CHICAGO..my kind of town

We took one of our in-town mini vacations. I booked a room at the

Chicago Hilton on South Michigan Ave for one night.

Tim and I have lived in Chicago our entire lives. I was born

at The University of Chicago Lying-in Hospital over 45

years ago. I was born and bred on Chicago's

Southside. Tim, on the Northside. We do not

take this beautiful city for granted, even after all

these years. Downtown still takes my breath away

(even after living down there for 12 years)

We started at the Sears tower, some call it the
Willis Tower and did the ledge...way cool.

The Chicago Hilton is very elegant and rich in History,

built in 1927

view from our room...the windows still open

We did dinner, then went to Navy Pier to shop and ride the

ferris wheel and swings.

My cute boys at the top of the wheel...great weather

you can see the ferris wheel, buildings and swings lit up

 in the windows. After navy Pier we headed back

 to the hotel for swimming then room service.

About midnight we all got in bed and watched

 The Hangover.

It was so funny (Karrick fell immediately asleep)

After breakfast we walked through Grant Park to Milenium Park

These sculptures are new to me...never saw them before.

Love the iron flowers

and car part sculptures

The boys have never seen the bean. When we told them that we

are going to see the bean...guess what I got? You got it!

Cal : "did you know..."

Cal has a "did you know" about any and everything

We had many "did ya know" at the sears tower

Cal : "did you know that the bean is called Cloud Gate?"

Me: "No...why?"

Cal: The artist wanted to make a structure that made

things appear to be floating, it wasn't

suppose to be a bean and it weighs 110 tons"

Me: really?

Don't know how he knows this stuff, but he does...he is a

mystery boy at age 10

After grabbing lunch we headed over to state street. We wanted to hit

FAO Schwartz on Michigan Ave, but it's gone...bummer. Cal

really wanted to see it because in the movie Fred Claus, they

filmed a scene in the store and the entire backdrop was

giant Thomas The Tank Engine boxes with Cal's picture on it.

In the movie there were no less than 200 Cal's

staring at us...pretty cool.

By now my legs and butt muscles were starting to scream

we walked everywhere. Tim and the boys hopped on the

EL back to the Hilton to get our van. Karrick and I

went in Marshal Fields also called Macy's. It

put us right in the Christmas spirit. After a little shopping

Tim text me that he was out in front.We were all

ready to head home after one more stop

Tim and I partake of the Groupon often. We

have gotten excellent deals on Sailing trips, hotel room and

restaurants. I bought a Groupon a couple weeks ago. Spend

$50 and get a  $115 coupon to the Denim Lounge, before

I checked out the store....BIG MISTAKE

After I hit the buy button, I went on the website...gulp

It's located on 43 E Oak...bad sign, Jeans start at $165

A PAIR!

These stores don't exist in my world, to add insult

to injury, they stop at a size 30 waist for women...Seriously?!

I am not by any stretch of the imagination fat, but 30?

Okay, I'll look at the mens jeans...I do have a boys figure

DOUBLE  GULP

they start around $200 bucks. I thought maybe I could buy

something for the kids? or on sale?...crap

ONLY GOOD ON ADULT JEANS

FUUUUUUUCK.

Tim dropped me off, I went in with a long face

to plead my case. The lady said they just got

some larger jeans in...I guess the Oak Street boutiques

version of "fatty jeans". I am just shy of 6 feet tall and wear

a 12 tall...come on...I'm the fat lady now?

I did find a very cute pair of jeans that fit and were only

$141, which for me; I still paid close to $80 for a  pair of

jeans...which is $50 more than Old Navy.

The moral of this story is Always read the fine print

We had a fabulous family mini vacation and did so much

together in 24 hours as a family. The kids got to enjoy

the city and start their 9 day off, Thanksgiving Break.

We spent a small fortune, but it was worth every dime

all 10,000 of them.
I never laughed so hard as I did this weekend. My Tim
has always been funny, but oh dear Lord....