Chicago

 This weekend, Danika and I ditched the kids with Brent and Jim and we took Julie for a girl's night out in Chicago. I booked us a room at the JW Marriot in downtown and we couldn't have asked for a better room/hotel. The hotel  beautiful as was the room. We were on the very top floor looking at the Sear's Tower and in order to even get to our room, you had to use your room key in the elevator to gain access to that floor. As we walked in the room, we had to walk down a 15-20 ft hallway before we could see the beds. We were greeted with music and images on the smart tv as we walked in and took in the nice view and the vaulted ceilings. Our bathroom had a tv built into one of the mirrors, had a bug glass shower and a separate HUGE sunken bathtub. I joked that I should have brought my goggle so I could go swimming in it. Everyone at the hotel treated us like queens and it was perfect for a night just to ourselves. That night we went to dinner at The Gage. We enjoyed sampling our cheese board and I loved my lamb shank and brussel sprouts with applewood bacon and brie.

The next day after sleeping in and walking around in our robes, we hit the Aveda Hair Institute for a little pampering. Julie and I got a hair cut and Danika got a make application.

 There are many things that we wanted to do in Chicago and one of them was to eat a "Chicago dog;" a hotdog that is on a roll with mustard, onions, bright green relish, tomato, a pickle spear, chili peppers and celery salt. It was delicious!

 Another stop we made was to the Sear's Tower, now re-named the Willis Tower. We made it 160 stories up in the tower and had a great time overlooking Chicago at night time. It is said that on a clear day you can see 4 states. On the 160th floor, there are cut out glass boxes that you can stand in to look down and peer down below. many people were nervous and un-trusting of the glass, but I thought it was fun,

 We also stopped at Millennial Park to visit "The Bean." We had fun walking around and looking at our distorted reflections. I have no idea why there is such a big bean in the park, but it has become quite the tourist attraction.

 The last stop we made before we made it back to the kids was to The T-Shirt Deli. It looked just like a deli but instead of meats , cheeses, and salads, they had tshirts and decals. It was pretty cute. We made our own tshirts to remember our day. When the shirts were finished, they get wrapped up like a deli sub and served in a bag with a bag of chips.

It was a great little get-a-way and Danika and I said that we will do this at least twice a year. Next time I go back to Chicago, I would like to have an Italian beef sandwich and go on a Mob tour.