When we heard that my brother Ira and his wife Teralyn were coming for Christmas Scott and I thought that this might be a good chance to get away for an anniversary trip. All the times I complained about having a anniversary during Christmas break...it worked out this time! They were more than willing to take the kids and let us play. Scott found that he could use up his Skymiles from United for a stay at a fancy hotel downtown! So we found The James which was in the thick of all the fun, and was within walking distance of all that we wanted to do. It was pretty nice and chic!
We had Teralyn drop us off at the train station at the next village over since they needed our car to get around with the kids, and there was no way we were taking Scott's monster truck downtown! We packed everything we needed in our backpacks and loaded up on our train, but it was so packed that we couldn't sit together :( but it was a short ride so it was ok. We hailed a taxi to take us the 3 miles to the hotel, checked in and when we told them it was our 11th anniversary they put us in a suit on the top (17th) floor! We dropped our things, explored the area then went to the Melting Pot for dinner. When we lived in Utah we always wanted to go to a fondue restaurant without kids, but you had to make reservations months in advance. The restaurant when we called said that they had spots available that night. Yeah! So the staff put is in a secluded area and we were all alone, just us and this:
Cheese fondue with apples, bread, and cooked veggies.
Then we had a salad, then they brought out a vegetable broth and five types of meat, plus about 5 different dipping sauces. SO GOOD!
Scott enjoyed the steak, like his holiday mustache he grew, um sexy!
Just when you think you are going to barf from being so full they bring out the best part. . .dessert! Chocolate, caramel and toasted pecans, with strawberries, toasted marshmallows, red velvet cake, brownies, and cheesecake to dip!
I think that cheesecake was the best I have ever had!
It was so yummy! We were so stuffed, we waddled over to the movie theater hoping to catch the 7:30 Les Miserables show but it was sold out so we bought tickets for the 10:10 show thinking...hey we don't have kids to wake us up in the morning! The movie was very good I was very impressed, Scott even liked it!
We woke up around 9 and walked across the street to Trader Joes bought a baguette and some cheese to share and walked over to Michigan Ave
It was pretty cold, but there were so many people out being happy, and fun shops to explore that we didn't mind! We did a little after Christmas shopping (more like browsing)...and walked over to Millennium Park
to the Bean, Scott had never seen it
We wanted to go Ice Skating but the line to get skates was huge and was not moving very fast so we just watched instead, there were a lot of newbies out there falling, it was quite entertaining.
Next we had some lunch at Chipotle and then walked down State Street to see the famous Macy's, I had hoped that it was still decorated for Christmas and it was! You can't see it very well in this picture but behind me and across the street they have these huge horns coming out of the building, and they have the funnest window displays. If my kids are over their fear of Santa next year I want to take them there.
We did some more walking around then headed back to the train. Now that I know what I am doing I might feel confident enough to take my kids on it alone this spring/summer. It wasn't that hard to figure out, and they would love the ride!
It was so fun exploring the city and being together and having uninterrupted conversations, being able to hold hands, talk about our past and future, and rejuvenate our relationship. Here's to 11 years!
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