©MaryMcgintyPhotography

©MaryMcGintyPhotography

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Nov 22, 2009

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....

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