Adventures in the Windy City

Last weekend we spent three days in Chicago!

 

The trip had two purposes. 1) to help my grandma move out her old house. 2) to introduce The Mr. to Chicago since he'd never been there! 

We spent the first day packing up and cleaning out my grandma's old house. She lived in this house since 1951!

She's been living in an assisted-living retirement home for almost a year, so needless to say there was some pretty gross stuff to clean out. Like really old food. YUM!

That night we saw a comedy show at Second City (improv and sketch comedy). Second City has launched the careers of TONS of SNL stars. It was hilarious!

On day two we continued to clean out the house and pack up stuff to ship to CA for me and my parents.

That night we went with my parents to Greek Town to a Greek Islands restaurant for yummy Greek food.

The we drove around the city and saw University of Illinois Chicago where my dad went to college. Then we looked at the gorgeous city lights from the Adler Planetarium.

On the third day we took a massive tour of Chicago. We walked all around the loop.

We went up to the top of Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower)

They have this cool thing now where you can walk on these enclosed glass ledges. Pretty awesome and surprisingly thrilling.

My mom kept trying to take a picture of us with my iPhone, but kept failing. She finally got one and I just love the looks on our faces. Pure disgust.

Then we went over to Millennium Park.

 

I couldn't believe so many kids were playing in fountain! But there looked like they were having so much fun it was a blast to watch.

 

 Next we went over to THE BEAN! 

It's such a fun piece of interactive art.

 Then we walked around some more in Millennium park.

After that we took a quick taxi over to Navy Pier to walk around and get a drink. 

It was SUCH as pretty day.

We ended out tour with a water taxi from Navy Pier back to where our car was parked by Willis Tower. It was really fun to boat in the river.

Next time we go I want to go to more museums. We just didn't have time this time!

We're always on the go. And NOLA recommendations wanted...

We're settling into our new home and loving it. I wish I had more time to just be home and enjoy San Diego, but it's hard because it seems we're always on the go!

I'm gone for work during the week a lot. And we have lots of other long weekend trips happening.

Last weekend we were in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Here's an aerial shot of where we spent most of our time.

That's right. Laaaazzzzy river, baby! We got upgraded to a poolside suite at the Westin Kierland. Thanks Starwood!

This Summer we're also going to Chicago, Boston, and the Oregon Coast. Whew!

AND this Fall we're going to New Orleans. I just booked our hotels and flights for a 4.5 day trip to The Big Easy!

I've never been to NOLA before, so I need recommendations from all of you southern gals! Where to eat? What to do? Other tips?

Caribbean Cruise Part 4: On the Boat (and final thoughts on crusing)

On our cruise we had three full days at sea, and all of our nights were at sea except our Puerto Rico night.


During the days we spent our time working out, sunning, reading, swimming, playing games, and eating, eating, and more eating.


We also got massages one day and attended a few of the "Celebrity Life" events (cooking show, Bermuda Triangle lecture, etc.) The massage was good but WAY overpriced and the Celebrity Life events were generally mediocre at best.

We did enjoy some of the evening events like the Cirque show and the Christmas show.


I most enjoyed just relaxing during the days at sea. We had a lot of quality time as a family playing Upwords and Hearts together. We had a balcony room and I really liked sitting out the balcony reading and looking at the sea.

(obligatory shot of the daily "towel art" in the room).

I really enjoyed our nightly dinners at the special "Aqua Class" restaurant, Blu.


The food in Blu is supposed to be a little more healthy and gourmet than the regular dining room. I liked the food in Blu a lot, but I thought overall it was A-/B+ food (but that was way better than the buffet lunch food). I think it's really hard to have good food that appeals the masses and can be made in mass quantities, ya know? Maybe I'm a little bit of a food snob. :)


Blu was a gorgeous restaurant with great service. Loved this chandelier.


My parents and us brought a bunch of our favorite wines onto the ship and payed the corkage fees at Blu to drink them with dinner. We had some killer wines (Hope & Grace, Opus, Cakebread, Tantara, Beckman, and an Italian Brunello). Here we are with a bottle of one of our favorite wines, Beckman Estate Syrah.

Note: Email me if you want my cruise booze smuggling tips. :)

It's no secret that I love dressing up, so I really enjoyed the formal nights.


