Happy Birthday to me!

Well it is not exactly my birthday yet, depending on when you are reading this. My birthday is Saturday the 20th but I got a couple of sweet (literally) gifts early and I wanted to share them! I don't know how my McMom (aka Kevin's mom) read my mind and knew that I thought it would be so cool to get an edible arrangement, but somehow she did and today this arrived...






It was (and yes that is past tense) so cute and YUMMY! Thank you for the DOUBLE sweet gift! Then later another wonderful package arrived....



Ok so that's the box after my kids got their hands on it but you can see the sign on that says, Sweet treats by Stephanie...






They made it all the way from North Carolina to Michigan in one piece and they are YUMMY. Steph used my favorite candy, Cadbury eggs, and made chocolate chip cake bars with the cadbury eggs chopped up inside. YUM! I am trying to not eat them all tonight! You can check out her blog here. She always has yummy treats that I often steal and make.



I also got a much needed new water bottle and an iTunes card that I am so excited about. Thank you Ryan and Steph! I have already had an exciting birthday and it is not even my birthday yet :)!!



Peek-a-boo!

More Chicago

They were calling for rain on Saturday in Chicago so we had decided to use the day to go to the Museum of Science and Industry.

The museum had many exciting exhibits and we enjoyed the morning seeing as much as we could.

They had on display a German U-boat from WWII.  It was quite a site to see.  We could have paid extra for a tour but decided not to take the extra time for the tour. 

 

Nothing like seeing yourself in many different forms.

 

 

 

We learned all about “recycling” and healthy eating….

and what not to eat .

 

 

 

 

We learned about the human body, tornados, tidal waves, robots, sand dunes, electricity, and lots more.  It was a very stimulating 3 hours.  On our way back toward our hotel on the bus we learned the hard way that there was an 8k race taking place in downtown Chicago the next day and they close the roads 24 hours in advance.  After sitting on the bus for over an hour in traffic we jumped off the bus at our first chance and navigated the subway to make it back to town.  We had tickets for a 4:00 show so we needed a quick pick-me-up before heading that direction.  Luckily right outside of our subway stop was a fix that I can’t get in Michigan. 

YUMMY! After our bellies were full of yummy chicken and waffle fries we headed over to The Second City.

The show we saw was a Saturday night live style improv show. It was hilarious and by far our favorite activity while we were in Chicago.  Since laughing burns so many calories after a quick stop at our hotel we headed to dinner.

We chose to dine at the Hash House a Go Go and they are know for their large portion sizes.

I chose the Chicken and biscuit and Kevin chose the mashed potato stuffed burger…

Now that was some serious food.  I did pretty well with my plate…

I never thought Kevin could finish all of his but he proved me wrong…

And then he kept going and cleaned my plate as well…

I am beginning to think his true passion is in competitive eating.  Its a darn good thing we did a lot of walking during the weekend and Kevin got up and ran at least 6 miles two mornings.  Sunday morning we packed up saying good bye to our hotel and downtown Chicago and headed toward our final eating destination. 

This was another place Kevin had spotted online and had been patiently waiting for during his planning of this trip.  It was obviously a popular place because it was packed with people everywhere.  Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long for a table and before we knew it we had the main attraction on the table before us.

 

 

We highly, highly recommend these cinnamon rolls and really wish we had more to eat right now!  Just eating the cinnamon rolls would have been enough but of course we couldn’t just stop there.  The cinnamon rolls were actually one of the two sides that came with Kevin’s bacon, egg, and cheese wrap.

And we had to try the cinnamon roll French toast….

And that folks was our eighth anniversary trip to Chicago. I am sure after reading this post you are either starving and craving a certain food or you are sick to your stomach, so I will leave you with this last image of our bounty from the Chicago Hersey's store…

Since we didn’t place anything beside these for reference this is 1 lb. worth of Reese’s Cups !

Chicago

Friday was a bit chilly in Chicago but the sun was shinning and we were on a mission to move around the city.  We started on a hike toward Millennium Park with a quick stop at Starbucks for some refreshments.

You really can’t miss Millennium park with its massive well known Bean structure.

 It’s reflections give you some pretty cool views of the Chicago skyline.

After walking a couple of miles further down to check out our dinner location we hopped on the subway back toward our hotel to grab some lunch.

I had spotted the Cheesecake Factory immediately after arriving at our hotel and since we don’t have one anywhere near us, it was a stop on my must eat list.  I felt like we ate a conservative lunch with the Thai lettuce wraps and an order of fried cheese but yet again our waitress complemented us on how well we ate.  After lunch we headed back out to catch our city boat tour when our noses caught the smell of sweet popcorn that warranted a small detour. 

  We knew we had found a popular place when we saw the line out the door for Garrett’s Popcorn.

I have to say that it is well worth the wait. YUM! With popcorn in hand we headed down to the river to catch our boat for a Chicago architectural tour.  I have to say, Chicago is full of so many interesting buildings. 

The building to the left is so big (I think they said 8 miles long) it used to have its own zip code and the one on the right was my favorite because the widows gave a kaleidoscope effect.

There were so many interesting buildings, I don’t want to bore you with them.  We really enjoyed the tour except Friday was our coldest day in Chicago so it took us a while after the tour to defrost. 

Our dinner Friday night we decided to check out a place that Kevin had found online and managed to get groupon for. 

I think Kevin had been drooling over the menu for this place for the two months he spent planning this trip.  His wait was well worth the yummy food we ate.

I got the Burgers and waffle fries and Kevin got the Chicken parmesan with butter garlic waffle's and they did not disappoint.  For dessert they brought us a red velvet waffle…

Of course the waffle was a little on the small side (by vacation standards) so on the way home we swung back by the Cheesecake factory for some treats.

The one in the back is Oreo dream and the one in the front is snickers.  All I can say is YUM!  It was a darn good thing we did a lot of walking on Friday!  More Chicago to come!

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow, April 9th, Kevin and I will have been married for 8 years. I can not believe how fast 8 years have gone by. It seems like yesterday we were walking down the isle. We have had a lot of great times in the past 8 years and Kevin decided to surprise me this year with a trip to downtown Chicago to make some more great memories.



We headed out on Thursday and were so excited to arrive in Chicago and get to our hotel, The Drake.



We had a beautiful view of Lake Michigan from our room.



It only took us moments to get settled and we were ready to start exploring the city. Kevin had a couple of months to research Chicago and his mission for the weekend was to EAT!


First on the list was a well known pizzeria, Giordano's. Instead of waiting for your table they take your cell number, you pre-order your pizza, and then they send you a text when your table is ready. So instead of standing around for an hour we walked around the city and checked out some fun stores.









Once we received our text we were good and ready for some yummy pizza. Giordano's is known for their stuffed pizza and here is the money shot...



We managed to eat 3 slices each and when the waiter came to pick up our tray he commented that not many people can finish an entire pizza. These comments would become the theme of the weekend and we weren't sure if we were supposed to feel insulted or proud.



We spent the rest of our first evening walking around getting a feel for our surroundings and lining up a few activities for the coming days. Day one we had beautiful weather with temps in the mid 50's, good food, and really enjoyed walking around the city. More to come....