35 candles in the windy city

It was time for mom and I's annual girls trip. I think it's actually been a few years since we managed to take this "annual" trip. We usually head to Dallas, Texas, but after Jon visited Chicago this summer and had lots of great things to say about the city, we changed our destination and headed north. It was great 5 days. We stayed right in the middle of the city off of The Magnificent Mile. Our hotel room was a real treat as we enjoyed the city from 36 floors up. We walked countless miles. We shopped. We saw the temp drop from the 60's to the 30's. We heard Christmas music playing in Macys. We ate deep dish pizza. We rode the train both above ground and below it. We shopped, did I already say that? By day 3 we looked like we were locals so much so that someone asked me for directions. Thanks Chicago for a great trip and a great 35th!

The view from our hotel room.

 

From the 94th floor of the John Hancock Tower.

 

Mom and I set foot inside the American Girl store but opted to save our life savings and only make purchases in the Lego store.

 

Of course the day we schedule our architectural boat tour, the temp is only in the 40's.

 

My best friend, Tricia had a birthday cake delivered to our hotel.

She was determined to buy me an "un-lame" gift for my 35th.

The kids have been playing with their new Legos non-stop.

hogs, horses, poodles and turtles

I meant to post this a few weeks ago but...well, you don't really care about excuses. October was fast and furious (do I sound like a broken record yet?). Here's what we managed to do in the 31 short days.

Jon and I took a trip to Fayetteville to catch the Razorbacks in action.

Riding horses at the church Harvest Festival.

The school sock hop in honor of the 50th day of school.

Landon and his buddy Alexander eating silly face pancakes on Halloween.

At the last minute, I decided to get in on the Halloween excitement.

The kids didn't care to o much for my makeup.

 

The kids have been asking to go camping so we opted for some camping on the deck in case it was a total disaster. Setting up the tent as far as we made it after the temperature was predicted to be below 40 degrees. Sleeping in our nice, warm beds was a much better ending.

We still roasted marshmallows which might have been what the kids wanted to do all along.

Presley and her friend from school and soccer, McKenzie.