Chicago

We went up to Chicago last weekend for a quick night's stay and met up with our friends the Althoffs. We forgot our camera at home, but Daniel captured the above picture with his phone while we were at the Shedd Aquarium. We thought it was pretty priceless!

Other than the Shedd Aquarium on Saturday afternoon, the real point of the trip was for Daniel and Kyle to run in the Chicago half-marathon on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, Daniel injured his leg and hadn't been running much the last month. So he just ran part of it (I think he said he ran 8 or 9 miles.....which would be enough for me personally to be proud of, but whatever! ;)), including the last 2 miles with Kyle to help him out a bit during the hardest part. We enjoyed getting to see the Althoffs, as always, ate some great Chicago cuisine, and made a (should have been quick) trip out to Ikea. So it was another nice weekend away before the baby comes.

On another note......visiting the Shedd Aquarium had been on our list for years, but we hadn't made it there before. With that visit, we have done almost all the "touristy" things on our list for Chicago over the last several years including the Field Museum, the Science and Industry Museum, a Cubs game, a visit to the Chicago Board of Trade (thanks to Daniel's brother, John), a trip up to the top of the Hancock Building, the beach, the Taste of Chicago, the 4th of July Fireworks show on the lake, a visit to DePaul University to visit Daniel's Uncle Johnny's Library, a musical at the old (and very pretty) Ford Center Oriental theater, and of course shopping on Michigan Avenue and LOTS of great Chicago eats! The thing we've had on our list to do, but have just never gotten around to, are a couple of the tours....the architectural river tour and the "Devil in the White City" tour. (the latter is based on the book by the same name...a recount from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893...another recommendation in my opinion! :)) Anyway, if you're ever in need of suggestions when visiting Chicago, let us know! We highly recommend visiting if you have never been before. It is really a fun city with lots to do, and we are reminded of that every time we are up there. Of course if you are ever up there, call us! It is only about 2.5 hours from our house to downtown Chicago! :)