Windy City Wonder

Last weekend my family decided to be spontaneous and go to Chicago for a last minute vacation. My siblings and I had never been before, so we were really excited. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if Alison could have gone. (She was in California partying it up with her old friends and her cousins, so she really can't complain). Nevertheless, it was a little weird not having her there! Luckily, we all had a great time and were able to do a lot.

On the first day, we met up with my Aunt Sue and Uncle Tim. They took the train from Wisconsin and we took a shuttle, a train, AND a bus from our hotel. It

took forever. We met at the Museum of Science and Industry. Now before you go and judge, let me tell you - this is not a boring museum in any way! The name does not do this place justice. Not only did it have loads of really interesting and educational exhibits (like a WWII submarine to tour, a mine shaft, and a massive toy making machine), but the museum was playing host to "Harry Potter: The Exhibition", which is by far the COOLEST EXHIBIT I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!! Of course, being a somewhat huge Harry Potter fan did make the whole experience much more exciting for me. The exhibit had pretty much every prop and costume that you could possibly imagine from all six of the films. You name it, I probably saw it. Jack and Emma were even chosen for a demonstration on how the Sorting Hat chooses students! Jack was in Ravenclaw and Emma was in Gryffindor. The only flaw? No photography allowed. BUT the Ford Anglia car from the second movie was on display in the museum lobby! And I took every opportunity to snag a picture or two...and maybe touch the car when no one was looking - it was quite a reach!...

After the museum, we went out to dinner with the whole family. We decided to try Chicago's famous deep dish pizza. It was delicious! And for dessert? A deep dish cookie topped with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. It was gone in roughly 3.2 minutes.

The second day was jam packed with fun stuff. First, it was my dear sweet little brother's 17th birthday. So naturally, we had to humiliate him in front of a mass of people - which I will talk about in a bit. To start our day, my dad and I woke up at 6 to work out at the nearest Lifetime Fitness. The GPS said it would take 15 minutes. It lied. It took a half an hour to get there, which greatly decreased our workout time (but I didn't complain!). We came back to the hotel, rushed to get ready, and took another shuttle, another train, and then walked a mile to our first destination. The Shedd Aquarium. This place was amazing! We saw some very ugly fish, penguins, sea otters, an anaconda, dolphins, and belugas! A great way to start the day!

After that we took a water taxi to Navy Pier and ate lunch at Bubba Gumps to celebrate Erik's birthday. We had to sit outside, but it was a nice day and people watching is always fun. He said we weren't allowed to tell the waiter that it was his birthday, but we didn't listen! He had to stand up and everyone - even people walking by - sang to him! It was epic. He was mildly upset until he saw the free ice cream.

The rest of the day was spent walking until my feet bled (no joke) and shopping. Another great day in the Windy City! I even pretended that I was a pro photographer and attempted to take some shots of the city. Gimme feedback! The quality may be lame because I am Blogger challenged. :)

The ride home was great. We watched movies and had face making contests. Here is the scared face contest:

Erik won.

Oh family. How you make me smile. :)