Our first official day in Chicago was Saturday. We had a whole day planned of sight seeing, but Rob and I decided to start our day off with a run down by the lake. It was a fun atmosphere with really cool views. After we got showered up it was onto lunch at the Hancock Building. The only bummer thing is we woke up to horrible fog! My mom was super bummed and wanted to go a different day, but we had reservations and it was too late to cancel them.
Hancock Building
This is what it looked like a few days later when it was nicer weather.
A sweet lady in my parents ward {Sis. Carmen} met us for lunch. She is the cutest little lady from the Philippines. Every time anyone in the ward has family visit, Sister Carmen insists on taking them to the Hancock building for lunch. It was fun to visit with her and get to know her better. Even though it was foggy, the views were SPECTACULAR! The restaurant is on the 94 floor of building. We got the most perfect table right in the corner, so we had double the view!
A view of Navy Pier
The fancy restaurant
Rob and Me
The view out the other window...
and this is what it looks like on a clear day. I stole the picture below from my Dad. He took this on my Mom's bday.
The boys loved sitting in the window watching the tiny world below.
My mom told the restaurant we were celebrating our anniversay {which was a couple weeks away}, and this is what they brought us. It was delicious!
Although this is a part of the vacation I would like to forget, I'll tell it anyways for journaling purposes. Wesley got quite upset over some ice cream at the very end of lunch and started throwing a huge tantrum. Rob ended up taking him down to the lobby while the rest of us finished our desserts. After lunch we had planned on going to the Shedd Aquarium for the rest of the afternoon. Sister Carmen suggested we catch the bus right across from the Hancock and take it there. So we headed to the bus stop and while we waited, Wesley continued throwing a tantrum. After 10 minutes we had all had enough and decided to go back to the apartment until he calmed down. It was extremely frustrating and I was honestly regretting bringing him on the trip.
After we had time to calm down, we decided to try the Aquarium again. So we walked back to the bus stop by the Hancock building and caught the bus. Boy, was that a mistake! It took us almost an hour to go a few short miles. By the time we got to the Aquarium, it had started raining. Luckily we had our umbrellas! We walked to the front of the Aquarium and saw a huge line to get in! Fortunately we had a stroller and were directed to a shorter line for wheelchairs and strollers. It was insanely busy, but I have to say the Aquarium itself was pretty impressive. I didn't take a ton of pictures, with the exception of the jellies. They had a special exhibit going on and it was AMAZING!
I loved the polka dotted sting rays. I had never seen them before.
A bigger Manta Ray
JELLIES!
I learned quite a lot about jellies that I didn't know. For instance, jellyfish do everything out one hole. That's right folks...they eat, poop, and reproduce out the same hole. GROSS!
Upside Down Jellies
Rainbow Jellies
{My favorite!}
These were funky! I can't remember the name though
In my opinion, the jellies alone were worth the outrageous entrance fee!
Beckett and Grandma with the Penguins
Because it took us so long to get to the aquarium, we only got to spend a few hours before it closed. We didn't come close to seeing everything, but there is always next time right?
This isn't a picture of the Aquarium, it's another museum right next to it. I loved all the budings! You don't see architecture like this in Utah. As we headed home we decided to pick up Chinese take out for dinner and call it a night!
Sunday was pretty laid back. We woke up and got ready for church and headed out. We had to walk a few blocks to catch a subway and then walk a few blocks to the school where my parent's ward meets.
Playing the Wii before church
Waiting for the train
Attending church in Chicago was definitely a different experience. They hold Sacrament Meeting in the school's auditorium. Their ward is VERY young with most of it's members being students, interns, or doctors and lawyers. Their primary consisted of 10-15 {young} kids and a ton of nursery aged kids. It was fun to go to church with my parents friend Jasna. She is from Bosnia was recently baptized. It was really neat to see her get so excited when learning something new. What a sweet, sweet lady!
During church, it began POURING outside! There was thunder and lightning and my mom leaned over to me and asked if any of us brought our umbrellas. Whoops! It was a big NOPE! I told her she better start praying that it stop before church got out. Luckily it had and we started heading for the subway. As the subway approached, water was pouring off of it. I knew we were in trouble! When we got off the subway and headed towards the exit, there was a river running down the stairs! I don't think I've ever seen so much water in my life! We stayed in the station for a little bit deciding what to do. Finally, Jasna told us we should just make a run for it. My mom was super hesitant, but finally gave in. We all started hauling it up the stairs and within minutes we were soaked to the bone! People were standing up against buildings yelling for us to join them. They all thought we were crazy! The boys were jumping in puddles and there was so much water running down the streets and sidewalks that the manhole covers were being blown up and down! It was insane! You should have seen the look on the doorman's face when we walked into the lobby of my parents building. It was priceless! We really wish we would have taken a picture of all of us. We looked ridiculous! It is definitely a memory I will NEVER forget.
Later that night Jasna, and the Elder and Sister missionaries came over for dinner. It was great to finally meet the missionaries we had heard so much about! After dinner I looked out the window and this is what I saw:
A gorgeous sunset! The evening had turned beautiful and we all decided to walk down to the lake.
Sisters Maughn and Herr
{Sister Maughn had just had foot surgery so her sweet companion pushed her the whole way}
A blurry, but kind of cool picture
Wesley wrote his own name in the sand
On the beach
I just realized I wasn't very good at taking pictures. Most of the time I just let my Dad take the pictures because I thought it would be easier than both of us taking pictures of the same thing. Now that I'm going through these pictures, I'm realizing that I didn't get pictures of a lot of the people we met. For example, Sister Carmen, Jasna, and the Elders. Bummer!
No comments:
Post a Comment