callie comes to wisconsin: part dos.

Sometimes I forget to finish posting about stuff... like our awesome visit from Callie. Woooops. Anyway now that we live up the street from Callie and have seen her a few times since the following events I thought it would be good to just finish up this little series. Anywho...

Day two in Chicago was spent enjoying the temple, eating some insane grilled cheese sandwiches at The Big Cheese, and checking out Navy Pier.

Our last visit to the Chicago Temple... I'm sure some day we'll get to come back and visit. Still a sad good bye.

The real "big cheese" would be this child...

They also had some pretty sweet menu's made out of album covers. Oh Kenny G.

Navy Pier was a lot of fun and had lots of stuff to see. Like crack the whip statues. Callie is also a shoe nabber. 

Peter even got to take a ride on the carousel!

Peter LOVED looking at the water... or "wa-ee" as he calls it.

We also checked out the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows. I seriously was in awe with how beautiful the pieces were. Well-known artists' windows on display included Louis Comfort Tiffany and John LaFarge, as well as Chicago artists Ed Paschke and Roger Brown. Here are some of my favorites...

At the "family" section of the pier was a fountain... and we finally Peter run around in the water. He LOVED it! So much that he threw a lovely fit when we left. This kid just loves the "wa-ee!"

On our way home we made a great parenting move and stopped at Andy's for dinner. Yes... Andy's the frozen custard place. Hey, we were still full of carbs and such from the whole weekend of eating out and all we wanted was ice cream! Peter didn't complain either. I should mention that he is no longer in the 90th percentile for weight... but instead the 97th haha in the words of Dr. Hahn, "Looks like he's been eating well!" Yeah I didn't mention our outing to Andy's to him. Anyway...

A delicious weekend to say the least. Events post-Chicago included another polar vortex leading to lots of blankets and redbox. 

Thanks for coming to see us Callie! Want to like go to California tomorrow?? ;)

callie comes to wisconsin: part uno.

This summer we have been trying to have some "extra fun" since we'll be moving soon, as you are probably well aware. Last week we went on our last extra fun adventure... and we got to take Callie with us! We love visits from Auntie Callie. (:

Both Todd and Callie flew in late on Thursday night and Friday morning we made our way to Chicago for some good ol' windy city fun.

First stop... lunch at Crêperie Saint Germain in Evanston for some intense crepe action.

I don't even remember what I got... I just remember that it tasted divine.

This is Callie's "French" face.

Second stop... Millennium Park!

Jay Pritzker Pavilion... it's like an exploding Christmas present on it's side!

Peter didn't quite get the awesome-ness that was the Cloud Gate. Personally, I think it's a giant one way mirror and you can pay big bucks to hang out inside of it and watch all of the tourists look at their reflection and take goofy pictures. Or maybe it's a ginormous security camera... and in 50 years their going to use all of the footage to like do some miraculous research.

Two is better than one, no?? 

An addition to Millennium Park called "Looking Into My Dreams, Awilda." The other three "girls" that were being installed while we were there are Laura, Paula, and Ines and are made of iron and only about half the size of 38-ft Awilda.

Another neat piece called "Crown Fountain" that we learned about in our civ class. Every few minutes the mouths spew water... it's pretty fun. and wet.

The Lurie Garden is also a great feature to the park. It's not like a crazy attended to garden so it's nice and natural looking. Ya know... more natural looking than the nature that it is.

I'll call this one, "Callie in flowers" circa 2014.

Surprisingly not the worst panorama I've attempted... even though there's like some earthquake action going on the right and that girl who is sporting the back of her head for us is actually in the picture twice. Crazy!

After Millennium Park we got our rain gear and cruised the "Magnificent Mile."

Todd couldn't not see what this Pippin's Tavern was about... turns out it had nothing to do with thee Peregrin Took. Bummer.

At the end of the mile we stopped at Giordano's for some delicious deep dish pizza.

It may have taken a day and a year to get a table and wait for food... but it was worth it! A tip for the hungry soul... place your order early before you even show up. (:

On the walk back up the mile to the car we passed this neato store...

So many sewing machines! Neat, eh Lisa?

And thus ends our first day trolling around Chicago.

Next stop: more Chicago! Yeah!