labor day

8:17 PM

holiday weekends in our family mean quick trips.

trips where you pack as much into two days as you possible can. trips that leave you exhausted yet satisfied with all the family memories you made. trips that make me look back, smile and think "man i'm glad we did that."

this labor day was no exception. we decided to hit up chicago again and boy did we have fun. thankfully dottie joined us again this year. it was musical cars on the 5 hour drive up there.

ryan realized she finally has a loose tooth.

(update it's been two weeks since this moment...that tooth is still in her head. please lord let this child lose that tooth soon. her kindergarten friends are losing left and right and she's starting to get a tad impatient. oh and please don't let the tooth fairy disappoint her when it finally does happen!!)

ahhh we made it. here was my view of my hot driver...oh yeah, and that lovely chicago skyline!

we decided to shack up in the waldorf this year. hooooly crap...this hotel. easily one of the nicest i have ever stayed in! don't worry though...we made sure to keep it classy while in one of the nicest hotels in chicago.

once we were all settled and cleaned up we headed out on the town...

unfortunately we opted against renting the luxury cars and decided to hoof it on foot all weekend. damn we would have looked good in that stretch rolls though.

first stop was tea-time at american girl...of course!

ag finally got with the program and added a "mary" doll to their collection. she's from the 50's, has a poodle skirt and is now may's new best friend.

afternoon tea was so fun!

that night after a semi-stressful dinner. (annie is just at that amazing restaurant-hating age) we went in search of a horse to take us for a little ride in his carriage.

day two...

annie and i started out the day taking in the awesome view from our balcony. dan about had a heart attack when he saw her out there and wouldn't let her go near it again.

after a little room service breakfast we headed out for the day. i had heard such amazing things about maggie daley park so we had to check it out. it did not disappoint. just look at those views! if we lived in chicago we would definitely be there every weekend.

(ryan did say a few times that she wants to move to chicago.)

after playing for awhile we took a little stroll to see the buckingham fountain

then hit up millennium park and splashed around in crown fountain. the girls looooved this. water would shoot out of the mouth of the faces on the sculptures...a tad creepy, but hey it was hot and this cooled the gals right off.

on the way back to the hotel we stopped by sprinkles for some cupcakes. hoooooly moly were these good!! honestly, the best cupcakes i have ever had.

dan and the big girls hit up the hotel pool while annie, elaine and went shopping! annie took her afternoon snooze while we visited our friend at barney's. (same sales lady two years in a row...she actually remembered us! ha)

that night dan and i left the girls at the hotel with dottie for a little room service date while we grabbed some dinner alone. it was lovely. dan and i went back and forth on where we wanted to go for dinner all day. the places we really wanted to try didn't have any available reservations. by the time dinner came around we were both dead tired. i threw out the shake shack and it was a done deal. that night kind of explains us to a t. we love getting dressed up but when it comes down to it, we just want a good burger!

after our leisurely 1 mile walk back to the hotel, dan slipped back out with the big three (in their pj's) to check out what goes on in the american girl store at night. they did this last year and it was their absolute favorite part of the weekend. i think they thought maybe the dolls came to life once the store was closed! they "sneak" out telling dottie and i they are just going to go check out the lobby. (wink, wink) they get the biggest kick out of that.