Windy City Part 1

Once upon a time back in February, Travis found out he was going to a conference in Chicago, but it wasn't until September.  It seemed like it was a lifetime away at the time but by the time summer got here and things needed to be planned and made definite time went by so fast. 

To start off our vacation we dropped the kiddos off at my amazingly helpful moms' house.  We headed up to the airport the next morning from my mom's to cut the driving time at 5 in the morning.  We got to the airport and Travis got a text alert saying our plane was delayed.  We thought this was silly since all of the boards and the crew at the desk said we were right on time.  Seriously, 20 minutes before boarding they changed their minds saying the plane was now delayed.  Man, if we would have known we could have been exploring or something not waiting by our gate. We ended up waiting like 3 hours for our plane, which meant our connection in Denver may leave without us. To say I was panicked is a understatement. Vanessa was meeting us in Denver and flying on to Chicago with us.  We were all supposed to eat at Denver but we got off our plane ran to the next gate in Denver and boarded.  The lady at the ticket counter asked, "Are you guys from Salt Lake?" we said "yes", she said "Oh good, we could only hold this gate two more minutes for you guys, good thing you made it."   Thank the Good Lord, I know Vanessa was sweating it too.  She was worried what she was going to do once she arrived in Chicago by herself.  The flight to Chicago was a bit long and we were all famished.  Apparently, now days they don't give peanuts and a drink for free anymore.  We bought some snacks but we learned our lesson.  ALWAYS, ALWAYS pack a huge snack bag, for waiting in the over priced airport and for the over priced flight food.  

Once we landed in Chicago we headed to our hotel which was downtown.  I love public transportation.  We were able to take a train basically to our hotel instead of having to get a taxi.  We checked in at our hotel and headed out to find a place to eat.  We must have hit a jackpot because some people we met on the train were also eating there and the place was packed.  It was place called Millers, I think.  We were all in much better spirits after a nice hot meal.  We headed back to the motel after hitting up McDonald's for a little ice cream. 

We woke up early on Thursday morning to ensure that we could get all we wanted to out of our Go Chicago Go Passes.  Those passes paid for themselves and more.  I am so glad LeAnne told us about them.  We wanted to go to the Navy Pier first.  We were told if we wanted to get a good time to go on the Architecture Water tour we needed to book early, so we got there right when it opened to request a sunset river boat ride.  While we were at the Pier we thought we should explore and do the Ferris  Wheel and other attractions our pass got us.  Turns out the only thing that interested us was the Ferris Wheel.   

Since the Navy Pier didn't hold out attention very long we decided to head back into the City and hit up some other fun things.  We caught a bus and decided we wanted to go to John Hancock Building.  On the way to the John Hancock building I saw a sign for American Girl Dolls.  Are you kidding me?  I had to go in.  I loved those books as a child, I even have the Samantha doll.  I would love another doll, but according to some I am a little too old to have dolls.  We learned that in the bottom of a lot of the buildings down town there are tons of shops and stores.  I was in HEAVEN.  Too bad, shopping was not on everybody else's agenda. After the American Girl store we went to the Lego store, that place was awesome yet so expensive. I thought we could all use a chocolate break so we headed over to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop.  We have been to the one in San Fran. but why not hit up another one? We got a much needed boost of energy and headed over to the John Hancock building.  It was amazing what the Civil Engineers and Architects have accomplished.  It was fun to be able to see the tops of the buildings and see pools and gardens, City living could be for me, not Travis but I could do it. As we were walking around the Observatory there was a movie playing about the history of the building. I told everybody we should watch it, it looked interesting. Apparently, Vanessa and I were more tired than we thought.  I don't even remember falling asleep.  Thank you, Travis for snapping this awesome picture.   

