10 Years

Kevin and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Friday. We thought about taking a cruise sometime this summer, but apparently pregnant women are not welcome. Something about being away from any hospitals in emergency situations or some other such nonsense. Anyway, we decided to take the train to Chicago for the occasion.

We had an absolutely fantastic time! The kids stayed with Aunt Jody while we were off and of course we knew they were perfectly safe. Except for the time that Jadon fell into the neighbors stagnant, nasty pond in the backyard. Thankfully, Micah was there to pull him out. A fantastic story, that I am tired of telling because of the strain it puts on my poor heart.

Back to our trip, Kevin and I had a great time. The train was a great idea! Not only was it nice for Kevin to avoid the responsibility of driving, it was significantly cheaper than driving! Parking at our hotel was $50/ night and that doesn't even account for the cost of mileage to and from Chicago. We also decided to just take the trains and buses around town, rather than taking cabs in the city. We were just a few blocks from the El, and it was really quite convenient and certainly a new experience for us.

We stayed at the Avenue Hotel, just a half a block from Michigan Avenue. It was beautiful. These funky chairs are their trademark, don't ask me why. And they have a heated pool on the roof of the building with a great view of the city. Unfortunately we forgot to get a shot at night, but it was very cool.

After we got into Chicago, we went to Navy Pier for dinner and stayed for the fireworks that night. They weren't very long (they do them every Wed and Fri and that could get pretty expensive) but they were very cool.

Thursday, we went to the Cubs/Astros game. That was my anniversary gift to Kevin. (I suppose his gift to me was the trip in general, you know, since he makes about 98% of the money in our house) We left for Wrigleyville early in the day and just spent a couple hours wandering around, enjoying all the excitement. It really is a fun atmosphere. The game was great! The Cubs won 12 to 3 with back to back homeruns in the third or fourth inning. Kevin actually got a photo of Milton Bradley's homerun swing! Micah loved that. If you've never been to a Cubs game, it's quite an experience! The stadium was full, as it always is and it seems like everyone you meet is a die hard fan. I'm sure many baseball teams have great followings, but there is just something special about the Cubs. (K says it's WGN broadcasting nationwide and I'm sure he's right. Even though I was raised a Cardinal fan and really am not all that interested in the Cubs, I thought the whole thing was awesome!

After the game, we went back to our hotel and my brother joined us after he got off of work. We walked over to Gino's East, just a block away and got one of their famous deep dish pizzas. If you're ever in the Chicago area, Gino's Pizza is a must.

Friday we spent most of the day on Michigan Avenue. We didn't really buy much, we just had a good time walking around together. That evening, we took the River Tour from Navy Pier, my brother gave us tickets for our anniversary. It was really neat. Chicago has some really interesting buildings and I thought it was cool despite the fact I don't care a bit about architecture.

The best part was just the fact that we got to spend three uninterupted days together: something that doesn't come very often and will surely come even less once the baby is born.