Chicago! 4/11-4/14

I'm putting times/main events in bullets and my favorite memory(ies) of the day in just regular ol' pargraph form. I'm going to post my favorite picture(s) from that day. There are others that I'm going to post on another site. I will give y'all the link for that later.

Saturday 4/11/09

*Wake-up Time: 3:45AM

*House Departure Time: 4:30AM

*Arrival at Airport Time: 5:15AM

*Flight Departure: 7:30AM

*Arrival in Chicago: 8:30AM central time

When we arrived at the airport, my Aunt Karla and Uncle Mike were there to pick us up. We went straight from the airport to downtown Chicago for breakfast at a cute little restaurant called Uncommon Ground. We grabbed our seats and eventually, the rest of the family filtered in. My cousin Michael, his wife Leah, and their two kids, Lila and Cole. Cousin Brian came in last with his new girlfriend Chelsea. We all sat around and talked, catching up with each other while enjoying the delicious food. I ordered two scramble eggs, potatoes, and toast. The potatoes were huge and very, very good.

Starting with the blonde girl on the right and going back and around: Chelsea, Brian, Dad, Mom, Aunt Karla, Cole(in the booster seat),Uncle Mike, me, Michael, Leah, and Lila on Leah's lap.

After breakfast, we took a brief tour of the city on foot. We walked down to Wrigley field and took several pictures there. We soon headed back to the cars though because it was too cold and windy for Lila and Cole to be out in it.

Cole holding Michael's hand.

From L to R: Front:Leah with Lila, me, Michael. Back: Brian, Chelsea, and Cole on Michael's shoulders. Bunch of crazies...

After that, we drove around the city for about 2 hours.

It's the hobo! I named him Fred. This is a parking deck! Cool, huh?

Finally, we went home. We went out to Lou's for pizza that night for supper. I don't think I took any pictures while we were in there...oh well, we had traditional style Chicago pizza which involves lots of crust and TONS of tomato sauce. We went back to the house and the rest of the night was a relaxed chill night.

Sunday 4/12/09

*Wake-up Time: 9:30AM
*Departure Time: 10:15AM

*Service Time: 11AM

The church was absolutely amazing. We went to College Church right across from Wheaten College. They had an orchestra and a pipe organ that could bring down the house if it wanted to...and the choir, oh my gosh, the choir was like something you would hear on 89.9(the classical station). They were nothing like what we've got around here. That's not to say that our choirs around here aren't good, because believe me, they are, but holy crap, this just blew me away. The church was huge with at least 300 people attending, probably more. I don't have any pictures but I wish I did. :(

*Fogo's Reservations: 1:30PM

After church, we went to Fogo's, a Brazilian steakhouse, for lunch. It was yummmyyyyy and sooo cool. If you've never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, this is what happens: You have a disc on your table for each person of the party. It has two sides, one side is green and the other is red. You start out by going up to the salad bar and munching on salad. If all you want for the meal is a salad, you leave your disc on the red side. When you are reading for meat, you turn it over to green and you will get flocked by these guy that have skewers with different kinds of meat. They will approach you one at a time and inform you of what kind of meat they have. If you want it, they ask you how you want it(rare, medium rare, well done, etc.). They will cut a piece from the part that is cooked the way you want and you grab the pieces with your provided tongs. If you don't want to be bothered while eating, you just turn your disc to red. If you're ready for more, turn it to green and they will come within the first minute you turn it to green. Very nifty place. I enjoyed it. I only had the garlic beef and fillet Mignon. I had them both well-done and mmmmmmmmmm it was soooooo good. I preferred the fillet though. It was a little burnt on the outside which went very well with the deliciousness on the inside. Mmm, now I'm hungry for steak. :) Oh yeah, and on their wine menu(I wasn't ordering it, I was just curious), they didn't have a bottle of wine for less than $50. I actually saw one that was priced at $300. Talk about a waste of money!

After Fogo's, we went home and did Easter baskets...got lots of candy and I felt like I was going to blow up by the end of the week but it was soo worth it. :D

Cole getting his Easter basket. Isn't he cuuutttee?

Leah getting into Cole's Easter basket. :D

And then we chilled for the rest of the day. No supper because we had a late lunch. :)

Monday 4/13/09

Monday was a chill day in the Bare household. We fended for ourselves for breakfast and lunch. We did go by Uncle Mike's new and old office(he works for Edward Jones) but that was the extent of our adventures. For supper, Uncle Mike cooked some really good steaks he got from the local meat market. It was just Uncle Mike, Aunt Karla, Mom, Dad, and myself for supper.

Tuesday 4/14/09

Well, my Chicago adventure ended here. The plane took off at 12:30 and we arrived home at around 4ish. I had a great time in Chicago and I can't wait to go back! ;)

Soon to come, basically the same thing done here but for Myrtle Beach.

Kaitlin <3