because life is a beautiful thing, and there's so much to smile about

10.26.2014

Chicago for Three

All you wonderful people: SEPTEMBER in the largest nutshell you have ever seen...

Our first grand adventure was doing the COLOR RUN here in Portland, which was a first for both of us. Running marathons isn't exactly my thing (yet, a goal that I am previously not working on...) but we dominated this 5k. And by dominate, I mean that maybe a few times I had to make Payton walk with me (but in the grand scheme of things, does that really matter?).  Anyways, here are the classic before and after pics :)





Next September stop was THE WINDY CITY! Which was pretty much 5 days of magical bliss. Seriously though--great weather, great company, great food, and GREAT birthday! And it all began with...

WEDNESDAY: We took a red eye flight and got to Chicago early Wednesday morning. First stop of the day was breakfast at Lou Mitchell's (which included both free milk duds and ice cream with the meal!). I thought it was pretty exciting....then of course we had to shop on Michigan Avenue and see THE BEAN.

Obviously we had to document our first plane ride together...





...and take 5 billion pictures with the bean.

And I can't forget the pizza for lunch. That DEEP DISH though...


THURSDAY: was just AMAZING. This year was actually the first year I didn't celebrate my birthday with my twin sister, but it was a wonderful time spending it in Chicago with my new family! It's a birthday tradition back home to have donuts for breakfast (my Mom even said she got donuts that day in honor of Alexis and I, hundreds of miles away), so in the morning we got donuts, for lunch we got Chinese (because it's my favorite) and then there was DINNER....

They kept it a surprise to where we were going, but we showed up at the Hancock Building, and 95 FLOORS LATER we reached the restaurant at the top, called the Signature Room. How cool is that? Great dinner with a great view :)



The view from my seat :)

(the view from someone else's seat...)



and lastly ladies and gents: the view from the BATHROOM

Happy Birthday dinner to us!


After dinner we went with a family friend who showed us where he works, which happened to be at the largest luxury car franchise in the world. We saw row after row of Bentleys, Ferraris, Maseratis, Lambourginis, Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, and the list goes on... The car below happens to be 1 out of 9 in the world. I can't actually remember what it was called though. We got to sit in multiple cars and it was pretty sweet! (-Payton)



FRIDAY: was CUB game day! Complete with Cub shirts, Cub hats, and Chicago dogs all around. And no better game then one against the Dodgers!


Got us some sweet shades.


Behold...





THE CHICAGO DOG. 
Basking in it's glory (and actually pretty good!)

SATURDAY: Highlight of the day was our Architectural Kayak Tour. We got to kayak on the river that goes through the city, and see all the cool different buildings. It was amazing fun!



DO YOU SEE THIS? Beautiful.



SUNDAY:  Sadly, our last day. Amongst saying goodbye to friends and family, we ended our vacation with a Garrett's popcorn trip because I LOVE POPCORN. We were happy to take a little piece of Chicago back home with us :)

Classic Chicago popcorn: Caramel and Cheddar Cheese mix!


So there it is. September in a nutshell. And Chicago: we miss you. Until next time!

Love,
us