Chicago Trip

Since the sun refuses to shine in Los Angeles this summer (and by LA I mean Redondo, Hermosa & Manhattan Beach) we took off to Chicago to find some sun! It was hard for us to imagine Chicago as being warm since the last time we were there was in February and their river was FROZEN!

There are a lot of pictures. So consider yourself warned!

Our trip starting with a little bit of Starbucks fuel.

We stayed at a new hotel in downtown Chicago called the Blackstone. Once we checked in we were on our way out and couldn't find Ty. Apparently he was too busy playing dress up with the complimentary robe and trying to scare us. It didn't work. We were too busy stealing shampoo from the housekeepers! Stephanie has LOOONG hair so we needed a ton of little bottles- at least that was the excuse I gave them...it was Aveda shampoo! Ty eventually came out of hiding in his robe and we all died laughing A. bc of how he looked and B. that we didn't think to look for him because we thought he had headed to the elevators!

We went for a walk around Chicago.

We played chess...

watched kids get soaked at Millenium Park...

smooched in front of the bean...

and took some fun family shots with the Chicago Bean

(I believe that is the technical term for it! We love the bean!)

I wanted to be in this picture too! So I snuck in!

This may or may not be next year's Christmas Card picture. So pretend you've never seen it next December!

The river wasn't frozen this time!!!! So weird!!!

We saw the making of Transformers 3.

Meet Bumblebee!

Bumblebee...later that day...

 

The Special FX trucks were really cool too!

We took pictures on the "Beach" at sunset...

and stuck our toes in the water (it was cold)

then we had dinner at the Pier and called it a night!

(my mom wanted a picture of me with Stephanie - here's how well she cooperated...)

Sorry mom. She must've learned it somewhere though...

Next day was so much fun! We went on a Segway Tour!!

Papa went first and while we all took turns getting on he rode back and forth and back and forth by all of us.

Then went mama...

Then Stephy & Domingo

Then the tour guide "Z" went from person to person asking their name and helping them get on. I was getting stir crazy. So when he finally got to me and asked my name - I squeaked out the name "Killer" and jumped on my Segway (I'd figured it out by then since I'd watched everyone!)

Meet Killer.

Ty was doing 360's on his Segway before we even started the tour.

Here's a group shot of us all

Then we were off...

We even got to do some "off-roading"

We LOVED the Segways! Seriously after you ride one... walking is SO under-rated!

I'm not kidding. Walking will NEVER be the same again!

The scenary was amazing!

We really wanted to buy us some Segways!

Now for the story you've all been waiting for. If you've heard it well then you'll want to see the photo.

We were about halfway through our tour when we came to a hill (to us Lubbockites it was more of a mountain) and "Z" the tour guide said since we had done so well on our Segways and since there was someone on the tour named "Killer" he thought we were skilled enough to make it to the top of the hill. He gave one bit of advice "Don't go at full speed." which Killer failed to hear because by this time she was already halfway up the mountain yelling, "Last one up is a rotten egg!"

Well little Killer was not tall enough or strong enough to respond to the Seqway's governer. It kicked in and threw poor little Killer off. She rolled and flipped a few times before coming to a stop. HA!

Luckily EVERYONE saw because Killer was the one in front. Awesome.

Nothing was hurt except for the huge bruise in Killer's PRIDE!

Sadly Killer wasn't the only one that crashed on that hill. When Killer flew off Domingo turned to look and threw himself off too. So here is the staged photo of what took place on that MOUNTAIN!

Of course that didn't stop Killer from trying more tricks and running head-first into the tree branches bc it was cool to hit them with your helmet!

Yes those white shorts did turn green in the crash in case you were wondering...

Meanwhile everyone else was cruising along just fine...

Until Ty decided he felt left out and hit a pothole at full speed and threw himself into the gravel! He ended up with a huge bloody cut on his knee.

Here are the members of the Official Segway Crash Club (Stephanie seems to want to join in)

Dinner was at a Dueling Piano place where of course Ty was called on stage to help with vocals!

We were all hungry and tired from a fun day in the sun!

My cute mama!

My cute Papa!

Other random things we did in Chicago.

We got kicked out of Stephanie's apartment pool. So we snuck chairs out and layed out outside the pool. HA!

We found Ty & Papa at a sushi restaurant ordering drinks and sushi while we shopped. So we joined in on the fun!

WHY is it soo difficult to get a normal shot! These two did this right when my mom took the picture.

FINALLY! A good picture!

We had a picnic dinner - Mom & Dad made Carne Guisada, rice & sangria and Danielle made brownies!

We gave ourselves facials with Lush cleansing masks and since Ty drank too much Sangria we convinced him his face was dirty & that we wanted to wash it for him...

He was NOT happy.

I'll stop here. There are still more pictures of us cooking smores in a restaurant, drinking the world's best lemonade at Flat Top Grill and finishing the night with dessert at the Melting Pot. Basically it was the day of food that I'll spare you!

We had a great time! Thanks Stephy for letting us invade your apartment and for showing us a great time! Domingo it was great to finally meet you and your family! We had a blast with you guys!

Until next summer (no way are we going back in the winter after seeing how amazing the summer is there!)

The End.