My Kind of Town

Well…it’s OVER.  Not summer…just yet…but my very first presentation.  Lawdhavemercy. And this pretty much sums up my feelings about it all until I was finished…

Nervous would be an understatement.  But I did it…and I had a BLAST!!!  And I met SO many AMAZING educators!!!  Everyone was so sweet and they were even smiling at me as I rambled on and on.  I know I’m not funny, so they either felt really sorry for me or they were genuinely *enjoying* my little presentation.  To make myself feel better, I’ll go with the latter ;)

I wish I would’ve taken more pictures, but my nerves got the best of me.  I couldn’t even drink my latte!  I had to **friendly hijack** some of these from Instagram :)

See…look how sweet they are :)

  

 

 

I can think of 100 things I want to do differently/better/not at all the next time, but I SO appreciate everyone’s sweet, smiling faces and kind words in Chicago!  Such a fun experience and I LOVED meeting so many sweet faces!!!!

I even got to attend Abby’s amazing presentation!!! And she rocked it…of course.  Love this girl!

A little post presentation lunch action. Grilled Cheese sandwiches on a Sunday afternoon on the patio…life doesn’t get much better! :)

 

Since Mr. Spouse and I haven’t traveled to a different state without the kids before, we decided this was the perfect opportunity to get away for a few days.  Praise Jesus for grandparents!  Mr. Spouse was quite the trooper.  He sat through my entire presentation and didn’t heckle me…I call that a success.  AND…he braved the streets of Chicago with me & Abby and didn’t complain while we spent the afternoon shopping.  We need more Chicago in our lives.

Wrinkles, anyone?!

We started every morning with one of these.  Y’all.  It’s 20 minutes to the nearest Starbuck’s where I live, so the fact that we had one in our hotel couldn’t be taken for granted.

We were definitely the ultimate tourists…minus the big double decker bus.  Who knows when we’ll ever be alone again, so we decided to make the most of it while we were there. 

Somehow Mr. Spouse talked me into braving the elevator ride at the John Hancock Observatory.  Nauseating and fun all in the same breath.  I have to say, the view of Chicago from 1160 ft. in the air is STUNNING!!!!

   

We even made it over to Shedd Aquarium.  Ummmm…expensive…WOW.  We’ll be living on Ramen for the next few months.  But it was totally AMAZING!!!!

And look…we pet the sting rays!  SO fun!!!  This is the part where I felt totally guilty for having a good time without my kids.  Sigh.

 

We were the ultimate tourists when we took an Untouchables tour of the city.  Not gonna lie…mob history completely fascinates us.  And it was awesome.

We even managed to treat ourselves to a 3D movie…that WASN’T animated!!!  And I didn’t fall asleep!  We saw World War Z and LOVED it. But now I’m totally freaked out about a zombie apocalypse and I’m just certain that’s how I’ll meet my demise.

When we weren’t sightseeing, we were eating.  I’m glad we walked everywhere because I consumed copious amounts of calories.  Between the deep dish pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, and hot dogs I was one happy camper.  Sure…everything is fitting extremely snug these days, but it was worth it.  Chicago’s got it goin’ on in the food department!

 

Randomly, Mr. Spouse’s mom was visiting Chicago at the same time, so we got to meet up with her a few times for dinner.  Unexpected surprises are our favorite!We even met up with Mr. Spouse’s cousin and his wife for a little river side dinner…complete with a curious RAT.  I about DIED.

Needless to say, it was the **perfect** quick getaway with my favorite person. 

I’m happy to be home and am SO anxious to start getting ready for a new school year!!!  Throwback Thursday and Favorite Pins Friday will return this week, so if you’re still looking for a linky, stay tuned.  I’ll be back tomorrow to share some fun math ideas and activities I shared in Chicago!  Can’t wait!!  Have a great day!