The Harts Come To Visit

So this past Saturday, my family came all the way up to Chicagoland to come visit us! Boy was it fun. Saturday night we went to the Pinewood Derby with our new ward here, (because of my new calling, cub master) and Chance won the entire thing! We had a blast! :) On Sunday, we were bad, but it was the only day they were supposed to be here that would be nice enough to play outside! So we skipped church, and we went to Downtown Chicago. We started off the day by taking the 8:40 a.m. train into downtown, and walking down to the Sears Tower (Now Willis Tower) and enjoying Skydeck Chicago! We were 103 stories in the air, and stood out on a glass ledge where we could see all the way down to the street! It was terrifying! 1) I'm TERRIFIED of elevators, I get sick in them, and I just can't stand the feeling. This elevator was no normal elevator, it took us like 1 minute to get all the way up to the 103rd floor - which is like 2-3 floors per second. In my old apartment building, it took about the same time to just get up to the third floor. So basically, I was terrified, almost cried, and Devin held my hand the entire way up. My ears even popped on the ride up! We were higher than the Eiffel Tower! I just can't believe how high we were, even now. So basically - it was a big fear that I CONQUERED on Sunday :)

103 Stories above the ground, with only a few inches of glass between us and *SPLAT*!

YIKES!

           

 After the Skydeck, we found a couple taxis, and had them take us to the Schedd Aquarium. If anyone doesn't know what that is - it's a GINORMOUS aquarium with just about everything from whales to pirañas. It was incredible. They had the cutest little sea otters who were snacking on giant ice cubes that were flavored like some sort of treats, and they were playing so hard, jumping around, and going crazy. It was hilarious watching them. We also got to see a Sea Lion be trained and fed. The trainer was throwing little fish at him, and he would catch it every single time. She told him to wave at the audience, and he waved, she told him to salute, and he saluted, she told him to swim, he swam. Monkey see, Monkey do. It was super incredible seeing how well all these wild animals can be trained and I can barely even get Zoey to sit down so I can pick her up!

Sammy the Sea Lion

 

 After the Schedd Aquarium, we caught a couple taxis and headed over to Millenium Park - I hope you know that taxi riding is the most terrifying thing in the world, and had 3 taxi rides that day. They seriously drive like crazy maniacs, weave in and out of traffic, get up to 50 miles an hour and slam on their brakes all within a block. They are crazy, no doubt about it, and I hate riding in taxis. So anyway, after we get out of that dreadful thing we find the other half of our group and meet up at the big Bean in the middle of Millenium Park. So basically - it's a GIANT bean that is made of mirror materials. You can walk underneath it, and at one point you can see yourself like a million different times, or something like that. It's neat, so we took some fun pictures :)

            

 We then took off to walk down the 'Magnificent Mile", so if you don't know, the Magnificent Mile is Michigan Avenue. It has the most incredible shopping you could ever think of, it can also be called the "Million Dollar Mile" simply because it wouldn't be hard to spend a million dollars by the time you get to the end of the mile. (That is, if you HAVE a million dollars to spend, which I DON'T.) So we just stick to the name Magnificent Mile. So they have Tiffany's, Crate&Barrel, Allen Edmonds, Rolex, a 6 story Nordstrom, Burberry, all the super high end brands and stores that you love to look at, but would die if you bought. So basically, it's just super fun to go in and out of all those stores and see what these crazy rich people can afford to buy. Haha:) At least it's fun for Devin and I. Finally, we made it down one side of the mile, and back down the other side and made it all the way back down to the Chicago River. So I've failed to mention that this day is St. Patrick's day and apparently everyone in Chicago celebrates St.Patty's by dressing up super goofy, matching everyone in their group, and just drinking til their heart's content. It's pretty crazy and packed. So since Chicago has such a high Irish population, they celebrate St. Patty's Day by dying the Chicago River GREEN. I don't know how on earth they do it, or how they undo it, or why they really do it, and what the heck was going through their minds, but it looks like some sort of chemical waste that you would jump in and come out with freaky super powers. But apparently it's just plain old river water, just bright green for a few days (or weeks).

Dev & I posing at the Chicago River

Chicago River Rockin' The Green

     

 So we all had the best time with the Harts staying with us, the house was always crowded, loud, and full of laughter and fun:) We played card games and board games every single night, had Portillos and some true Chicago pizza. It was just a blast. Zoey got so much attention all day, every day that she just didn't take any naps (when usually she sleeps most of the day and plays at night time).. so needless to say she was absolutely exhausted by the time everyone left. She just absolutely loved all the attention and play time that she got. When she needed a breather, she would always go and lay on Derek's lap. For some reason, she just fell in love with Derek, she was never mean or aunery to him, she just gave him lots of kisses and lovins and laid next to him (could have something to do with him being sick while he was here), but she was oh so sad when they left. They went out the front door and she sat there and stared at the front door waiting for them to come back in, when she realized they weren't coming back, she cried for a few minutes and immediately went to sleep. Here's an adorable little picture of Zoey just POOPED after a long, crazy weekend for her. Her 'Papa' (My dad) got her a raccoon to play with. She's like our child, already getting spoiled by her grandparents. haha.

Exhausted Zoey

 

 Hart Family we miss you already and can't wait until you come and visit us again! :)