Chicago // 2016

When your besties move to Chicago, you can only wait (an excruciating) two and a half months before you jump on a plane to go and see them!

We tricked the boys and had my aunt take us to the airport, saying we were actually taking her because she was going to Texas. When we got out of the car, we asked them if they wanted to change plans and get on a plane. At first, they thought we were sending them with her -- which would have been perfectly fine with them if I wouldn't have caught them off guard -- but then hen we started getting our bags out of the car, they figured it out.. we were all going... but where?? They had no clue.

Let the guessing games begin! Note, my parents were in OKC helping get my brother's house ready to sell. They haven't moved :)

It was his actual birthday and he was a wee bit hopped up on sugary donuts... and he was obviously confused "We are going to see Gaga and Papa." Ummm, nope. 

 And then we finally told him. Pure cuteness!

 And their favorite part of the airport. I love this with his HUGE blanket.

They both had HUGE blankets. I mean, why wouldn't we take them on a plane? There are no germs, it doesn't bother Mom's OCD at alllllllll. #eyeroll.

I'm on my way to hug my bestie and her babies. My shirt says it all.

And there are those sugary donuts! Thank God they don't sell these anywhere near my house. Nobody in our family can resist them! Look how adorable this kid is!

Making sure we read all of the safety rules. Totally necessary.

Trying to sleep on a plane is hard.

#oneeyeopen

He was NOT having it!

Mike picked us up from the airport and when we arrived at their house, they had it all decorated for Dane's birthday! I mean, all.the.feels. He felt so special and was SO surprised.

Even though he doesn't look very happy in this one. I promise, he is.

Even the lions had masks. 😂😂

We walked down the street - that is what you do in the Chicago suburbs - to pick up Cooper from school. The best part is, he didn't know we were coming.

 I love how Cooper jumps when he see Dane. HAHAHA! Oh and in the end "I knew....." Whatever, no you didn't, silly kid!

We stayed and played a bit on the playground. The weather was amazing!

I just love this kiddo and was so happy to see him!

Dane thought Cooper's school was the coolest!

Goo-ber.

And this little buddy sure missed his big buddy! Preciousness!

Since Chaz's birthday was a month before and they knew we were coming on Dane's, the Lanes had presents waiting for the boys. Such a sweet surprise! I love these people!

When you go to Chicago, you get Cubs gear for your bday. Which is 100% ok with us because we are cubbies for LIFE!

And this. They may have also had cucakes for Dane's bday and this was the face of Grady's aftermath.

The weather was so nice so we decided to play outside until sundown. The boys had a blast and you could just tell they really missed each other!

So much going on here, it makes me giggle.

Apparently helmets are necessary in Chicago backyard play... note: there were no bikes anywhere in site.

And these sweet, sweet friends.

Silly and sweet and blurry.

I love these. Just LOVE them!!

Oh Grady.

Cheese.

And then it was time to relax.. Guess who curled up right next to Chaz. Precious.

The next morning it was time to head to the city!

He wasn't having momma's kisses.

Chaz thought it was the coolest! Remember, my kiddos haven't really seen public transit before (Disney doesn't really count)

Thank you to these children for properly hamming it up for me!

My fav. Forever, my fav.

And thanks to FB for the tag suggestions for this man. I could NOT stop laughing.

Coop was telling Dane all about the city and the buildings. He was the expert.

More hamming with the hubs. Aka, caged tigers.

More city watching.

Back on another the train.

We went by Destiny's work and ate lunch with her. Poor girl had to work while we explored the city! Thank goodness Mike was still a stay at home dad at this point and could show us around!

When you catch a cab and the windows are down and all the kids are on your lap!

I love it!

I told him we could stop and take pictures wherever he wanted.

And, of course, we had to go to the bean.

Oh and then there was this random fence behind the bean so my hoodrat kids decided to climb it. Who raised these kids?!?!

"Hey mom, I am in a tree. Can you take a picture of me??" I told him I would. And why not??

And then on the most amazing bridge ever! With one of the most handsome guys ever.

And then we were off to the park. Chicago has some of the most amazing parks!!

So right after that picture was taken we see a swarm of police around the wooden ship the kiddos were playing on... I immediately jump to Law and Order and think "Yep, it is a dead body. We came to Chicago and they found a dead body below the ship in one of the most beautiful parks ever. My kiddos will forever be scared for life and our trip is ruined." Yes, folks, this is what I do. I watch WAY too many crime shows.  Mike and I swoop in to get the kiddos and head to the other side of the park where it was all out of site to them. We can't see Ryan at this point but if you know him, it is obvious he is going to be somewhere in that mix. Yes, the mix of the cops and dead bodies.

We wait.. and wait... Then my mind goes else where "Yep, crackhead. They have overdosed and are now dying under the wooden ship. Yep, I now have to explain crack to my kids" Note: I am saying this all out loud to Mike and I feel he is seriously trying not to laugh at me. Also note: This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Chicago. I love this city. This is the forever rolling nonsense of crime dramas in my head.

I'm assuming at this point you have realized it was not a dead body or a crackhead dying underneath the wooden ship in the beautiful Chicago park. It wasn't. It was this.

Yep, one of those kiddos megaphone things. It was under the ship and some kid put his head in it. Yep, entire head in the megaphone. Well somehow he opened his mouth while in said megaphone and on his tiptoes. When he let his legs go, he got his mouth stuck in the megaphone and couldn't leverage himself out of it. His momma was in there with him but too freaked out to help him. I mean, the kid was dangling with his legs hanging out a megaphone. Insert where the hubs disappeared to..... he was helping said kiddo out of this predicament. Poor kiddo and poor momma just couldn't figure it out. The hubs simply lifted the boy and the leverage released on his little mouth. Voila!

