a family that travels together...

chicago is my fav:) It takes us about 5-1/2 hours to get there...longer with kids because, obviously...Target. Food. Nursing. Snacks. Diaper changes. Screaming. :)

but then you roll up on that City...totally worth it!

it's actually been a few weeks since our trip down there. Jacob had a few, rare, days off and I was able to finagle my schedule as well. Jacob was adamant about getting out of town seeing as we both had off and I was happy to oblige:)

from past trips, we've found that just 'going with the flow' works best for us. So on the ride down I used the Hotel Tonight app on my phone to find an affordable place to stay for the night. Everything was booked and ready for us when we arrived!

we stayed at the Hotel Blake. It was purrrrttttyyy:)

What is it about staying at a hotel?! I love it. Love it. LOVE it.

we arrived in Chicago around 6PM - Jacob had to cater that morning so we weren't able to leave too early - but the weather was amazing and we have daylight until almost 9PM...so after we settled into our room and took a few bathroom selfies, we headed out to explore:)

my aunt Vicki and uncle Ted live in Chicago. They are the greatest. The end:) It's pretty neat to get awesome suggestions from someone that has all these 1st hand experiences!

we jumped in a cab and headed to Wicker Park and after a few wrong turns...we found Antique Taco. I still dream of it weekly;)

the next day, we hung out in the hotel room and got ready for another few hours of exploring before we headed for home:) Yep...we drive 5-1/2 hours with 2 kids...for less than 20 hours of 'exploring'. We are THOSE people and proud of it:)

After packing up and taking some more bathroom selfies - duh;) - we hit the streets!

this time we had an amazing suggestion from a friend - thanks Nicole:). UBER. A great car service app that was so simple to use and paying is so much easier because you can link it to your PayPal and because by signing up and using a promo code she shared with me, we got $30 worth of credit. All our rides were free that day!:)

we had planned on going to the Shedd Aquarium but by the time we waited in line for a while...did the math on ticket prices...we decided it'd be best to come back when we were able to give it more time. 

instead we took a quick boat ride to Navy Pier and rode the circle of death Ferris Wheel and then a nice long walk down Michigan Ave. back to our Hotel:)

the kids did so great. Jacob and I both want to take them to as many places as we can. To see as much as possible. Oh, the adventures we will have:)

it was kind of a dual trip for Jacob. I dropped him off at 6Flags on the way home from Chicago to meet some of his friends for the night and then I headed home with the kids by myself - believe me...I made sure he knew that he owed me BIG.TIME.;). Luckily, Jacob's sister, Renee, lives about 1/2 way between Chicago and home. It was the perfect place to get out and stretch, feed Theo...let Homer run wild and wait out the storm before making the last leg of the trip.
And even with getting pulled over once...we made pretty good time! Thankfully, no ticket. Speeding in a Prius really isn't feasible;) Just a burnt out tail light:)

cheers to travel!!!!:)

xoxo.
The Smiths.

bright lights. big city.

homer and I and my parents just returned from a night in Chicago to have Homer get his FIRST hair cut! Yes. We went to Chicago. For less than 24 hour. To get hair cuts. That's how we roll;)

my amazing aunt, Vicki, has styled hair beautifully for many years in Chicago and when I thought about how big of a deal it was to cut all Homer's hair off...she was the one I wanted to have do it. No question:) And she generously agreed to do mine as well:) Eeeekkkkk. She spoiled us!!!:)

i gotta say. I love Chicago and we spent time down there with my aunt Vicki and uncle Ted when we were much younger. And any chance we can get to take a little road trip and travel...no matter how near or far...or for what reason...we take it:)

we arrived later on Tuesday night and after getting settled in at the hotel - Inn of Chicago, we turned right around to get out and explore a bit! Prior to dinner we stopped in at Room & Board and it was....depressing inspiring!:) I love anything home decor, furniture, art...it was just great to be IN the store and not drooling over a magazine at home:)

i wanted to have the deep dish pizza that Chicago is known for and had heard that Uno Pizzeria was the place to go in the area we were staying. Luckily, it was only a few blocks from our hotel and it wasn't TOO cold for a walk that night!

the pizza wassssssss perfecto:)

on our way back to the hotel for the night, we stopped at Eataly. It was a great market to walk around and we grabbed a few things to get us through the night and next morning:)

wednesday morning we walked to my aunts salon and within 2 hours...I had some long bangs and Homer no longer had a mullet!

when I see that long hair of his now...I can hardly believe that it ever existed. I didn't cry. But it felt very intense to have all that hair cut off in only a moment:( But for some reason...I don't feel like it's aged him...I feel like he looks even more like my baby...just cleaned up a bit;)

after hair cuts, Vicki treated us to lunch at a high rise restaurant - Oak Tree - with an amazing view:) It was the perfect way to wrap up our little getaway:)

we had such a blast and I'm thinking of that trip as a fantastic treat to myself before the baby comes!:):) But I sure hope Jacob and I can make a Chicago trip happen together someday!:)

chicago is just the best place to get-away to. It's a bit of a road trip, but if you're into that, as we are, you'll have just as much fun driving down as you do while there! And in less than 24 hours we got to do a handful of things we'd never done or seen! A great feeling!:)