Chicago

The girls had spring break last week. Anisa, went to WA (LUCKY), and Sara and I were not going to sit at home like we always do. Spring Break in WA was usually spent camping at Ft. Stevens, so this year we had to think of something new to do.

"Hey, let's go to Chicago! There's an IKEA down there." So, I got on the internet and found all the things we HAD TO do while we were down south.

On our way down the freeway, we spotted a Trader Joes!!! I about had a heart attack. We didn't expect to find a TJs!!! We went to the next exit, got off the freeway and came back to shop! We bought shampoos, conditioners, soaps, and red potatoes. But the most important thing was the Mochi ice cream. The girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff. I think they could probably live on it. On the way back up north, we made a quick stop in TJs again and bought 6 boxes of the stuff. Packed it in ice and it made it home just fine.

Our next stop was Gurnee Mills mall. It's in Gurnee, IL. Ok, first let me say, we thought the roads in WI were bad, but OH MY!! The roads in IL are horrible. I need to check the suspension in my van from hitting so many holes in the road! Ok, back to the shopping. The mall was cool. We scored at the Hollister store. And we found Ruby Tuesday, but we weren't hungry yet. So, we headed south some more to IKEA!! It was fun, but I like the set up of the Seattle Ikea better. I'll find out about the Portland Ikea soon. This one was 3 stories and BIG, but the way it was set up, I felt like I missed stuff. It's hard to explain, just that I wasn't that thrilled with the way the store was. BUT, it's IKEA, and I did find some treasures. I found some cute seat cushions, vases for Sara's room, a cheese grater, a special bowl for Sara, an ice cream scoop and some raspberry cookies.

By the time we finished in Ikea, we were hungry. We found a Chevy's and were thrilled, so we had mexican food (haven't had Chevy's since July). YUMMY!! We brought some salsa and chips home for Travis.

We found a hotel, went to bed and got up early and headed into Chicago. We didn't really have a goal, and didn't know where to go, so we drove through and looked at what we found. This is the top of the public library downtown. It was very cool. We had to drive under some buildings which was also fun.

We parked and walked around a little section. I found a bank, got some money and we found a 7-11 and got Coke Slurpees. YUMMY!!! We were done shopping and walking, so we headed back up north. On the way, we stopped and got Ruby Tuesdays for lunch (a little disappointment, I was hoping for a jalapano chili burger, but they don't have that one here in the midwest!). With full tummies and treasures filling up the van, we drove happily back home. :)