Monical's pizza

Tried another Illinois pizza joint with a coworker. They farthest north they go is Bourbonnais which is about an hour south of me. They are known for their super thin crust and it was delicious!!! 

Mail!

I love getting mail from the girls!! It melts my heart <3

Happy St Patrick's Day!!!

I was missing my family terribly this St Patrick's day. You take things for granted when you know you have them. I appreciate so much more now. However, I did get my Irish on with my friend Becky and a few of her friends.

Adler Planetarium

I found out (would have loved to have known this a year ago) that Bank of America has partnered with a bunch of museums and they offer free admission the first weekend of every month. My Chicago bucket list is getting smaller!! I went to check out the Adler Planetarium. The only thing I had to pay for was the shows and truthfully those are definitely the best part. They have tons of hands on activities and it would be so fun to bring the girls!

The Sun is the screen for one of the theaters.

 One of the really neat exhibits was the Atwood Sphere. It was constructed over 100 years ago in Chicago for the Chicago Academy of Sciences and transferred to the Adler many many years later where they restored the sphere. It's made out of metal and when you go inside...you can see lots of constellations from holes drilled into the sphere. It rotates on an axis so you can see all of the constellations displayed on the sphere. Truthfully, I had no idea what it was but after I found out how old it was and the story behind it I was much more intrigued.

The first show was amazing. It went through all of the most popular constellations and talked about the different galaxies. The second show was at the end of the day and I kinda fell asleep in it. It was all about different galaxies and it was projected on a dome screen on the ceiling. It was comfortable and dark. A recipe for a petite siesta.

Diana comes to Chicago!

After a 3 hour delay, we immediately stopped for some food. We went to Labriola Bakery in Oak Brook, IL and it was amazing!! We couldn't decide between a couple of dishes so we picked two and split them. The homemade chips were awesome!

Burger and Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Brought home dessert

We headed downtown that night to grab some real Chicago pizza at Pizzeria Uno.

Numero Uno minus mushrooms on one side- I still don't care for mushrooms

SUPER excited!!!

I've been DYING to try Gibson's steakhouse since I moved. We went there for lunch on Sunday which was perfect. It was just as delicious as I expected. It was definitely my favorite from the weekend.

Calamari

Diana tried a sampler of filets with 4 different crusts. I just wanted steak and mashed potatoes. Probably my favorite meal. Shrimp and Grits comes in a very close second.

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 Gibson's is known for their HUGE desserts. One dessert would be plenty for a table of 4. It took me two weeks to finish the Turtle Pie.

Despite the size, Diana managed to finish the ENTIRE creme brulee. I helped with a few spoonfuls but she took on the majority. I was quite impressed. If you love creme brulee I guarantee you have never had any that is this good. 

We were quite full and tired after lunch and accidentally passed out when we got home. As soon as she woke up she was ready to eat again. I took her to Portillo's which is famous for hot dogs and Italian beef. Diana had a true Chicago dog...and then wanted custard. 

I couldn't let her eat alone :)

The original Italian Beef was created at Al's in little Italy. Another thing to check off!

Don't worry, we split it and it was delicious!

The snow started to come down right as we were leaving Al's. So we headed to Navy Pier. It was cold and SUPER windy. They don't call it the Windy City for nothing. Despite the cold, we went all the way to the end of the pier to look at the frozen Lake Michigan and play in the snow.

 I made her try another Chicago staple...Garrett's popcorn

It was sooo cold outside and we didn't have much time left before heading to the airport so we stopped into the Museum of Science and Industry. I have a membership and their OMNIMAX movies really are cool. It's a 5 story domed screen. Definitely a neat experience.

We goofed around for a little bit but the snow was coming down really hard and we decided that the best thing to do was to head to the airport. It's about a 30-45 min drive from downtown and it took us 2 hours!! Horrible driving conditions but we made it. Her flight was then delayed like 5 hours. I'm so happy that she came and we had such a blast!!! I was able to check off so many things that I've been wanting to do and had some awesome company! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!