Once we woke up and remembered we are on a tight schedule we headed out to find the Chicago History Museum.  We decided to walk up there since it didn't seem like it was that far away.  I am so glad we walked because that is how you really see the city.  We ended up walking through some amazing little neighborhoods and we even walked through a movie set.  We were really worried at first because we saw SWAT trucks and fire engines and police then we realized, everybody is just standing around.  The show is called Crisis or something like that.  

The Chicago History Museum was AWESOME! I love history.  It was so fun to learn about this crazy city.  This city has a very colorful history.  We closed the museum down much to the my travel companions dismay.  It is tiring to go the museums and stand and walk around. Don't get me wrong though they did enjoy it, but I think everybody's feet were a little sore after the walk and standing for so long. We headed back to the Pier for our Architecture tour after the museum.  This time we took the bus.  On the way there we decided we were all FREEZING.  The wind had come up and it was cold.  We decided if we were going to survive this river cruise we needed a coat! We headed back to the mall and hit up Aeropostale.  Yay, for cheap jackets.  I loved the fact we were like a walking advertisement for Aeropostale.  

We got to the river cruise just in time to get a great spot in line and a great seat. Vanessa was struggling on the cruise because she was exhausted.  She came off of a week of night shifts right before the trip. The river boat cruise is a must if you ever visit the windy city. Seriously, people are so ingenuitive. What the engineers did to make the building work and how they built them.  Amazing.  I loved learning about all the buildings.  It was amazing to me how many of the buildings were made so the people who lived in them never had to leaven them, even for work. Crazy city people!

When the river boat cruise was finished we headed back to Michael Jackson's Steakhouse.  We saw the menu earlier in the day and thought "Hey that isn't that bad, we can do this".  Much to our dismay we were not dressed appropriately and apparently we saw the lunch menu not the dinner menu, $50 for the cheapest plate, you have got to be kidding me.  We instead headed to a little Italian place that was not very good and we sat outside and got rained on.  Not cool but we finished the night with Pink Berry! That stuff is so good.  I could eat it everyday! 

GHOST BUSTERS

This building used to be the biggest building in the world area wise before the Pentagon was built.  The Kennedy's owned it but sold it.  

This is from the top of the Ferris Wheel

Outside the John Hancock Building

"Please Travis, just let me buy one doll.......just one.......for Jaylee, yeah for Jaylee!"

The set of Crisis

Top of John Hancock

Panoramic of River boat cruise

Sears Tower in the background

First Day of Many Days of School

Sawyer started pre-school.  He was so excited.  He gets so sad when he asks where someone is and I tell him they are at school.  " I want to go to school mom".  I hope he continues to enjoy going to school and learning new things.  He said he loved going to school and he had fun playing with the kids.  He loves Ms. Carma, she is amazing with the little kiddos. 

Where is the Trail????

In preparation of hunting season Travis found an area of the mountain he wanted to scout out and put up some hunting cameras.  "We can just hike right into it Laraine" he said, "It won't be that bad", he promised.  " "just over that hill" he said.  Boy, were we in for a little adventure.  

We started off by driving up this crazy road/4-wheeler trail,  more of a trail if you ask me and we were driving our Suburban.  I am sure people were looking at us like we were crazy. We finally got to our destination once we had been scrambled in the car from all of the jostling. We loaded up the kids, and the trail cameras and were off.  The beginning of the trail was rough because it is an old 4-wheeler trail that they had dug massive holes in to deter ATV's.  The holes were full of water and cow dung, which was fun to dodge.  The hike for the first part wasn't too bad.  It was gorgeous and a gradual up hill but nothing I couldn't handle.  When we got to our first big hill I thought "I run a lot, heck, I just did a half marathon,  I got this."  There is a saying that says something like "A hiker makes a good runner, but a good runner does not make you a good hiker."  I was humbled going up that big hill.  My heart was pounding out of my chest.  I had a brief though, well I guess if I did of a heart attack this is a lovely place to die.  Just bury me here. 

