Monday started off COOOOOOOOOOOOOLD! I swear, they still have the air conditioning on at work too, making it that much worse. (I know, 1st world problems, but come on, who wants to sit in a freezing office all day?!?). I did give Christian some hints about our upcoming weekend this morning. I told him not to make any plans this weekend, because we're busy, and that he doesn't work on Friday. I figured, I better make sure he knows that just in case there's anything he NEEDS to get done before the weekend. That left him pretty sufficiently annoyed, and intrigued. I did leave work a tad early to do our weekly grocery shopping, and pick up a few things we needed for the trip. The, the usual Monday routine...soccer, dinner, baths and bed. Luckily it warmed up a tad by soccer, but it was chilly still. Monday nights sure fly by though, that's for sure.
Some Soccer Pics
Tuesday was a busy day at work. I finally feel like I have a good handle on my workload, and don't feel like I'm constantly drowning like I was for so long, so I'm doing my best to really stay ahead of the game. Plus, short weeks (while they tend to drag) always seem so much busier work wise. I finalized the last of our weekend plans for vacation...our friend Sara, that lives across the street, will be keeping an eye on the house for us, my mom is keeping the girls all weekend - and bringing them to soccer Saturday, my father in law is driving us to the airport and picking us up and my in-laws are taking the dog for the weekend. I have all of the carry-on luggage guidelines memorized and in the back of my head, I found out I can pre-check in on Thursday and print our boarding passes, I have our Cubs tickets printed and ready to go and our itinerary finalized. I can't wait! Our evening was pretty standard, we hung out around the house, played in the yard for a bit, had dinner. The usual.
The girls picked me some flowers at school today, and hid them in their cubbies all day long. LOL
Wednesday was another pretty typical day at work. After work, the girls and I were off to my in-laws to meet Christian there for dinner. They asked us to come over, but I had no idea it was a little early anniversary dinner for us, so that was really sweet. My mother in-law made taquitos and a Mexican soup for dinner (I don't eat that, but the taquitos were delish!). The girls played for a while and watched some movies while we hung out and chatted for a bit. She surprised us with a little cake from work, which was OMG so good. Of course, Christian no my in-laws eat sweets, so the girls and I each had a piece...the rest will be going to work tomorrow, or I will devour it all myself. What a fun night!
YUM!
Thursday was a busy, busy day. I finalized everything up at work and got as much done as I could. Then, left early to get my weekend started. I made one last stop at the store for a couple travel size things we needed, then made my way home. I had to do some quick cleaning (dishes, vacuuming and general picking up) because my mom has decided it will be easier to just stay at our house with the girls this weekend. It really is too...now she can keep an eye on the house and all of the animals can just stay there, and be fed regularly. Then, I dug out a couple of carry on suitcases, and started packing. Finally, I picked up the girls and started dinner. When Christian arrived home, still completely in the dark, I directed him to the bedroom to see his "gift" (of course, he's a guy, and things turned dirty for a minute there). He found the suitcases and I think it really started driving him crazy. At this point, I was pretty sure he just thought we were doing "up North" for the weekend or something, so he was still pretty much in the dark. We spent the night packing up, hanging out with the girls for a bit, and finishing up our housework. TOMORROW IS THE DAY!
Friday finally arrived. I was up and showered at my usual time. Once ready, I got the girls up, ready and off to school while Christian showered and got ready. My in-laws picked us up around 8:00 and we were off. He now knew we were heading out on an airplane, so it was all starting to come together. While in line for security, I gave him his boarding pass and he finally knew where we were heading. He seemed successfully surprised, so that was exciting. We made it through security...he REFUSED to follow my direction of taking his ziploc of liquids out of his suitcase, and sure enough, he was pulled off to the side for inspection. Come on man, I did my research! Once we were set free, we grabbed some quick breakfast, and made our way to the gate. Our flight took off at 10:00, as planned, and the flight went off without a hitch. We arrived, made our way through the airport and took the train downtown to the hotel. We were able to check in right away and drop off our stuff. Then, we were off. We walked to the Shedd Aquarium and hung out there until it closed. I couldn't believe how HUGE it was, it was VERY cool. Once we were kicked out, we found a Mexican restaurant within walking distance, had a nice big dinner, and made our way back to the hotel. My feet were KILLING me by this point, so it was a loooooong, painful walk to the hotel, but we made it. We settled in for the night, watched a movie and relaxed. Ahhhh, vacation!
