Lauren's wedding! Again, we have no photographic evidence, but as always, it was a great time with great friends.

After we wrapped up brunch, we decided to walk back to the car, but we had an important stop at the Disney Store first!

Showing the camera her new Minnie glow ball!

Then we were off to meet Uncle Adam on his lunch break before heading back to Indy. So, back up to Evanston, it was! Once there, we decided to get an ice cream treat. :)

Taking a taste

Uncle Adam is so much fun!

Then, we headed home. Lucky for Eliza, she had visitors back at the house and so her fun weekend continued just a little bit longer.

Stickers for Papa!

A fun way to end a fun weekend!

This was such a whirlwind trip this year, but it was great to get away! We are planning a winter trip, too, but can't wait to head back next summer!

Chicago Part 2--August '13

After family nap time at the hotel, we had big plans! First up, we were headed to our good friend Vanessa's block party. Her whole street was shut down for, as the name implies, an actual block party! Her whole street was out enjoying the day. Vanessa and Tim were wonderful hosts and it was great catching up! Eliza really enjoyed herself, too.

Dress-less coloring to keep the markers off!

Going for a spin!

Playing with bubbles

Sadly, I have no photographic evidence that we were with Vanessa--fail! From here, it was on to Evanston to enjoy dinner at Gino's East with Uncle Adam and Bridget. Eliza was really excited! Thanks to our new car's back-up camera and gridlines, we parallel parked our SUV into the tiniest spot--thankfully someone left before we did or else we might not have gotten out!

"I think this would look good on you, Uncle Adam!"

Perfect fit! ;)

After we stuffed ourselves at dinner, we contemplated returning to Navy Pier to watch the festival fireworks, since we still had our wristbands. But, it'd been a long day, so we called it a night. We had another fun day planned the next day!

Up next, Part 3!

Chicago Part 1--August '13

Back in August we took our summer trip to Chicago for a weekend (our 2nd of what we intend to be a yearly tradition!). We got a great deal on a Michigan Ave hotel and had a great time enjoying summer in Chicago. We drove up after work on Friday afternoon, so we could be up bright and early to enjoy a full day on Saturday. We stayed through Sunday evening.

In our hotel Friday night:

Saturday was a VERY full day! We began our morning with a walk around the Hancock building area and enjoyed Glazed & Infused donuts in the courtyard. ~~Sadly, I don't have pictures of the donuts~~, I found pictures of the donuts! We had the most amazing yeast donut filled with a sweet goat cheese that was glazed and also had a raspberry icing. That may sound strange, but it was so so so amazing!

Layered up for a cool start

Apple fritter, chocolate something, and the best.donut.ever.

Pointing at the birds

Sweet girl

Posing with Daddy

Silly girl!

Then we were on our way to the next adventure! Navy Pier.

She loves escalators

Walking with Daddy

Gary and I hadn't been to Navy Pier since college, and this particular weekend was the Tall Ship Festival, which we thought sounded neat! There was also the Chicago Cup race, the only U.S. stop on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. We had forgotten how far a walk it is to Navy Pier! We were working hard to get there, and by the time we arrived, it was getting hot!

No more sweater!

Ready for fun!

We bought our wristbands to enter the Festival and Match Cup section of the Pier and we were off! First things first, this was vacation--so it was a margarita for me and a beer for Gary. We learned a lesson here. Lines are short early in the day (it's 5 o'clock somewhere!), and the Billy Goat down the Pier has cheaper bar prices!

On a nice stroll!

After traversing the main section of the Pier, it was time to enter the Festival area to check out the Tall Ships.

One of the Tall Ships. We didn't get the entry tickets, but you could board some of them.

Happy on Daddy's shoulders!

Then, we headed back to the point of the Pier to check out the Match Cup and the boats. The race had been delayed due to a lack of wind, so we were hoping it would get started soon. Unfortunately, it wasn't gonna happen, but we hung out a little bit anyway.

Checking out the boats and water. Her favorite saying from now on this day was, "airplanes fly in the sky. boats go in the water!"

Parked boats instead of racing :(

Climbing the anchor

We had a nice lunch at a seafood restaurant on Navy Pier (can't remember the name, but it was good!), and decided to take the free trolley back to Michigan Ave. We'd already done SO much walking so far and it was only just after lunchtime! We had a very full evening yet to come. So we headed back to our hotel for naps to rest up for Part 2.