Friday, June 27, 2014

dear chicago


On our way home from Nebraska, we spent two days in my hometown Chicago. Our trip was slowed down, first by a flat tire before we left our hotel. Then we saw some major storm action on our way out of the state. The radio was predicting ping-pong sized hail along I-80, but luckily we didn’t see any of that. Later on that night, we heard there were double tornados that destroyed a town in the north-east part of the state :(


Grateful to have discovered “Paw Patrol,” which kept Nolan entertained for . . . a while. :)


At a Wendy’s somewhere in the very long state of Iowa. 


And this is what the majority of our trip looked like! At least Hammie was trying to cheer Ephraim up! E decided he was done with his car seat somewhere around Des Moines, and hated it all the way home.


We finally arrived in Chicago around 10pm, and Nolan fell asleep in Steve’s arms—he hasn’t done that in probably a year!


Nolan helping Bryan cut cantaloupe. Bad blogger—I didn’t get a good picture of our wonderful hosts, Bryan and Stacey.


Selfie in front of the house I grew up in from ages 0-14 :)


We had to stop at my very favorite hot dog joint, “Wolfy’s.” Best dogs in Chicago!


In September of 2012, my sister’s high school dedicated Hannah's memorial garden. The four of us visited the beautiful mosaic benches again.

         


Planes on their way to O’Hare fly overhead, literally every minute. When you live there, you don’t hear them, but after living in a small town it’s the coolest thing. Nolan got so excited to see them that he had to show Hammie!

 
The four benches in the distance.


When in doubt which brand of pizza you should order, choose both! One of my favorites is a thin-crust from a restaurant called “Martino’s.” The other is a classic deep-dish from Lou Malnati’s. I’ve never had both a the same time before, and it was AMAZING! Obviously food is something I am always missing from Chicago :)


My aunt Meg made us an amazing brunch at her house.


Nolan’s late nights and bad appetite caught up with him on our last night. He got pretty sick, unfortunately, so we cancelled our plan to stop by Indianapolis the next day.


There were a lot of friends in Chicago that we did not get to see, and we’re still pretty disappointed about it. But I’m so glad we got to visit with one of my college BFFs, Linnea!


We drove past my dad’s high school on the way out of the city—fitting because it was June 19.

Steve was a rockstar and got us all the way home, with a screaming baby and a not-feeling-so-hot toddler. I’m so grateful that we were able to make the 32+ hour drive, and see our family and friends in old familiar places. :)

8 comments:

  1. Looks like a fun trip! And now I want hotdogs at 8:20 in the morning - lol those look delicious!
    xo

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  2. Those benches are beautiful! What an amazing idea. And the pizza looks DELISH!!! Fun trip :)

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  3. Those benches are absolutely beautiful- what a great idea!

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  4. What a great trip! How wonderful it must have been so spend time with your family and friends. You guys are troopers to endure a 32 hour road trip! Also, there is nothing like delicious Chicago style pizza :)

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  5. Just stopping in to say hi! It looks like you're busy and happy. What an adventure traveling so long and far with throttle boys, but worth it. :)

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  6. I love your photos and your blog, you have cute kids!!! :0)

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  7. Looks like a fun trip! Lou Malnati’s is my favorite place to go when we visit my brother in Chicago. I'm hungry now!

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Thank you so much for your comments! I enjoy reading each one!

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