Girls trip.. Chicago!

Here we are all ready to go on our first ever girls weekend getaway!  I originally planned to go on this trip next spring for Aspen's 8th birthday, but with the upcoming arrival of baby girl 2 weeks after Aspen's birthday we decided our plans needed to be expedited!  So we decided October it would be!  My mom, Aspen, and I set off from SLC-Chicago OHare for a 3 day fun filled weekend of girly-goodness!  Lucky us, Lynnae and MacKenzie were able to make the 5 hour drive from their home in Troy, Michigan and pick us up from the airport and spend all weekend with us!  We had so much fun... here's a little recap!

Arriving in Chicago!

Our first stop when we got to the windy city was deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's which came highly recommended by many from my "what should I do in Chicago" fb post.  It didn't disappoint!  And I was grateful to be just over that first-trimester hump in my pregnancy that I could actually enjoy the pizza too!  I even had two slices, one for me and one for baby!

Bright and early Saturday morning, we went on a Chicago River architectural boat tour.  Apparently this is the number one thing to do in the city.  It was so fun (a little chilly) and informative!  I really don't know much about the city, but we had such a great tour guide who spent 90 minutes giving us a detailed history of the city and all the buildings along the Chicago river walk.  

After the boat tour, we walked about 20 blocks down Michigan avenue to get to the real reason we chose Chicago as our destination.. the American Girl Place!  We had reservations for lunch at 12:30, and we made it just in time!  Aspen of course brought along her doll, McKenna.  MacKenzie was able to pick out a doll for herself as soon as we got there so her doll could have lunch with us too!  The store was so over-the-top and fabulous in every way a little girl could imagine it!  It was so fun to be there with Aspen!  She knew we were coming and has been working hard doing extra chores around the house to save up money to spend here!   She ended up choosing a halloween costume for McKenna, and also paying for her to get her ears pierces, and her hair done!  It was a lot of fun.  (I'm trying really hard not to add up how much money we burned through there.. but the memories are priceless... right?!?)  

After McKenna got her ears pierced it was Aspen's turn!  Aspen was supposed to wait until she turned 8 to pierce her ears, but since this was technically her birthday trip, we decided to go for it!  Lucky for us, there was a Clair's boutique in the same shopping center as the American Girl Place.  So we just went right up the escalator and right in to get her ears done!  She was definitely a little nervous, but it was over quick and she didn't even cry or scream!  She picked out earrings with little blue stones that are her birth stone, and match her pretty blue eyes!

Later that afternoon, we walked our tired feet to Navy Pier!  It's a fun little (I mean really little) amusement park where we each did 2 rides, and had Chicago style hot dogs and garrett's popcorn.  I will admit I thought Navy Pier, the hot dogs, and the popcorn were all a little bit of a let down, but we  still had fun and can check that off our list of places to see and visit!

Sunday morning was a highlight for sure! (and a big splurge!)  We had brunch at  "The Signature Room" on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.  It was so fancy, and had spectacular views of the entire city! 

After brunch, Lynnae and MacKenzie had to get back on the road to head home :(  it was sad to say good-bye but we were so glad we got to spend the time together!  Aspen and MacKenzie are such cute little buddies!  

Mom, Aspen, and I however, had a couple of hours to spend before it was time for us to head to the airport.  We did a little shopping along Michigan Ave, and then walked all the way to the park where we saw "the bean".  It has  a real name, but everyone just calls it the bean... because it looks like a bean!  It was so cool to be there and see it in person!  

Ok, I really don't have all the words to sum up how special this trip was... it just was!  I'm hoping we can start a tradition and go on a fun girls trip every 4 years, when she's 8, 12, 16, and so on!  So it's time to start brainstorming where we are going to go next!