Tori and Marshall's Wedding

We survived the rain and my cousin Tori and her man Marshall had a beautiful wedding outdoors at a BEAUTIFUL location!  Ty walking Grandma down the aisle...love the height differential here...=)

These girls loved playing around after the ceremony!

This is how Emory fell asleep on the way back to Morgan and Ty's...too funny!

Congrats Tori and Marshall...so so happy for you both!

Chicago to Bolivar

On Thursday, June 2 we got up, loaded up, and drove from Chicago to Bolivar, MO because my cousin Tori was getting married on Friday!  See you Chicago (and fun fact..see that "mansion" on the top of those four buildings...that's Elizabeth Taylor's mansion that she built on top of some big hotels!)

On the way to Bolivar we pulled off past St. Louis to see the house that Ryan's dad, Rick, grew up in.

We made it to Bolivar in time for the rehearsal dinner and then headed to get some custard at 3G's custard on the town square.

 We took a little driving tour of Bolivar (obviously we've been there many times before but Ty was showing Ryan some new stuff and some of the new medical offices, etc.)  Just seeing Ty make it into the back of the van was hilarious.

We stayed with Morgan and Ty and after we got Emory to bed, we stayed up later visiting and Brynn even helped Morgan make a breakfast casserole for the next day.

Chicago Vacation - Day 4

We woke up to a RAINY day on our last day.  We thought rain was probably in the forecast so we made sure to plan inside museums for the last day...and made sure to bring our umbrellas.  It was quite interesting getting to the subway stop in the RAIN!  

First stop - Shedd Aquarium

Our girls loved the penguin area!

Since we've been back we've seen Finding Dory, and it's so funny how many things at Shedd Aquarium were similar to the one on the movie.  The girls kept saying "remember when we saw that?"
Seeing the Beluga Whales..

Waiting for the Aquatics Show to start..

The weather was back to being beautiful when we got out and we grabbed some Chicago hot dogs from a vendor and sat right by the water to eat a little picnic lunch...SO FUN!

Then we hopped on a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry...didn't know how this one would be, but again...it didn't disappoint.  I bet we didn't even see 1/3 of the museum but they had lots of cool stuff for the girls and we were having a blast!  They had a huge room dedicated to this ginormous doll house...Brynn loved it!

Later in the afternoon Emory fell asleep in the stroller and we went into this "Kids Imagination Station" area...Brynn had so much fun working on different projects with Ryan.  It was so cool to watch them build things and solve the problems together.

One of my favorite things was touring a coal mine and learning all about coal mining...I don't think I took one picture but it was SO INTERESTING.  I can't even imagine what it would have been like to do that kind of work...WOW.

We ended the night (and the trip) with a visit to the American Girl store on Michigan Avenue..somebody had been patiently waiting ALL WEEK LONG to visit.

and one more stop for Chicago Deep Dish pizza...this time at Gino's, which was my favorite!

We also got another Sprinkles cupcake after dinner..HA!  It was so sad knowing it was our last day in the city...Brynn started singing this funny song about "Good bye Chicago" and Ryan was walking across the BUSY BUSY STREET videoing and it was hilarious.

If you are thinking about visiting you definitely should.  I can absolutely say it was an AWESOME week with our girls and one of the best trips we've ever taken!

Chicago Vacation - Day 3

The next morning we got up and went to the Willis Tower to the famous Skydeck.  You can see for MILES and they have the famous glass bottom ledge where you literally walk out and can see down 103 stories...AHHHH!

You think in your head "I'm totally fine...I'm just walking out but then you see out on the clear ledge and it's like "HOLY COW!"  It took me a second to SLOWLY walk out on that thing...

I should have taken a picture of what it looked like to look down 103 stories but I was a little preoccupied.  I should have had Ryan or Brynn take it...NO FEAR!

Then we headed to the Chicago Art Institute for a couple of hours before lunch.  I really wanted to go, but I didn't think anyone else would like it.  But surprisingly everyone thought it was pretty cool.  The girls loved the miniature rooms downstairs (they have recreations of famous rooms from like the 14th century through modern times)...almost like little dollhouses.  Ryan loved the famous stuff, and I just loved it all. 

We had bought this City Pass thing so we had entry to all these attractions, and it also included extra stuff..so at the art museum we got those "listening guides."  The girls loved pushing the buttons and hear them talk about the pictures (they even had kid versions).

We grabbed lunch outside at Pret (sidenote but the first time I had Pret I was in London during my high-school trip and it just seemed so "cool" to me).  It's just sandwiches and salads and stuff to go, but eating there with the girls almost felt like we were on a family trip to London or Paris...so fun!  I hope we can take them when they are older!

Then we headed to the Field Museum to spend the afternoon there.

We got to see a movie in 3D...so cool!

One of the funniest parts of the day was when we went to this soil exhibit.  It "pretended" to zap you to make you the size of a little bug and you walked through and you were the "size" of a bug in the soil.  Ryan and I were laughing and joking and like "oooo....I'm getting zapped...I'm shrinking."  Brynn looks at us kind of nervous and she was like "are you serious?"  Then we walked through and it says "you've been shrunk to the size of a bug.  Look at small you are compared to this penny."  Brynn was about to freak out because she really thought we were little.  It was hilarious.  We were able to calm her down and explain that it was just a joke.  HA!

I LOVED the Indian artifacts...

Brynn was so excited to eat at the Rain Forest cafe.  The girls thought it was SO COOL!

On the way home we stopped at Sprinkles cupcakes.  I've heard about them before but never had one.  HOLY COW...it was INCREDIBLE.  My cupcake probably weighed a pound...HA!  The chocolate icing was insane.  

Back at the hotel...

Such a great day!