{Food, Friends & Fun} Chicago, IL

 I just got home from Chicago, where I spent a few days attending a volunteer leadership conference.  What a fun time! It was my first trip to Chicago and because of both our hotel location and our flight times, we really had a lot of time outside of the conference to visit some neat places.

Here are some of the highlights (friends, food & fun) from our trip!

K & I were the representatives from our organization. She picked me up at 5:30am for our 7:00am flight... Needless to say, we made it to Chicago in plenty of time to grab breakfast!

We dropped our bags at the hotel and took a cab across town to Lou Mitchell's...

From there, we walked over to the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and shot up to the 103rd floor...

 

I even made it out onto the glass ledge...

before heading back to the hotel to check in and make it to our first meeting.

After our meeting, we enjoyed a reception at the home of the President of our local counterpart in Chicago...

 

as well as some unmatched views of the city from her 53rd floor apartment...

 

 

After the reception, we met up with our Charleston girls and enjoyed dinner out at The Purple Pig...

 

 

On Friday, we had a full day of sessions, but had some free time that afternoon to explore and shop the best of Chicago's Magnificent Mile...

 

 

before dinner at Volare...

 

 

drinks and an awesome view from the top of the John Hancock Center...

 

 

and a little bit of singing and dancing at the dueling piano bar, Howl at the Moon...

 

On the last day of the conference, we had another full day of sessions, but were able to enjoy a couple of local favorites for lunch. While some headed to Portillo's for hotdogs...

 

 

others of us continued a couple of blocks further to Gino's East for deep dish pizza...

 

 

Half of our South Carolina group headed home that afternoon, but along with our Columbia girls, K & I headed down to the Chicago Children's Museum for the closing reception...

 

 

before finding a good spot to cheer on our Clemson Tigers...  Sadly, our team didn't win, but we celebrated a great trip to Chicago anyway, with one last stop at the famous Billy Goat Tavern... 

 

 

for what else, but some "cheezborgers" and Cokes... 

 

 We even finagled our way behind the bar counter for a photo...

  

 

before calling it a night and catching the end of Saturday Night Live from our room!

 

As always, I picked up books for my little ones...

This one for B - Larry Gets Lost in Chicago...

 

 

 

This one for L - W is for Windy City: A Chicago Alphabet...

 

 

 

 

and this one for M - Journey Around Chicago from A to Z...

 

 

 

 

K & I caught our 10:45am flight out of Chicago Sunday morning & landed at our local airport about 1:30pm...

 

   I'm so happy to be home, but look forward to my next conference trip in the Winter!

{All In a Day} American Presidential Experience 2012 - Charlotte, NC

Oh, the things that we do for our children...  :)

I'm not one to take sides for the purposes of both this blog and sweet B's love of all things presidential...  If you remember, this past summer on our Road Trip, we made stops at both the Birthplace of President Clinton and a favorite "hangout" of President Bush, The Coffee Shop Cafe, near Crawford, TX...  BUT, no matter who you vote for, heading into any large city (with 3 little children in tow) on the day before a large political convention is set to kick off there, is just nuts...  I admit it!

Again, the things that we do for our children...

Knowing that B would love a chance to pose behind a mock podium, sit in a replica of the Oval Office and tour a model of Air Force One, we headed north up I-85 to check out the traveling exhibit, American Presidential Experience...

I will say that I never felt more safe...  The police presence was cuh-razy...  There were groups of 10 police officers every few feet!

We parked and made our way into the tent...

We delivered some "speeches" from the podium...

checked out some special cars...

and took a seat behind (a replica of) the famous desk...

I enjoyed the exhibit featuring the china used by several Presidents and really loved having James K. Polk, Leapfrog's favorite President #11, represented!

We saw replicas of gowns worn by some of the First Ladies...

and a great interactive exhibit showcasing speeches made by many of the former Presidents.  B loved listening to their voices...

While waiting in (quite a l-o-n-g) line to tour a replica of Reagan's Air Force One...

the little ones enjoyed both the hands-on "Talking Heads" exhibit...

and the "Presidential Chairs" exhibit.  B thought that the replica of George Washington's "fan chair" was pretty neat...

Once we finally arrived at Air Force One...

the little ones tried out the seats...

and checked out the "President's Quarters"...

With that, we politely bid goodbye to the Obamas and went on our way...

Overall, a really fun "experience"...for B, especially!