My Mom does too, because she bought The Mr. and my Dad matching tuxedo vests for the first formal night. So fun!


My little family on the second formal night.



The ship was decked out for Christmas. Loved all these lights!


And this gingerbread house was huge and amazing!


Actually the Celebrity Eclipse was a beautiful ship in general. It's brand new and state of the art. It has lots of cool art and great decor in the social spaces. I loved this giant turquoise flower.


Overall I liked cruising a lot, but not sure if I'd do it again soon. I think I'd rather just stay at beautiful resort on an island (like St. Kitt's for example). Here are my pros and cons of our cruise trip...

Pros: Easy vacation for a group with different interests, great way to see multiple places in a short amount of time, effortless traveling, limited planning needed for meals/activities, gorgeous ship, good excuse to dress up every night, more fun than a standard resort hotel, cool amenities like free room service and unlimited ice cream all the time.

Cons: Feels a little like mass-produced "luxury", food is often quantity over quality, night life was pretty much non-existent, on-board activities were hit-or-miss, felt constrained by ship's schedule so sometimes time in port sometimes felt rushed, and Celebrity was constantly trying to "upsell" you on beverage packages, extra events on board, specialty dining, future cruises, etc.

Have you cruised before? Do you agree with my pros and cons?

Caribbean Cruise Part 3: St. Kitt's

In St. Kitt's we started the day off early with a rainforest zipline adventure.

This was another cruise-affiliated excursion and we loved it.


The adventure started with a terrifying jeep ride up the hills into the rainforest. I literally thought the "jeep" was going to tip over and/or I was going to fall out of the back. Look how thrilled I look.


But I survived and the ziplining was great!

The Mr. clearly had no fear as he held on with only one hand.


The views from the ziplines were so pretty and the zipline was just the right amount of thrilling. The only scary part of ziplining is the "end" of each line. Look at me all balled up in the "breaking" position. Ha!


The views were great! Beautiful forest with the ocean in the distance.


I was glad that I got my parents to do it with us. Here they are racing on the zipline. Go Mom!


After the final zipline a little boy brought his baby monkey over to us! I guess there are monkeys all over St. Kitt's but they are not native to the island.


So stinkin' cute!


After ziplining we took a taxi over to Frigate Bay to spend the afternoon on the beach (Frigate bay is near the St. Kitt's Marriott).


There was an adorable beach bar with cheap cheap Caribbean beers that we thoroughly enjoyed.


And there was a man selling fresh coconuts on the beach. We bought one from him and he sliced it open with a machete for us. Now that's some fresh coconut water!


I loved St. Kitt's so much. The rainforest and the beach were both so beautiful and the island didn't feel that crowded or touristy. I'd definitely love to go back someday.

Tomorrow, I'll conclude the cruise recaps with our days at sea!

Caribbean Cruise Part 2: St. Maarten and Newlywed Game

St. Maarten was our second port. For St. Maarten we booked a "Kayak and Snorkel Adventure" through the cruise ship, that was great!

We didn't take any pictures on that excursion because we didn't want to get my camera wet, but we had a lot of fun. We kayaked all around a big bay and then up to beach where we then jumped in the water to snorkel. We saw a ton of beautiful fish out there

After our excursion we walked around St. Maarten (Dutch side of the island). There's a great little area by the beach with cheap beers where you can walk around drinking and shopping. That's definitely the Mr's kind of shopping!


There were some fun reggae bands playing too.


I really liked St. Maarten and thought our time there was too short. I would love to go back see the French side some day.

The night after St. Maarten we showered up and had a nice dinner on the ship.


After dinner we went to see (and try to get on) the "Newlywed/Not So Newlywed Game Show" that was happening on board the ship.


We we didn't get picked but my parents did! They were the "old married couple" (married 38 years!)


It was HILARIOUS! For them and for me!


I was shocked how well they knew each other and at some of their answers more racy answers! My Dad even knew my Mom's bra size. Very impressive, Dad!


They didn't win. They couple who'd been married 2 years won. But they got a nice tote bag and a lot of laughs as their consultation prize.


When we got back to our room that night the little monkey we'd bough in St. Maarten was tucked into bed by the turn down service. So cute!


Tomorrow, St. Kitt's!