Happy to, happy fro

Last week...on the heels of the 3rd grade holiday musical, which was fantastic...

we headed to Chicago for a long weekend! It's quickly become one of our favorite cities--the kids especially love it--and we feel fortunate to be less than a five-hour drive from the Windy City.

The original impetus for this trip was to see Auntie B who was going to be Chicago for a week of new job training...woohoo! And then Gammy and Granddaddy Rob joined us...and you know we spent time with our good friends from North Carolina, too.

We arrived at lunchtime and headed straight for ramen (it's tough to find in Cincinnati). It was a big hit!

 

 

Then we Ubered to the Children's Museum by Navy Pier. Sebastian LOVED sitting in a booster seat...what a great view!

We had the museum to ourselves since it was a Friday afternoon. The kids had a blast and didn't want to leave.

 

Everything was hands on!

The kids built play equipment for their toy monsters!

Then we ate sushi, of course!

The next day, we caught up with Chris, Abby and Leo. It was nice to spend time with them in person...good to catch up with Chris and, as always, a joy to watch our kids play together just like cousins. It was tough without Danielle--we miss her dearly--but we're glad that our dear friends are doing well.

 

That afternoon we enjoyed the big city with the grandparents! The Christkindlmarket was bustling (CRAZY BUSY!) and the holiday window displays impressed everyone.

Then we headed to Auntie B's favorite Chicago restaurant: Quartino's! It was really yummy...what a cool place.

And no Holiday Inn stay would be complete without the De Falco kids getting in a swim...

and then we headed to brunch at Beatrix since Tony and I figured out in May how delicious that place is!

Did I mention we had a little retail therapy, too?? ;-)

On Sunday afternoon, we headed back to Cincy. It was such a lovely weekend. We were happy to get away to Chicago for a few days...time with family and friends in a beautiful city (with unseasonably warm weather and beautiful holiday decorations) is such a treat! And we're happy to be back home, too. The holiday countdown begins!!