Chicago baby!!!!

I had the great privilege of experiencing Chicago last week. Jason had to go out there to attend a packaging show for work and asked me to come along with him. His wonderful parents were gracious enough to take our kids from Sunday morning until Friday evening...what would I do without amazing in-laws.

It was an experience I will always remember. When we got there on Sunday night we drove out to my sisters in Rolling Meadows for dinner with her family and my other sister and her family. (they live in Cary). It was very fun to sit and visit with everyone and play with the nephews. When we got to our hotel to check in, we were somewhat dismayed to find that it was not a great hotel and it was in a somewhat questionable area. Our room was on the 3rd floor and oh yea...THE FLIPPEN ELEVATOR WAS BROKEN! So we cart all of our stuff up to our room which had a double...not queen, double bed that is very very uncomfortable. Our TV was so small that both Jason and I burst out laughing when we saw it. The next morning we had the horrendous smell of cigarette smoke coming through the vent in our bathroom cause we were next a smokers room....of course!

On Monday I had planned on having Jason take me to the L-train station downtown and I would take the train out to Valerie's. I was quite nervous about getting mugged...or lost...or both. Jason was worried as well so he decided to drive me out to Valerie's before he headed of to his show. We drove out to Darla's for lunch and another visit. When Jason was done with his show and meetings, he came back out to Valerie's for another dinner and Family Home Evening. When we got back to our hotel that night we were heading towards the stairs when the "hotel handyman" told us that he had the elevator working so we could ride up to our floor with him. He said that had been having problems with the hydraulics but they had fixed them. At almost the exact moment he said that, the elevator stopped. I can get claustrophobic at times so I was trying to keep it together and not start freaking out. He said "well I guess we didn't quite get it fixed' and starts JUMPING UP AND DOWN. At this point I'm thinking "KNOCK IT OFF YOU IDIOT!". Well since the jumping didn't work, he used his key to turn off some things in the breaker box which made the lights dim. Again, trying not to freak out. So finally he says, "well lets just hope we are close enough to your floor for you to climb out" I looked at him like...You have GOT to be kidding me...but NOPE he wasn't. He pries the door open and about 5 feet up is our floor. So yeah, we got to climb out of the elevator onto our floor. It was definitely an experience I will 'treasure' always. Needless to say we didn't take the elevator again for the remainder of the trip.

On Tuesday Jason had to go back to the show but this time I went along and read down in a lobby. Driving to the McCormick arena (where the show was) was quite an eye opener. Jason wanted to show me what south side of Chicago was really like. We drove down Archer Ave. which is well know for it's ummm...how shall I say this as politely as possible...scariness! There were bars on ALL the windows and some business that had me chuckling. There was one sign that said " DUI troubles?...Real Estate needs? call Paul Powlusky. I was thinking wow a lawyer of all trades. One other thing that cracked me up was you would see Medical emergency rooms that were in little strip malls, sandwiched between, Li's nails and Aurthur's Pancake house. I guess when you get shot, you can get fixed up, get a manicure and some hot cakes without having to take your car out of park. Kinda funny!

After he was done, we drove around downtown for a bit and headed out for some famous Chicago stuffed pizza. It was really good but I could only finish one piece.

Wednesday was by far my favorite day. After Jason was done with his meeting, we got ready and headed down to walk Michigan Ave. Of course it had to rain the ENTIRE trip we were there. I would never want to live in the hustle and bustle of Chicago but it was a fun place to visit. We were walking around and decided to stop for lunch. The restaurant we were in had a table of a bunch of missionaries, and sitting right in the middle of them was the mission president who is from Spanish Fork and who Jason knows quite well. What a small world hu? After we did a bit more shopping (which by the way, Old Navy out there ROCKS, it is 3 stories high and has the best stuff) we found a great little place to eat dinner and then we got to fulfill one of my dreams...to see the musical "WICKED". I have been dying to see it for sooooo long and it was everything I thought it would be. Just absolutely fabulous. The Theatre was amazing and our seats were really great. I would love to see it again, and again and again. Even Jason says he would see it again (which is his way of saying he liked it alot).

Thursday was more meetings and then more sight seeing with a wonderful dinner at an amazing steakhouse. I absolutely loved getting to enjoy my dinner without having to prepare 4 little plates first. One thing I had to mention, is that for some reason, Chicago LIVES on Dunkin' Donuts. There is one on about every other corner...and that is not an exaggeration. They are EVERYWHERE! It got to the point where every time I pointed one out I would burst out laughing.

Friday was pretty much just spent at the airport or in the plane. It was so good to come home and find all is well with everyone, and with a darn cute welcome home sign and lots of balloons. Thanks girls xoxo

All in all, a very very fun trip.