Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Family Chicago Trip 2013: Part 1

I grew up outside of Chicago, my parents still live there as well as a couple of my siblings but we don't get back there that often; it is expensive to fly five people! This year we saved up and spent an awesome week in Chicago.   I took a ton of pictures, I am a photographer what do you expect?  I will be sharing some of fun and highlights over the next few days.

We arrived late on a Friday night, followed by an even later dinner and an even later bedtime.  Most of us survived... some did not.

The late night and not enough sleep made mini-golf just so so hard.
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Thankfully, a nap did him good and the fun continued.
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My brother-in-law was a favorite and a really good sport when they kids dressed him up.
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My brother-in-law also introduced us to the fun of a "Root beer Tasting".  A Root Beer tasting could be considered the Mormon version of a wine tasting.
He has bottles of root beer from around the country, literally.
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Ross' personal root beer supply
His friends will actually bring him root beer when they go on vacations as they know how much he loves it.   He would present each bottle of root beer, tell us a little about it and give us all a little bit to sample and we would all rate it on a scale of 1 to 10.  It was seriously so much fun and I was floored at the different kinds and styles of root beers there are (we are going to be introducing Eric's family to this fun while in Utah this week).

On Monday we went to the Morton Arboretum.   This is a beautiful park with tons to see and an awesome children's garden.  I had forgotten how green everything is in the midwest, it really was so beautiful! 
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We went with my brother Aaron's family  (he was at work but his wife and 4 kids came)
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The kids loved catching tadpoles, there were hundreds so it was pretty easy to do.
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Pretending to be spiders on the giant web was fun too
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The oldest and youngest cousin sharing a snack
There was one near disaster though as you see, the princess got her shirt wet (yes it may have been her own fault)- but a princesses shirt cannot be wet!  
Daddy to the rescue, carrying for maximum sun exposure to dry her shirt.
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It was a fun first few days, with much more to come. 

29 comments:

  1. I have never heard of a root beer tasting. My Libby loves root beer; she would think that was so fun! Looks like a great vacation!

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  2. It really is a lot of fun and something fun and easy to do together

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  3. Liz @ A Nut in a NutshellJuly 16, 2013 at 7:10 AM

    His mini-golf meltdown is so cute (to me). :) You're making my heart ache for Chicago. I so miss it, but I'll be there next week! Yay!!!! Love what the kids did to your brother-in-law. Hilarious!

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  4. Thank goodness for naps, at least he is adorable pouting ;D I love the pictures! It looks like you guys had a blast!! I've never been to an arboretum (in fact it took me a couple tries just to get the word right!), I wonder if there are any up our way.. hmm!

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  5. Kristine Roof FachetJuly 16, 2013 at 8:50 AM

    A root beer tasting sounds really fun, but I can't imagine where he found all those different root beers!

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  6. What a massive collection of rootbeer! That is pretty cool
    Glad you all had a good time. Looks like the kids loved the arboretum :)

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  7. As an avid root beer drinker (and birch beer!!) I'm seriously impressed by the collection! Such fun photos!

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  8. Wow... that is a lot of root beer! I never thought that there were so many kinds.


    I'm glad that you all had a great time on vacation.

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  9. I love the pictures! I'm so glad you had fun! A root beer tasting sounds fantastic!

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  10. I'm going to Chicago next week for BlogHer - but it will be so whirlwind I won't have time to enjoy the city. Which is a bummer. I've been there before atnd have had a lot of fun. A root beer bottle collection - now that's original! Who ever knew there were so many different kinds!

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  11. Your BIL looks SO happy being queen for the day! ;o)

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  12. Bring on the photos! I love them!! The one with your hubs drying the princess' shirt cracks me up!!

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  13. I love the Root Beer tasting. That's awesome. I actually didn't know it tasted different all over the country. Looks like a great start to the trip y'all had!

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  14. I love Chicago! And looks like you guys had a blast!

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  15. Thanks! Me too, it is one of my favorite cities

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  16. It can be different within the same city depending on who makes it.. these aren't your A&W's, but all specialty root beers and some are very strange.

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  17. Thanks! Yes, she definitely has her flair for the dramatic.

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  18. It really is a lot of fun! The way my brother-in-law presented it and the whole group thing made it so much fun

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  19. Lol! Yes and I am sure he is even happier I shared that picture

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  20. Oh jealous you are going for BlogHer.. one of these days I want to go. I should have gone this year since I could see family too but hard since I already went this year to justify the cost.

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  21. It was a lot of fun, we will be doing another this week while we are on vacation in Utah.

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  22. I had no idea there were so many kinds either! My husband went to a place in CA called Rocket Fizz and said there was literally a whole wall just of different kinds of rootbeer!

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  23. Yes, I am amazed at his collection too!

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  24. Yes, it really is so kid friendly and definitely a place they always enjoy. My mom has a season pass and always takes her grandkids there

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  25. I know it is crazy!! Though my husband discovered a place in CA called Rocket Fizz and he said there was an entire wall of different kinds of rootbeer... who knew!

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  26. I had to google it to get the word right too :)

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  27. It was cute to me too- hehe... though well dealing with it made it not as cute. Wish I was going to Blogher, that would be fun!

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  28. Glad I'm not the only one ha ha!

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