Chicago

When we were trying to decide when to go to Chicago it all depended on my foot. If I was having surgery, then I would have 2 weeks off, then Friday and Saturday would make sense since I wouldn't have to ask any time off work. If I wasn't having surgery we would go Saturday and Sunday so I'd only have to take one night off work. Thank goodness I had surgery. It took us 6.5 hours to get home from Oak Brook, driving at a max of 40 mph the whole way home. But...enough about that - we had a great time!

We left right after school on Friday and got downtown Chicago at a reasonable hour. We went directly to American Girl Place. It was so much better than last year when it was crazy, crazy busy and wall-to-wall people. We came earlier in the holiday season and on a Friday night this year and we will for sure do that again. Abigail had her heart set on a crib for her dolls so we looked at that immediately. She also looked at the Trundle Bed, but ultimately decided on the crib to get. My mom got her the crib, bedding and canopy. It really is cute and both babies fit in their perfectly.

After American Girl we went for dinner at Grand Lux. We had to wait awhile to get seated and awhile for food, but Abigail really did well. We had met up with Joel and Kelly and it was great to hang out with them for a bit.

After dinner we drove to our hotel in Oak Brook. We were put in a smoking room (Ewww!) and did end up getting another room and moved everything and were settled well after midnight central time. Abigail was hyper as can be and so excited to set up her crib (which Grandma had promised earlier in the night), but we needed a screw driver. We got one from the front desk and got everything set up and all was well in Abigail's world. She probably didn't fall asleep until almost 1:00 in Chicago (2:00 am Michigan time!!) and kicked me all night.

In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then went to Oak Brook Center to shop. We didn't do a ton because Abigail really wasn't into it (can you blame her?). By about 12:30 it was starting to snow, so within the hour we got ready to go. We left and from the minute we left until the minute we got home it was terrible driving. We saw so many cars in ditches and accidents, but my mom's a great snow driver, so that put us at ease!

We had so much fun! It's really fun to do these kind of things with "the girls." Abigail is at such a fun age where she enjoys and appreciates so much!

My mom asked her what her favorite part of the trip was. Her answer? "When I said 'Hurray! The man brought a screwdriver!'"

Oh...I got 3 of my photobooks and all my Christmas cards from Shutterfly today! Wow, can you believe that??

I hope you all stay warm!