28 May 2011

Chicago Love

Last Sunday Jon and I headed off for our trip to Chicago. This was our first official get away since having Jessica eight months ago. It's always so hard to leave the kids, but getaways are much needed and deserved. And, especially with three little ones and long work hours our marriage needs a little bonding time. It seems like any spare time we get as a couple is spent catching up on household chit chat.

Since we had to be at the airport so early, the kids spent the night at my parents on Saturday night. We managed to get up before the sunrise and get out of the house for our drive to Cleveland to catch the 8:30 flight. As we arrived to the airport in plenty of time I glanced down at the confirmation.....and suddenly I felt the drop in my heart. The tickets were schedule for 8:30 PM not AM! I couldn't believe my eyes. I must say, Jon handled that one pretty well. We raced to the kiosk and managed to immediately grab an assistant to help us. What a relief! We got onto another flight that was...oh...boarding five minutes ago. Now….I KNOW I'm in good shape, but running through an airport with two huge carryons and really cute shoes can be a challenge. Good thing Jon ran ahead and held the plane for me. Did I mention the shoes were really cute?

So the trip continues....with bloody mary's on the plane. Once we landed we checked into the hotel, stored our bags and headed off to the National Restaurant Association Show. I was actually really impressed by the show! It was very well organized and I had no idea it would be that large. We had a great time gathering info for our restaurant and I made a point to hit up the "green" section. So many ideas, I wish I could implement them all.

That evening we had a wonderful experience at Blackbird, and enjoyed the tasting menu that we paired with some fabulous wine. Unfortunately, in the middle of the night I was hit with the stomach "bug" that seems to be going around. But I wasn't going to let that ruin my trip! After sleeping in, taking my time getting out the door, sipping some green tea and eating a bagel I headed off to the show to meet Jon. We decided to take it easy that night and grab some food at the Public House. A couple beers later we were on our way home and got side tracked by the bowling alley! I hadn't bowled in ages and this was bowling with a twist! I loved it...and got a strike on my first try.

On our last day Jon headed back to the show and I bummed around on Michigan Avenue. And.....Jon gave me my birthday present a few days early. A little shopping trip :) I can't tell you the last time I spent an entire day shopping by myself. It was a blast. Of course my first purchase was for the kids, go figure. But don't worry; I did plenty of damage on myself. Probably won't happen for another five years. That night we met up with some friends and enjoyed Ethiopian food and good conversation. Thanks Joe and Cecelia!

To cap off our trip we headed back to the airport way too early on Wednesday morning. And, to our surprise, our flight was cancelled. Not only was our flight cancelled but several flights were cancelled. It was a mess! After waiting in too many lines for WAY too long we found the best solution was to rent a car and drive home. So, we loaded into our economy size car and headed back to Ohio. Seven hours later we arrived in Cleveland, delivered the rental, picked up our car and headed south for another hour. Finally, we were home sweet home to our lovely children. What a trip!

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