Chicago Adventures!

We had a wonderful weekend in Chicago with Aunt Shannon and Uncle Jeff! 

We arrived Friday evening, and went straight to Eataly for dinner and exploring. I think both kids ate their weight in meat and cheese, and I am a huge fan of their pizza. After a little research, I have discovered he adds white wine to the crust dough, which I am quite certain is the reason it is so perfect!

The kids loved falling asleep watching the sky line, and I loved staying with Shannon and Jeff. Usually, Brad and I stay somewhere else and sneak in a date, but since this trip was so fast it was great to just have the time to spend with them.

Saturday morning, we went to brunch right across the street from Shannon's place, and the kids ate the best breakfast ever: pancakes with sprinkles inside, whipped cream on top, and syrup on the side. It was ridiculous. And they made a vanilla butter that Evan insisted on calling vanilla ice cream and would have happily eaten all by itself. 

Once we were all properly in a food coma, we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry to explore the super cool Lego exhibit there. I will have to get Issa's pictures of the actual Lego displays, but they were recreations of several architectural wonders, including the Colosseum and the Golden Gate Bridge. The whole exhibit was designed to help kids think like engineers and architects, and the giant pulley experiment was a clear favorite:

 They also loved building:

 Issa added her name to the wall:

 Evan made this:

 Shannon and I were excited to explore parts of the museum we remembered visiting. The baby chicks we remember as being part of the farming exhibit are now part of the genetics exhibit, which was a clear winner for Daddy:

 The new business exhibit was one of Evan's favorite. I've never thought of a business plan as a rock wall, but they made it make sense:

 We also got to tour the coal mine, which was just as cool as we remembered!

From there, we made the requisite trips to the Lego store and American Girl before going home to swim and make a feast from ingredients acquired at Eataly.

Sunday morning, we enjoyed very special donuts at Aunt Shannon's. Evan is still grumpy I didn't let him eat the entire two-layer sprinkle donut. We then headed out to the Art Institute to see the Thorne Rooms, and Aunt Shannon captured this great shot:

 Issa has read a series of book about the Thorne rooms, so we were all a little stunned when Evan enjoyed them more. He loved looking at the tiny rooms and trying to place them in history. Later, Issa explained that she loved the rooms she hadn't read about, but the others weren't quite as cool as her imagination. That's my girl! The glass paper weight exhibit was a huge highlight for both kids, which was another big surprise.

We ended our trip with deep dish pizza because...Chicago:

We are so incredibly grateful Shannon and Jeff allowed us to invade their world for the weekend. We made fabulous memories, and I will be forever grateful for the time...