Chicago, Day 1

Because I'm lazy and not feeling too hot (thanks, cold!), I'm just going to post these without trying to make them align side-by-side.  My apologies.  :)

Saturday morning, we got up early and headed to the airport.  We narrowly made our plane because we got held up in security and were sad that it was a cash-only flight, but we made it!

 You could see where the snow had stopped!  I love that we can now use our phones on the plane.  :)

 Chicago!

Once we landed, we got our CTA passes and got on the train to head downtown to Hotel Indigo in the Gold Coast. We took a taxi from the train station to the hotel and checked in. It was fun watching of the train and taxi, and our hotel was adorable and trendy. I loved that they had Tootsie Rolls in the lobby and were so pet friendly!

 our view at Hotel Indigo--so cosmopolitan! *lol*

Then we grabbed lunch next door at The 3rd Coast. I had a delicious caprese sandwich, a salad, and a milk stout. 

Once our tummies were full, we took the train out to Michigan Avenue, exploring Water Tower Place for the most part. We hit up American Girl Place, the LEGO Store, and Macy's. 

 Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower)

 American Girl Place at Water Tower Place (my favorite!)

I love the "window" displays at AGP!  I would love to have the job to set those up.  It has long been my dream to work for American Girls.  ;)

 Cecile and Marie-Grace's holiday window display

 Molly's (so sad she was retired this year!)

 Rebecca's

 Julie's

 Kit's

 LEGO Willis Tower

Chicago skyline

 LEGO Santa Large-Fig (See what I did there?  The "people" are called mini-figs...but this guy was 'UGE!)

 Our friend Rob of Lifelites lit up THIS Iron Man!

 husby in his element

We planned to go to Giordano's for dinner. As usual, it was a l-o-n-g wait, so we explored some nearby stores during the wait (Nordstrom Rack, Anthropologie), and Beverly and I went to sit outside the Water Tower to people watch as it wasn't too cold and there were literally no other places to sit. We also popped into Hershey's and Ghiradelli's, where we got some free samples, and into some of the richy-rich stores. 

 the Water Tower

Because it was the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's AND it was so warm (for Chicago in winter), the streets and stores were bustling!

 Zach and his dad outside Nordstrom Rack

Once inside Giordano's, we had a half-pineapple, half-pepperoni pie with some drinks. Poor Zach ended up getting sick and taking a taxi back to the hotel while we finished up. He felt some better by the time I made it in, and while his sickness was disappointing, it was still a pretty good first day in Chicago.