Chi-Town

I feel pretty fortunate in the friends department.

After almost six years of living in different parts of the country, the distance hasn't pulled my best friends and me apart in the slightest. If anything, our growing families and myriad of life experiences have aligned our lives even more.

Although we communicate often, our conversations are usually broken up by the time difference and needy children in the background. Sometimes our chats seem like power catch-ups because there is always a meal or a nap or an outing for one of us to tend to.

So, it was pure bliss when we took a two-day girls' trip to Chicago, leaving our collective seven children behind.

Our getaway began in the wee hours of the morning. The logistics of starting in various cities, spreading our children out with grandparents in additional locations, and spotting our cars all over the state of Michigan as we joined together were a tad complicated. But we made it work, and all of the coordinating was a million times worth the headache for the trip that resulted on the other side. Once we were all together, we boarded a train for the rest of the journey. Each time we realized that we didn't have to worry about keeping little ones quiet or breaking up food into tiny pieces, the smiles on our faces grew a bit brighter.

We laughed at the inevitable one-liners that ensued and how we seemed to keep having issues with following simple rules in the big city. But mostly, we talked. And talked. And talked, and talked, and talked. We had so much to catch up on.

In between all of the talking, we soaked in little bits of beautiful Chicago.

We ate more than we thought was humanly possible, but it was impossible to pass up the goodness of deep dish Chicago pizza. 

Or Garrett Popcorn, the real reason why anyone goes to Chicago.

We did lots of shopping on Michigan Avenue and Water Tower Place.

We mostly browsed. And found some obnoxious hats.

Most of our second day was spent at Navy Pier.

We couldn't resist the Ferris wheel. 

The view from the top was amazing.

While we were at it, we thought we better go ahead and give the swings a try too.

We took a water taxi back to our hotel.

Another gorgeous view (the scenery, not us).

We sufficiently went shopping.

And found some more over-the-top hats.

We squeezed in a little Cheesecake Factory before boarding our train back to real life.

I love these girls so much.

They have changed my life for the better and I'm so thankful for them.