my quick trip to chicago

while my sister and i were on the phone on friday afternoon

she suggested i come visit her

she does this pretty often but it's never worked out before

usually there's a reason i can't go

but we didn't have anything planned for the weekend

and henry is old enough i felt ok leaving him

and our husbands were ok with it

and the flights looked good for me to fly standby to get there

so....

saturday morning we got up early

michael and the kids drove me to the airport and i was off

and there was even a direct flight there

and hey look! i cut my hair!

 look how pretty the city is!

 what's a girl to do without five kids in an airport while she waits for her ride

 and look at the most hilarious girl ever

holding a sign for Rachael F (as in Frank)

 it's been a long time since we had a day with no kids

the last time i went to visit her like this

was when she lived in boston and i'd just found out i was pregnant with hazel

that was 7 years ago this month!

it was long overdue 

 our first stop was at the buckingham fountain

 it's really pretty and close to the water

 then we walked toward the navy pier and passed the chicago river 

it's so pretty!

 on the navy pier we shopped around for souvenirs and had lunch

at the billy goat tavern

which was made famous on snl 

 pretty ferris wheel

 then we rented divvy bikes

and biked around

it was so fun! 

  we rode to the bean

 we were tempted to go see a show

but decided against it

and went shopping at zara instead

 pretty wall mural

 by the time we got back to the car it was dark out

and the fountain and city looked so pretty all lit up

 we got an authentic chicago style pizza for dinner to eat at andre`a's house

it was super good

pepperoni on bottom, cheese in the middle and sauce on top

 we watched a little tv and i got to see her house finally

and then that was it! 

we went to bed and woke up super early for me to catch an early flight to san fransisco

and then from there a flight to boise

luckily i made both and was home by sunday afternoon

 it was a great trip

super short for a lot of flying

and i missed my kiddies and hubby

but sometimes it's good to miss each other

and it was great to see my sister, her home, her family and her city!