Sophie Comes to Chicago

It was a special treat for us that Sophie got to come visit in June.  It was especially fun for Jenn to pretend she had a daughter for a few days, given that she is expecting boy #4.

We felt it was our duty to show Sophie the big city.  Here's a run-down of what we hit:

The touring crew (no Ben - who was at a conference), set to go up to the top of the Willis (aka Sears) Tower

On the SkyDeck, just casually chilling 103 stories above the streets below.

Henry found a nice seat.

This is the moment that Ellis discovered he really DOES like deep-dish pizza. Our lives (and pocketbooks) will never be the same.

After Ben returned from his conference, he took the boys and the girls got to go to girly things, like visit the American Girl Place and ride bikes along the shore.

Together, we worked on this puzzle of Chicago.  Imagine our surprise when we found...

...two sister missionaries!  Turns out, the puzzle company is based in Utah and hides church-related items in all of its puzzles.

We took a trek out to Navy Pier, where Sam really loved the merry-go-round.

A trip to Chicago isn't really complete without a ride on the L!

Subway ride, carousel ride, and boat ride.

A view of Chicago from our boat tour.  We did the shorter lake tour, based on the attention span of our passengers.

This Garrett's popcorn must be laced with heroin.  None of us could stop eating it!  However, we have several arguments over whether one should mix the caramel with the cheese, or keep them separate.

Fun on the slides at Maggie Daley Park.

We also managed to introduce Grandma Lori to her next obsession: Yummy Peach Dessert.  Yes, that's its real name.

Finally, we showed Sophie the #1 attraction in Chicago: the award-winning restroom at the Field Museum.  (Note: for some, this is also the #2 attraction in Chicago. )

Our only wish is that the rest of the Jackson clan will view this post and promptly plan their trip to come to the Windy City as well!  Please?

The Jacksons' Epic Visit

Let's be honest.  Grandma and Grandpa visit us frequently.  The Jacksons, now, they certainly don't come visit us every day.  We had a visit from Kati and Joe about seven years ago, and we have never had a visit that included Jackson cousins.  I only mention this to try to describe how excited we were to have Kati, Milo, and Max come visit us in late-October!  It was the most special thing that has happened to us this year.

I wanted Kati to see all "my places," so she humored me by going for a jog with me and bringing the three boys along.  We stopped at the strength training area and did some crazy awesome chin ups while the boys played at this playground.  

We took a little trip to the Botanic Garden, because I can't get enough and love to share it!  Plus, I really loved watching the changes every week during the fall.

Kati is a major plant and gardening lover, so she went crazy about all the plants (not unlike our dad a few weeks earlier).  Milo took this great photo for us.  :)

Um, I think Ben must have snapped this while we played some games.  Boy, did we have some great night-time conversations.  We learned from Kati's wisdom (we don't get enough of this when we come to Utah because of kids' bedtimes).

I was so excited for the Jacksons to be here for trick-or-treating.  I think I talked up our "perfect Halloween neighborhood" a little too much; I'm pretty sure I jinxed it.  This picture is very deceiving.  I'll just say that it wasn't so adorable to layer puffy coats under everyone's costumes and then run from house to house in the freezing wind, getting pelted in the face by ice and hail.  It sure was memorable though.  

The kids didn't last nearly as long as usual, but I think they still did just fine on candy, since people weren't getting enough trick-or-treaters and so were giving out huge handfuls of candy.  Yeah, we did alright.

Ben watched the kids while Kati and I went out for dinner one night.  Oh, these boys had so much fun playing together.  And such a treat to have them at our own house!

We were pretty bummed to see them leave.  Sam is still frequently talking about what we're going to do next time Milo and Max come, as if it's going to be any day now.  We hope it will happen again soon!