We eventually made it to the top and looked at the area Travis wanted to put his cameras.  The area looked like prime deer country, the only problem.  Between us and the area was massive amounts of scrub oak, otherwise known as torture and lots of swearing. Due to the amount of oak we couldn't tell how steep the terrain actually was, but we soon found out on our way down the mountain.  

Travis walked in front of me in case I fell he could stop me, but let's face it if I fell into him we would all fall.  We wouldn't go too far though because we would get tangled in the branches of that awful scrub brush.  Fortunately, we didn't end up falling but we both had scrapes all up our arms and at one point Travis was holding a branch for me and it slipped.  The branch hit me right on the bridge of my nose.  I may have shed of few tears, that is just what happens when you get hit on the nose though. We made it about half way there and I was seriously contemplating laying down and calling in the helicopters.  This was not a small hike like I was promised, anymore.  The map lied to Travis.  The ups and down were so intense. Eventually the kids were hungry so we stopped for snacks and sent Travis to see how far we needed to go. 

This is where we wanted to go back as you can see it was still down a hill and up another hill. The picture does not do it justice

When Travis returned he decided we were not going to go where he thought he wanted to go, Thank the Good Lord!!! We could turn around, oh but all that up hill.  Seriously, shoot me now.  We started out and it wasn't that bad.  We found some places to put the cameras up and I started to head back while Travis put the last camera up.  The hike up the mountain was intense but we had found an area that wasn't as infested with scrub oak. Again, my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was sucking massive amounts of air. Travis was not too far behind me and he was looking similar to how I felt.  We eventually made it too the top with not much time to spare.  When we got to the top we saw a huge storm rolling in.  We had to high tail it down the trail which with a baby on your back is not very easy.  The last 500 yards of the trail the heavens broke open and the thunder and lightening were giving up quite a show right over our heads.  To say I was a bit anxious is an understatement. We made it back safely and had lunch in the back of the Suburban while we waited out the floods. 

HAHAHAHA, we stole your chips mom! 

Stop Mom, Stop! 

When we got home we had to work in the garden to prepare it for our next adventure of going to Chicago!!!! As you can see Jaylee got her fill of dirt for the day while helping dig potatoes. 

Beaver Mountains

Over Labor Day weekend we wanted to have a pretty chill vacation.  We planned to go hike on a trail that we knew from our Forest Service days, however, when we got to the destination it had started to rain, it was windy, and still in the shadow of the mountain.  Therefore, it was way too cold for the kids.  Heck, it was too cold for me.  We decided we would take our picnic else where so we turned around and headed up over Kimberly.  It was a really fun drive, I forgot how pretty the north end of the Tushars are.  We ended up back in Marysvale at Tugg's for some soft serve ice cream, a well deserved treat. We drove the back way to Monroe and ate our picnic at our house.  Not exactly what we had planned but we still enjoyed being with each other. 

On Sunday we headed over to Beaver for Yardley Family dinner since Mariah was in charge of it. WE had it at the park which was a great idea so the kids could play but the weather wanted to be difficult.  That is the best part about being a kid though, you don't care if you get wet. It was fun to be at the dinner.  It has been a long time since we have been to Fast Sunday dinner.  I love that my family still has that tradition. 

After dinner we headed over the mountain to Circleville to spend some time with my Grandparents.  We stayed overnight because on Monday we planned a grand adventure. We set out on Monday to drive the loop from Marysvale across the mountains down to Junction again. If you haven't caught the theme of Labor Day it was spend as much time in the mountains as possible.  We headed out just before lunch because the rains come in the afternoon and make driving not very much fun.  We stopped by Tuggs and grabbed some more ice cream.  The drive up the mountain was a lot more steep than I remember.  I used to drive that road like it was nothing.  I have gotten soft in my old age. The views from the top were amazing.  Grandma had never been on the road before.  The trip lasted a lot longer than expected but we had fun chatting and looking at the amazing beauty of the Beaver Mountains.