Chicago

For our last celebration with Leslee we visited Chicago. This is such a fun city and of course it was the perfect day and not too cold. Earlier that week we actually went to Chicago to pick up Leslee. It was a miserable drive full of tolls and road construction. However, we did a little more research before the next trip and it turned out to be so much fun. Jordan and I would love to go back another day to see more... (possibly without Madison :) )

We started our trip by starting over by the airport. We wanted to end up back there that night because we were staying the night and then taking Leslee to the airport early that next morning. We decided to brave public transportation! We bought a day pass and it ended up being perfect. It would have been a lot more expensive to try to park downtown, plus walking everywhere and knowing we would have to walk back to our car would have been exhausting. We took the subway into the city and then took a couple of buses when we needed to go anywhere else. We never waited more then a minute for a bus. It was a good thing we had Leslee with us too. She is a pro at public transportation and got Jordan and I around efficiently.

At Navy Pier with some of the Chicago Skyline in the background

We started the day with American Girl Place!!!!!! This has been a dream of Leslee's and I since we were little kids. We made reservations and had lunch with our dolls that Leslee brought up.We have vintage dolls that have been discontinued. We felt pretty special. Of course we explored the store a bit. The place didn't disappoint. Lunch was pricey, but worth the experience.

Lunch time with Felicity

The bathrooms even had little hangers for the dolls. These people think of everything!

Next we walked around Navy Pier. Jordan loved the ships!

I tried to hide my belly..... It didn't work too well.

We then explored Millennium Park. The bean was crowded, but pretty cool. There was also an intense park with awesome slides. I even went down one and it was super crazy.

We finished the day up at a deep dish pizza place. The week before when we picked up Leslee we tried Lou Malnati's while this week we tried Giordano's. To be honest, Lou Malnati's was the best!! The sauce seemed fresher and the crust was cooked to perfection!!!

Amish Ice Cream and Nauvoo

My sister Leslee came to visit! It was such a needed break from the routine of my life. Plus it gets lonely without your own kin. Plus this was the first week I felt 'pretty' good! We had something planned everyday and 3 out of 5 days we were home for Madi to take a nap.We did a lot of shopping, visited an Amish community, and went to Nauvoo.

In the area that I live there are a few Amish colonies. Near their colonies they have a little town called Kalona where they come into town to get the newspaper and sell their goods. We bought some delicious cheddar cheese curd. We knew it was as fresh because the cheddar cheese was still its original color, white. Who knew that cows didn't give orange milk specifically for cheese. After walking around for a bit, exploring quilt shops and such we stopped and bought a homemade ice cream bar.

The next day we traveled about 2 hours to Nauvoo. Nauvoo is my temple district, but sadly I haven't been since we moved to Iowa. For one, it is freezing and for two I have felt terrible. Plus my husband has been very busy. If I wanted to go I would have needed to work out the details and plan the trips and to be honest, I haven't even planned dinner these last 3 months.

Nauvoo was so much fun. It was the perfect Spring day, but not crowded at all since it was the first warm day of the year. We learned how to make rope, bread (pioneer) style, bricks, horseshoes, and took tours of old houses. We picnicked in front of the temple and finished the day of in Carthage.

Riding in the carriage

Madi was so excited to bark and neigh at the horses, but was a little leery to actually touch them. She could only spare a finger.

Our one and only claim to fame. (ancestor from Nauvoo)

Leslee and I went to Nauvoo a few times when we were little, but have not seen it since they built the temple.

And of course... the church's flowers are blooming before the rest of the world's even pop out of the ground.

Getting Madison to pose is almost impossible. However, here is her at Carthage beneath the statues of Joseph and Hyrum.

Nauvoo turned into a longer day then expected, but it was so much fun. I can't wait to take Jordan back to see the horseshoes and explore the gun smith shop. Plus the pageant in July!!

Oh... and we all matched on Sunday. Was it embarrassing? ... a little... but worth it.

Aunt Leslee and Madison (16 months)