Ready to Go!
Saturday was a busy, fun-filled day. We were up and at em' pretty early. Showered, got ready, and we were on our way. We walked back up to the Museum Field, and caught a water taxi over the Navy Pier. We had lunch, walked around, rode the Ferris Wheel, did a little Window Shopping and relaxed by the fountain across the street for a while. Next up, we caught a taxi to Wrigley Field for the Cubs vs. Braves Game. Our seats were WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY at the top, but we were pretty sheltered from the wind up there (it was sunny and nice out, by the wind was very cold, and picking up as the day went on) and we could see everything, so the seats were actually pretty good. And, the Cubs won, so that was pretty exciting! We left the game and walked down to a pizza place down the road - which was delicious. After dinner, we caught a taxi and took it back downtown to a Dueling Pianos bar, Howl at the Moon, that our hotel recommended. We used to LOVE going to see some local Dueling Pianos, so it was fun to do that again. And, they were actually really good. We started getting a little work out and took a quick taxi ride back to the hotel. We were sufficiently exhausted again, and hopped right into bed. Party animals indeed!
Sunday was 1) our actual anniversary, and 2) another busy day, of course. After were showered and got ready for the day, we packed everything up and made our way out. We checked out and were able to check our bags at the hotel for the day. We grabbed a taxi and made our way down to the John Hancock Observatory building. We spent some time in the observatory checking everything out. It's crazy how HUGE the city really is. We picked up a gift for the girls at a gift shop in the building (some My Little Ponies, of course) and grabbed some lunch at The Cheesecake Factory (our official anniversary meal). We took some time and walked back to the hotel after lunch. We walked down Michigan Avenue, so we got to experience the "Magnificent Mile" - though no shopping actually took place. We walked through Millennium Park and took in all of the sculptures and scenery. Finally, we stopped and sat at Buckingham Fountain for a while before calling it a day. I couldn't believe our trip was coming to an end already! Time sure flies. We walked back to the hotel, grabbed our bags and caught the train back to the airport.
Now, throughout the day (starting at about 9:00AM), I started receiving phone calls from the airline that our flight had been changed. Originally, we were leaving at 5:10PM...the time kept going up and down, and we finally decided to just head to the airport at the same time, just to be safe. Still, the time kept changing. We checked with the airline before going through security, and the "host" for our flight happened to be there...he informed us that the plane was having mechanical issues in Minneapolis...just what you want to hear when you are about to board said plane. So, we went through security and made our way to the gate. Throughout the day, our flight time changed EIGHT times. Our 5:10PM flight home ended with us actually boarding around 9:15PM. We each got a free dinner from the airline, but we were pretty miserable. I was exhausted, and I was SO hoping to see my babies before the went to bed. But, we finally made it home, safe and sound, and that was all that mattered at that point. My father in-law picked us up...my mother in-law had relieved my mom from kid duty, so she was there waiting for us. We finally got home around 11:30...I gave the girls each a big hug and kiss before passing out. Work is NOT going to be fun tomorrow, that's for sure!
Nevertheless, it was a great vacation, an awesome break from real life and an anniversary we'll definitely always remember! 6 years, I still can't believe it's been 6 years! Life has definitely changed in those 6 years, that's for sure!
With that, another week comes to a close. A very exciting one indeed! Now, back to real life! But, I sure do love that life, so I'm definitely OK with that.
Until next week!
