Home again home again

We're baaaaack!  Did you miss us?

We arrived back home yesterday and we aren't real happy about it.  Our vacation to Chicago was bliss. We packed so much fun and adventure into those four and a half days that it will take several posts to share. Stay tuned all week for the highlights!

First up - Thursday and Friday

We arrived in Chicago in the afternoon and made our first stop at Tasty Dog for Chicago hot dogs and fries.  We were super hungry since it was technically 2 pm our time. 

We dropped our bags at Mandy's apartment and then got haircuts to kill time before meeting Mandy.  

The rest of the day we hung out with Mandy and the little twin boys she is a nanny for. We went to "Steph and Dans" park to play.  They call it our park because we went there with them the first time we met them.  Such cuties.  They LOVED Dan.  

That night we visited with my Grandma (she was in the hospital at the time) and then went out for Thai food and watched Whiplash before bed (super intense movie). 

Friday we woke up early and headed to Roscoe Village on the train to visit my friend Margaret.  She and I went to grad school together and were Brooklyn buddies for a long time.  She was my first friend in NYC so she has a special place in my heart.  She moved to Chicago last year.  

We had brunch, saw her cute apartment, and visited with her adorable dog, Bea.

It was good to see her.  

After our visit, Mandy, Dan, and I headed into Downtown to spend the rest of the day.  We got SO lucky with the weather.  It was HOT and sunny and just an all around perfect summer day.  We packed a lot of stuff into our day in the city and started with Millennium Park.

We spontaneously decided to do a river boat tour which was awesome and worth it although blistering hot. We baked on that boat. 

After the boat we went to the Buckingham Fountain which was huge (one of the biggest in the world) and gorgeous. 

Mandy has lived in the Chicago area for eight years and we grew up visiting the city often since it's where my mom grew-up.  Unfortunately, proximity can cause atrophy and you just don't think about doing the touristy things in your home area (this happens to us living in NYC too).  Since Mandy lives alone and in the suburbs she never comes into the city.  All of this was new for her and most was new to us too!  We had a blast together and it was a really nice time for Mandy and me to include Dan in our twin bond.

I'll save our Friday evening experience for another post.