The Return of the Hutsons

Johnny and I graduated from Wheaton College outside of Chicago over five years ago.  And aside from a short jaunt back to Wheaton for his sister's graduation, we haven't been back to Chicago since we packed up the Uhaul and skee-daddled to Philadelphia.  We wanted to get away for a weekend this winter, so we decided to revisit the town of our glory days.  We dropped off the kiddos at my parents', hopped on a plane, and arrived to this:

Ahhh beautiful.  Just as I remember it.  Freezing cold, wet feet, wind-burned face...the place I could not get out of fast enough.  It all came back to me.  Time seems to smooth over the truth.  I exaggerate.  The weather actually wasn't as horrible as it could have been.  The snow stopped right after we got there, and the temp stayed in the 30s and 40s.  Lovely.

One thing I love about Johnny that you might not know about him is that he is really good at planning vacations.  Exceptionally good.  He does all the research and finds great activities and restaurants that you might not normally come across.  This is good for me because even after living in Philadelphia for two years, I'm completely terrified of and stressed out by public transportation and I also tend to just want to eat at Chili's all the time.  He's the ying to my stay-in-the-hotel-and-watch-TLC-yang.

So one of the first things that we did upon arrival was go to The Driehaus Museum downtown.  It's an old mansion that has been turned into a museum.  It was gorgeous, and the tour was really interesting.

Instead of refurnishing the upstairs bedrooms, they made them into exhibit spaces.  Right now they have an exhibit on Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass.  All of his famous lamps and such.  It was really impressive.  I definitely recommend this museum especially if you've already done the Art Institute and the Field Museum.  You should also join the Army because they give you free admission if you do.

After the museum we scurried on over to Lou Malnati's, one of our favorite deep dish pizza places.  Just delicious.

After pizza we made the first of THREE attempts to go to the Christkindlmarkt (yes I spelled that correctly).  We went here every year in college and never had a problem getting in or walking around.  I don't know if the cat's out of the bag or what, but it was so extremely crowded that we couldn't even elbow our way into the "open air" much less buy anything.  It was insane.  I'm all about traditions until they're a pain in the butt, so we took a bad selfie and called it a day.

Ok so this day is going to seem really long because it was.  We took the 6:30 am flight, which gave us a large amount of time to fill.  So after attempt number one at the Christmas market, we hopped on the train to the suburbs and reunited with WHEATON! I threatened Johnny that I was going to say hi to all the students we passed in order to help us look like we still fit in.

We visited the student center, said hi to one of my old professors, bought some Wheaton paraphernalia for the bebbies, explored the fancy shmancy new science building, and then realized that we had nothing else to do on campus.  We were going to meet one of my old high school students and his roommates for dinner, but we had something like two hours to kill.  So we decided to do something we could have never done in college: drink alcohol in downtown Wheaton!  The mulled wine was delicious.

We decided to have a bit more relaxing day on Saturday.  We ate breakfast at a place called Pittsfield's, tucked inside of an old Gilded Age high rise.  The mimosas were a good start to the day.  In college, I had always wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, but never did (ie I was waaay too cheap back then), so we Ubered on over there.  It was great! Definitely a must see if you're heading to Chicago.  They have Baluga whales and those sharks that look like they have a saw for a nose and jelly fish and 4D movies and cute penguins.  The only thing I don't recommend is the live show.  They had people playing violins in the water and whales swimming and Frosty the Snowman and it was just a total mess.

That night we ate at Farmhouse, THE best restaurant I have been to in a long time.  They had a fabulously fun drink selection and the most delicious cheese curds in existence.  I would seriously have eaten them until I died right there...which wouldn't have taken very long I'm sure.

Sunday morning we woke up and had cappuccinos and croissants at one of our favorite Philly-based coffee shops, La Colombe.  We were then thirty minutes late to a church service at a tiny little PCA church called Cityview.  It was nice to be back in a city-based church that had such a heart for the people around it.  I definitely miss that aspect of our lives in Philadelphia.

After a tasty brunch at Yolk (did you know you can make quinoa just like oatmeal?) and another attempt at the Christkindlmarkt (I'm sure the girls will forget about our promise to bring back an ornament) and a nap at the hotel, we ventured out to the Chicago Cultural Center which used to be the Chicago Public Library.  I remember accidentally wandering in here in college looking for the library.  They have more amazing Tiffany stained glass, particularly this huge Tiffany glass dome.  Johnny and I have already figured out where we're going to have our next wedding.

