Chicago girls' weekend

I just spent a wonderful girls' weekend in Chicago with my Mom, Aunt Joye (Mom's sister), Aunt Nancy (Mom's sister-in-law) and Emily, my brother Bob's wife. We had such an incredible time together, and we're all in love with this gorgeous city!

We loved the river tour we took with the Chicago Architecture Foundation. The docent was fun, and the views from the river were great. And the architecture was fascinating. 

view to the north from the top of the Hancock building

At the top of the Hancock building, they have the Tilt. It was just a little more intense than I thought it would be. But fun. I'm glad I did it. :)

a late-night bus ride 

my 4 wonderful travel companions - I love them all!

We got a bit carried away with our photo shoot at the bean (Cloud Gate). It was fun taking photos with these fabulous ladies.

We made it to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower)--the tallest of the tall. The views were beautiful!

On our last morning we rode the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, which was fun and provided great views of the skyline.

blessing day

Sophie is full of surprises, and her blessing weekend was no different. Firstly, my grandparents surprised me by coming for the weekend. I had no idea they'd be here, and I was in complete disbelief! It was WONDERFUL to have them here! We also had my parents and my brother Bob's family here for the festivities. 

A snow storm came through starting Saturday night, so church was cancelled. Jacob got special permission for Sophie to be blessed at home, which worked out except that his parents were stranded in Cincinnati and couldn't come up for Sophie's blessing. :(

Even though we didn't go to church, we all still dressed up and took the requisite pictures.

LOVE this girl!

I love her dress too. 

all but one of the cousins on my side: Dean, Isaac, Gavin, Sophie, Ellis
(We missed you, Nora!)

Daddy's little angel--the adoration is completely reciprocal

Because of my grandparents' surprise appearance, we got this fantastic 4-generation photo-op. I love the matriarchal line here (my daughter, my Mom, her mom). And I love the women I'm standing with!

These two - and their facial expressions - are almost too much!

NYC girls' weekend

Last Friday we flew to DC Friday where Jacob and Gavin spent the weekend with Jacob's parents. I had the amazing chance to escape to New York City with my sisters-in-law Micaela and Ashley, and it was so much fun!

We saw Newsies on Broadway, and the performance was fantastic!

Times Square, but also a Statue of Liberty street performer and bagels
on the big screen. What could be more New York?

Grand Central Station

 We had brunch at Cafe Lalo, which was featured in the movie You've Got Mail.

Top: Micaela and I have due dates 3 days apart
Bottom: spinach and gouda sandwich on a whole wheat bagel--yum!

I have a mild obsession with the Brooklyn Bridge. When we visited NYC in 2011 I was disappointed about all the scaffolding. This time it was wonderful to walk across the bridge, and most of the scaffolding wasn't too visible.

Though I would prefer to eat them in Paris, these French macarons we ate in NY were delicious.

time lapse: approximately 45 seconds

NY cheesecake - pumpkin with gingerbread crust

I could go back to NYC lots of times. :) 

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati

Over the weekend we participated in America's largest Oktoberfest celebration in downtown Cincinnati. Since we're not beer drinkers we went at lunchtime to enjoy the great food before it turned too much into a party of drunks. (Don't get me wrong: the lines for beer still snaked through the crowds.)

This guy leading the kids in the chicken dance was pretty authentic.

These two!!

We missed the part where George Takei, the event's grand marshal, led the crowd in what is apparently the largest chicken dance in the world. You can see video of that event here.
We were there for the food, so I'll just get right to it.

amazing sausage, pretty good sauerkraut and mustard, and the potato pancake
with a cameo in the corner

apple strudel... Mmmmmmmm

These below almonds are, as you can tell by the way I'm embracing them, a huge love of mine. If it had been much colder, I would have been able to close my eyes and smell them sugar-roasting and feel like I was back in Germany at the Christmas markets.

after the cherry strudel 

The people-watching was almost as good as the food. Here are a few shots of people who went all-out for the event.

I asked this guy if I could take his picture. He seemed more than willing to
show off his sartorial skills. :)

Chicago

My brother Mike has a conference in Chicago this week, which was just the excuse we needed to take a road trip and spend the weekend there. I loved the city more than I expected to. It's beautiful, and we had a great time!

at Navy Pier

We started our Chicago trip with a visit to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, which was lots of fun. Gavin made it to the 7th-inning stretch, which was more baseball than we expected him to take in.

At one point while walking through the city we happened upon a fire station. One worker (a dispatcher, I think) saw Gavin eyeing the engines and cheerfully invited him to climb into the one he liked best. He was in heaven!

Mike and I escaped for a couple of hours to the Chicago Art Institute, a fantastic place to which I hope to someday return. We saw so many masterpieces, including these:

"Two Sisters" by Renoir; "American Gothic" by Grant Wood; "At the Moulin Rouge" by Toulouse-Lautrec; "Wheatstacks (End of Summer)" by Monet; "Self-portrait" by Van Gogh; and "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Seurat

Mike (and a painting by Jackson Pollock)

some funky statues outside the museum

Just a few more photos from our fun Chicago weekend...

(part of the) view from our hotel room

(more of the) view from our hotel room

Gavin was such a great traveler. The chocolate helped...

with Uncle Mike

(If, while reading this post, you've wondered what's up with Gavin's ear, I have answers for you. It swelled pretty big (reaction to a bug bite? infected bug bite? We're not sure), and we treated it using recommendations from 2 pharmacists. It's much better now.)