CHICAGO!

a couple of weeks ago

my mom, sisters, sister in law, and I got the very special gift

of going on a girls trip to

CHICAGO!

it was a very sweet and generous gift from my dad -

and we LOVED IT!

dinner our first night at a local italian place

yummy!

it was so fun being together, just us girls with no kids

of course we all LOVE & ADORE our kiddos,

but we are hardly ever all together without kids -

so this was a gift - to connect, be together, enjoy one another,

SHOP, and eat - just us :)

on thursday we explored downtown chicago

we walked everywhere -

didn't even get a taxi once -

which i LOVE

i love to discover a new place on foot, i have decided!

don't you love mary beth's fur coat :)?

it was my grandmother's -

she cut it short and of course made it look stylish!

amy and i laugh b/c we would look so out of place in something like that - but for B it fits!

here we are at the bean

it is such a fun place to take pictures,

as you will be able to tell :)

we then stopped at intelligentsia for some yummy coffee!

love this!

one of my favorite little spots!

we of course had to get some chicago style -

deep dish pizza!

it was huge, and takes almost an hour to make after you order it!

i don't have any pics from friday - because we literally shopped the entire day!

it was so much fun!

but i didn't think you wanted pictures of us trying on clothes, getting christmas gifts, or window shopping - but trust me - we all LOVED it - and were SO exhausted afterwards!

we really did - shop till you drop :)

right outside of our hotel was an "ogden plaza"

thought i needed a pic by that :)

on saturday morning we walked to the navy pier

it was neat to be there, but i am sure in the summer it is a better time to explore -

because it is right on the water and it was FREEZING!

pretty pic of chicago

the famous ferris wheel

it was such a FUN trip!

we all loved it and loved being together!

i think it was really fun because it was before mary beth got engaged and

the craziness of planning a wedding had started,

it was a sweet time to enjoy one another

thank you Dad for the best gift ever!

we loved it!