That night we had tickets to go see a comedy show at Second City, so we stopped for an early dinner at The Purple Pig.  They don't take reservations, and we were lucky to sneak in at the bar.  They bill themselves as "cheese, swine, and wine," so basically all things that are good.  We got some wine and a charcuterie platter and all was well in the world.

Second City was super fun.  We got to see a lot of talented people perform, and we're saving our programs so that in ten years when they're on SNL we can say that we helped them get there,  You're welcome, comedians.

Aside from the 6:20am flight we had Monday morning to leave Chicago, we had a wonderful time.  I absolutely recommend everything we did, save the violin/dolphin show.  The only thing that has really changed about Chicago is that it's easier to navigate now that we have these new fangled smart phones.  Using the Uber app to get rides was amazingly easy and cheap, and we never had to wander around hoping we would find a coffee shop other than Starbucks.  There are seriously 17 of them within walking distance of each other.

I will say that coming home from vacations is a lot easier when you have this waiting for you.

The Hutsons Go Apple Picking

I haven't been posting lately because I try to post interesting things.  Our days at the moment go like this: wake up, Lila says something about Daniel Tiger, I feed everyone, Lila watches Daniel Tiger, I make macarons, Olive eats like five things off the floor that she isn't supposed to, Lila plays pretend about Daniel Tiger, Olive gets stuck under the dining room table, we go to bed.  I might feed them at other points throughout the day, but this is a basic summation.  Not very interesting. 

But today, we mixed it up and went apple picking with the Reids and the Kidds!  Apple picking has always been special to me because my family would go when we were little, and Johnny and I went every year together in college and in Philadelphia.

And now we get to bring the wee ones.

Olive got to ride in style the whole morning.  She had a strap to chew on...she was in heaven.

The orchard that we went to was called Cider Hill Family Orchard up North.  It was super cute, but I will say that it was a little picked over.  Lila did find a few trees that had apples low enough for her.  "The apples on the ground are for the animals," she continued to remind herself.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of Lila and her buddy "Cahhhter," but this picture of Carter being nice and sweet while Lila spins in front of him pretty much sums up their relationship.

And I can't wait until these two get a little bit older and can really play together.  Lila loves her cousin Chloey, and between the two of them I think they bit into about 15 apples.

And thanks to Danielle for understanding that when you take a family photo, you need to press the button about 7 times to get a halfway decent picture.

  Umm sorry Olive.

I'd say a very successful apple picking extravaganza.

And hey, it's just across the highway from a great strip club called Whispers, so it's got that going for it.

Baby Chloey's Nursery

I've been wanting to do this post for FOREVER.  I was lucky enough to grow up down the street (and around a corner and down another really long, steep street and then up a smaller hill...I mean I probably wouldn't walk there or anything unless I had to...) from my cousin who's a month older than I am.  And now our girls are lucky enough to grow up walking distance from each other too.  Anyway, my cousin Melody is super talented when it comes to decorating, and her daughter's nursery is the most adorable nursery I have ever seen.  I finally got over there to snap a few shots.

The paint color is Lazy Days by Valspar.

The crib was an Ikea purchase. $99 for a super cute crib? Yes please. I hope Olive and Lila like playing in the wooden shoe at Ikea daycare because that's where they're going to be every day when it opens.  Maybe they'll teach them Swedish. 

The polka dots were an Etsy purchase.  I don't know how she got them on so straight.  I definitely would have given up after about two.

These book baskets are one of my favorite things about the room.  I did gutter shelves in Lila's Big Girl Room (which by the way is being changed back into a guest room...wish us luck with convincing Lila to sleep with Olive tomorrow night), and for the amount of books they hold, they are quite pricey and not all that cute.  

These baskets from Hobby Lobby look a lot cuter and hold a similar amount.

The flamingo print is what inspired the room as well as the baby shower our book club threw for Baby Chloey.  The flamingo print as well as the sparkle print were both Etsy purchases, and the sparkle print was an instant download! I would have never thought of that. So cute.