And with that, back to the fun!! YAY for no dead bodies!!!

I simply love this kid.

And I love this guy... even with the photobomber in the background!

Again, such a cool park!

This kid was having a good ol' time!

Such the stud.

StudS! (Dane refused to play in my reindeer games)

Some of these slides were intense.

Hilarious!

I can't get over how much fun he is having and the weather was AMAZING!!

He wouldn't do it so we had to be the sacrificial lambs.

And just momma and baby.

Finally, he was prepared to go solo!

I love this kid on the left cheering him on!

So onto the slides! It took a while to coax him to do it himself but he finally did and LOVED it!

 SO happy!

And again with the three musketeers! Three taken, zero perfect. But I love them all!

He lives on his daddy's shoulders.

He wanted a picture right.here. No moving, no shifting for light. Right.here. He was in a mood by this point. #pickingmybattles

Dancing in the streets!

And then it was time for me to face my fears.... or sit in a booth while my hubs took the pictures. I can't do it. I just can't do heights. But these two didn't care! #buds

My heart just fell on the floor.... as did my stomach. I am pretty sure you aren't suppose to sit here but they did and didn't even flinch.

 They were like two little old men just hanging out and having a deep conversation.

I want to vomit from the height but it is beautiful. Note: the boy took this picture, not me.

You don't even want to know what I paid for this beer I don't like. #budlightgirl #butuphereineededabeer

And they had stupidly expensive good Shirley Temples.

He just ordered something random. I am sure he didn't like his either but he will never admit it.

When there are mirrors, he will look and make faces. Every.time.

Monkey see. Monkey do.

Happy boys!

One of my favs. Dane's face. BAHAHAHA!

I'll admit, it was beautiful. I'll admit, I didn't take this picture nor did I leave my seat.

He has my fear of heights. I haven't a clue what he is doing!

Notice who is missing from this picture.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and enjoying Chicago!

And then they decided to be complete goobers.

They did this for a good 10 minutes. I just wish these pictures had sound because the gigglefest was amazing!!

I love their friendship. SO precious!

There are a ton more pictures of this but this was the last. Literally "Ok boys, last one. Make it good"

They did not fail to deliver. So fun!

Chaz thought this dude was so cool!

And of course, we had to see the Lego store. These boys are obsessed.

After a quick stop at the hat store for new Cubs hats, we were headed back to the house. Cooper was already kind of used to the transit but my boys were still in awe that this is how you get around.

After dinner snuggles.

And my goofy husband with a beer and Ironman hand. BAHAHAHA!

Oh and you are welcome for this one. Shenanigans.

Yes, a full day in the city and this is all we purchased.

The next morning we headed to the beach down from the Lane's home. I seriously think my kids thought they were about to be transported to Florida when we said "beach"  Jokes on you kid, it is still cold.

Not that the cold stopped them from getting wet.

SO soaking wet.

 But look at that grin. You can tell he is so happy even if it is just a side shot.

Yes, it was cold.

Turkey.

Oh he just melts my heart!!

This area was SO pretty.

Sweet face!

Sword fighting!

And then we hit the park! These two just crack me up! Chaz is SO good with Grady

This face! BAHAHA!

And him with Chaz's hat on. Adorable!

This kid makes me happy!

So does this one!

His giggles are so good!

So Chaz was sitting in the swing like this and it almost looked as if he was levitating. We had so much fun with these pictures. We were rolling.

He is so fun!

Sweet boy!

And then he gave me the I'm-done face

C'mon, one more!

That evening we made them dinner and hired a babysitter so we could go into the city and have a grown-up night! I came downstairs to see them like this...

And tried to get a good picture. Tried.

When some were cooperating, others were not.

Never gonna happen. Thanks you stinky kids.

And we found an Arkansas Alumni bar, which was oddly located in the back of a larger bar/club. It was weird but once we were in the room, it was all good because our Hogs were on!

And yes, we called them.

And then we headed down to Wrigleyville because, why not!?!? We were in Chicago! The Hogs won and the Cubs were winning! Oh and Pokemon was there.

This is really the only and best group shot we got. Major failing on all points. Goodness I love these people.

 And then there was this one time when my hubs snuck into Wrigley. Serious, y'all. He.snuck.in.

We were all four walking down the sidewalk next to Wrigley. We were actually headed to a bar to catch the end of the game. Next thing we knew, my hubs split to the left and was inside Wrigley. We nonchalantly tried to follow him but the security guard stopped us. The guard just happened to have his back turned when the hubs slipped in.

The hubs texted me and was like "I'm sorry but now I have to stay!" Obviously, I told him to stay! It was the NLCS in Chicago and the Cubs were winning, and would go on to win and win the WORLD SERIES! I mean, in case you aren't a baseball person. We are HUGE Cubs fans so this was so cool. Did he break the rules? Sure. Did we really care? Nope.

Seriously, so cool.

I took a picture of the bar sign so I could tell him where to go. He doesn't follow directions very well so I thought this would make it easier. Nope, Mike had to go get him. HA!

And this is seriously the only picture I got of us. #fail But I love this girl something fierce.

Yep. #flythew #gocubsgo

We checked in with the babysitter to see if we could be a little late and she sent us this. I think they are ok.

They were certainly all smiles the next morning!

We got to hang out a bit in the morning as our flight didn't leave until the afternoon. Chaz helped Coop with his homework.

 Chaz got invited up front and was so excited! He didn't want to leave!

And then we were off. Chaz stole my phone and took pictures as we were leaving.

And then they zonked. Perfect ending to an amazing long weekend!

We had such a fantastic time! The time was too short but so many memories were made. I can't wait until the holidays so we can see these fantastic people again. Love ya, Lanes!!