A few months ago, Bryan took his written anesthesia board exam. Once he found out he'd passed that test, he had to sign up to take the oral portion of the test. This year, the oral exam was held in Chicago. The test alone cost $2100! Absolute craziness!! Anyway, Bryan asked me if I wanted to with him. I was a little hesitant at first, because that meant leaving the kids for 4 days! That's the longest I've ever been away from them. It made me sad just to think about! But, Bryan talked me into going, and I'm so glad I did! When I told Jack that Daddy and Mommy were going to Illinois, he said "Oh, well, Jackson and Sissy are going to Connecticut!" He's a nut! We left Dallas on Saturday morning, and arrived home late Tuesday night. We had the best time! It was so much fun to spend 4 days with just him!
Waiting for our flight at the airport.
Once we got to Chicago, we rode the "L" train--or as I like to call it, the "death mobile"--to our hotel, checked in, then headed out for an early dinner. One of the things on our "must do list" was getting some authentic deep dish Chicago pizza. We chose Lou Malnati's, and it did not disappoint!
It was so yummy!
We took a ton of pictures while we walked around.
This was the view outside of our hotel room.
Sunday morning, Bryan googled local breakfast spots, and we ended up at this amazing restaurant! The food was unreal!
After breakfast, we walked over to Millennium Park and attempted to work off some of our enormous meal! We were looking into the sun to take this picture, so I'm winking! Bryan's obviously unaffected by the sun thanks to his trusty Aggie hat!
Same pose, no wink!
A couple from Ohio asked if we'd take a picture of them in front of Cloud Gate (aka The Bean), so we asked them to do the same!
Again, I'm having issues with the sun!
We stopped at this Target to get a pair of sunglasses, and I had to take a picture of it. It's two stories!
I snapped this picture of Bryan lounging in the chaise in our hotel room to show Sarah--she would have loved the lamp!
Sunday afternoon, we took the subway to Wrigley Field. Taking the subway was even scarier to me than taking the "L"!
Another item on our "must do list" was catching a game at Wrigley Field! We bought the cheapest tickets, but had the best time!
It was so stinkin' cold the entire time we were in Chicago, but sitting in the shade under an awning at the ballpark was absolutely freezing! I wore a sweater, two jackets, and a scarf, and all of those layers did nothing! And since we're from Texas, being anything other than a sweaty mess at a baseball game was new to us!
After taking a few pictures of the stadium, we went to get lunch!
You can't go to a baseball game and not get a hot dog! But instead of getting a Coke to drink--like we usually would--we each got a hot chocolate (in a futile attempt to warm up!).
Monday was Bryan's big test! He has been studying and stressing about this exam for months now, so he was ready to go and get it over with! The test was at the hotel across the street from our hotel. It was 80 minutes long. I took a picture of him when he got back. I don't know why he's posing like that though!
Bryan was so relieved to finally have the test behind him, that he wanted to go out for a fancy dinner to celebrate. I'm always on board with fancy! So, we went to Ruth's Chris. We actually got there at 3:30 in the afternoon and for some time, we were the only ones there!
We topped off our fantastic dinner with wonderful desserts!
Tuesday morning, we walked back to the same delicious breakfast place we ate at on Sunday and snapped more pictures along the way.
Then, we walked down to the Navy Pier. It was so cold!!
After walking for about 5 miles Sunday morning, we went back to our hotel to check out. Then, since we had a few hours left before we had to be at the airport, we went to The Art Institute. It was so much fun! We actually took several pictures of some of our favorite paintings while there--like Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and American Gothic--but because you can't use a flash at the museum, they didn't turn out that great.
Before boarding the "death mobile" one final time to take us to the airport, we tried to take our picture in front of the Chicago Theatre sign--and this was the best we got!
We missed the kids like crazy while we were gone, and couldn't wait to pick them up early Wednesday morning from Bryan's parents' house! We brought them back some Chicago Cubs shirts that they both wore to school yesterday!
Bryan and I had the greatest time together in Chicago! But after being in a huge city (where no one smiles!) for a few days, we were grateful to get back to our small town in Texas!
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