Spring Breakin' 2011 (Part 1)

So I broke every rule of our Spring Breakin' travels this year.  Usually because it is still so FrIgId here in March, we always try to find somewhere WARMER to go.  Well this year was not the case.  We had some very good friends move to Cleveland, Ohio and we have missed them so much that we thought it would be so fun to go up and visit.  So instead of a WARMER climate, we went to a COLDER climate.  Which, is fine.  It was definitely worth it!!!

On our way up to Ohio, we went a slightly longer route, and stopped in Chicago for a night. 

SO.MUCH.FUN.

Chad and I have been to Chicago before, but we thought it would be fun to stop there with the kids this time.  We pulled in around 7:00 pm, checked in to our hotel and immediately ordered our dinner for the night.....GINO'S EAST PIZZA!!!

While we waited to pick up the pizza, we walked around the city with the kids.  They LOVED it.  They were in awe.  We finally picked up our pizza an hour later, took it back to the hotel, warmed up, and got some hot chocolate!  YUMMMM. 

Here are the girly's laying in bed playing their brand new DS's they got for the trip.  We told them that if they cold save up half of the cost for the DS, then we would pay the other half.  They actually did it!!!  We were so proud of them.

Sweet Sophie also lost her first tooth that night.  She was SOOO excited and was worried that the tooth fairy wouldn't come seeing as we were in a different city and all. ;)

Needless to say, the hotel rooms in Chicago are TINY, but Chuckles was very grateful to have his very own bed crammed between the wall, the bathroom and the front door.

The next morning we woke up, bundled up in our warmest attire to head out into the Windy City.  We stopped at the American Girl Store and the girls were in heaven.  We have one where we live, but it is not nearly as big as the one in Chi-Town.  We walked around for a while, until Charlie was very vocal about how bored he was (i don't blame him). 

We then headed over to get a Jamba Juice for breakfast.  My kiddos LOVE themselves a good smoothie at home, so I knew they would love the infamous JAMBA!!!

We then headed to the John Hancock Building to head to the very top! 

Remember the movie "The Fugitive"?  In the beginning of the movie when he's running away from the police, they are having a St. Patrick's Day parade and they turn the river that runs through the city GREEN.  Well, it just so happened that we were in Chicago St. Patty's day weekend.  So that morning as we were observing from the JH building, we saw the river turning green. 

And before we headed back out to the car to drive to Ohio, I made them go wash the windows to earn some gas money for our trip. ;)