Thankful in Chicago

 This Thanksgiving, we did something totally different: we went to Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with Aunt Shannon. She has come to us for every holiday, birthday, and major life event literally forever. She really wanted to host a holiday, and we thought it was high time we made that happen.

Wednesday, for once, I did not get over excited and book us on the earliest flight possible. We ate lunch at the airport and caught a lovely 12:15 flight direct to Midway. After a short Uber ride, we were at Aunt Shannon's, and after about 20 minutes we we up to our elbows in puzzle:

Our family loves a good puzzle. And we spent a lot of Friday puzzling until it was time to go to dinner at a fabulous Italian place where I had Vin Santo for the first time state-side. We went back to Shannon's where the children fell in love with her building's pool. They would be in it multiple times a day until we left.

Thursday, we spent the entire day at Shannon's puzzling, cooking, and just being:

Eventually, we needed the table for our Thanksgiving feast, so we moved completed puzzle sections to cutting boards:

Brad carved the turkey:

And we sat down to quite the feast!

Also, the children are obsessed with being velociraptors:

Friday morning, we got up and went to the aquarium where we met Tim, Amy, and Maura! It was so good to see them, but we took nary a picture. We did have an amazing time watching the fish and enjoying their Christmas decorations. The belugas, especially the baby, were the highlight, though. As soon as Evan hits five feet tall we are going to go behind the scenes to meet them up close!

We had lunch at Bright Wok, and entirely gluten free Asian place Brad is convinced is heaven. He insists it was the best thing he ate in Chicago. We also experiences the Christmas Market. It is a completely European arts and food fair, and while parts of it were lovely we were all desperate to get out of the crown after 45 minutes. It was the best hot chocolate I have ever had, though--and it came in a little boot mug!

We finished the puzzle Friday!

 And then we bundled up to go to the lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo:

The lights were magic, and we had a blast watching the ice carvings, but the monkeys stole the show. We learned that family groups twine their tails:

 And we got to see the baby gorilla:

 I love that you can see Mom, Shannon, and Issa reflected in that picture.

We ended Friday at an amazing tapas place followed by yet another swim.

Saturday we just spend a quiet morning at Shannon's before we flew back home.

We packed a lot into those few days, but more than anything I'm grateful to see Shannon's city with her. I loved watching my kiddos soak in the city--especially now that they are older and can really see and experience it. No more strollers. No more worries about naps or meal times. We could just enjoy.

I'm truly thankful for a wonderful Thanksgiving and beginning of the Christmas season.