Melody originally painted this piece to be used as a sideboard in her dining room, but then moved it up here for a changing table.  She attached one of the same baskets she used for books to the side for holding diapers.  My favorite part about the room, though, has to be this little door that leads to a secret storage space.  When Chloey is older, Melody plans to put a little ladder up to it and finish it off as a play room.  So fun.  I'm hoping she's also planning to host sleepovers...every weekend.  Between Ikea, my parents on Fridays, and Aunt Melody's house on Saturdays, I might never have to see my children again!

I love how all of the closets in Melody's house have these cute shuttered sliding doors.  Sliding doors are never cool, but these actually look nice.

Now just FYI, Melody decorates for other people too, not just her own adorable baby.

Isn't that a cute card?

 Love it all.

Chloey's Pink Lemonade First Birthday Party

This sweet girl turned one a few days ago!

My cousin, Melody, threw her daughter, Chloey, an amazing pink lemonade birthday party.

The decorations were adorable! I loved the display of her monthly photos.

Lila enjoyed the display of candy.

The food was delicious, the usual at Melody's house.

Melody let me contribute some macarons for the occasion.  I did Pink Lemonade Macarons, lemon zested shells with lemon buttercream and lemon curd in the middle, Raspberry Ganache Macarons, chocolate shells with dark chocolate ganache and raspberry in the middle, and Strawberry Macarons, strawberry shells with strawberry buttercream.

The rest of the desserts were absolutely adorable!

Look at Chloey's little cake.

She ate it very daintily.

And remember this pouf from awhile back?  I made a few for Chloey's play room.

Lila generally did a good job and didn't try to steal any of Chloey's awesome presents.  Except for the balloons...and she insisted on wearing two tutus to the party...that are each size 12 months.

 

Even leaving the party was fun because the party favors were super cute: take home pink lemonade.

 

Happy Birthday sweet Chloey! My girls are so lucky to grow up with a cousin just down the street! 

If I Die in Raleigh At Least I Will Die Free

When we were dating in college, I always went to visit Johnny in North Carolina for the Fourth of July.  We thought we'd continue the tradition and take the girls to visit Grammie and Grampie this year.  Now, for some odd reason there are no direct flights from Kansas City to Raleigh, so we had a connection in Baltimore.  Not a big deal, thought we.  

We got to the Kansas City airport around 10:30am for our noon flight.  Got a nice coffee, a blueberry muffin.  You know, just living the life.  I will interrupt here and say that Johnny told me Olive was dressed like a clown for this flight.

We arrived in Baltimore around 3:00, preparing to get on the quick 45 minute flight around 5:30pm.  Lila and I decided to stand in line at the airport Chipotle while Johnny and Olive held down a table for us, making friends with an elderly couple going to visit their grandkids in California.  While in line, Lila informed me, "Dat yady yooks pretty in her hair brush."  I translated for the woman, "My daughter thinks your hair is pretty."  We ate our dinner, and checked the departure monitors, noticing that our flight was delayed an hour.  Bummer, but no big deal.  We went to find our gate and settled down for a bit.  At this point, it started hailing really hard.  I suppose that should have been a red flag.

Rumors started floating around the gate area that there was a bad hurricane along the East Coast. Fabulous.  Before we knew it, the flight was no longer delayed until 6:30 but was now 8:30.  A girl sitting near us was growing angry and decided that she was going to go rent a car and drive to Raleigh.  "Anyone who wants to can join!" she declared. Johnny and I thought about it briefly, but then decided the five hour drive wasn't worth it; our flight would get in around the same time anyway. Ba ha ha! It's funny, now.

So about three hours into our layover, Lila was really doing an excellent job.  She traded off her time between playing on the iPad, pretending with her Disney princess dolls, watching cartoons, and running around in circles.  Johnny decided to take Olive on a walk to see if he could get her to take a nap.  While he was gone, Lila was squatting on the floor, looking at something, and then whined to me, "I have to go tinkle!"  Now this was odd because Lila is not totally/anywhere near being potty trained yet, and she had a diaper on.  So I kind of said, "Ok well just go," but I looked at her and realized that she had just gone and it had somehow come out the side of her diaper and completely soaked her leg.

I asked some nice ladies to watch our stuff, and I ran Lila into the bathroom.  Johnny had taken the diaper bag and the stroller, so I literally had nothing to cover Lila's butt with.  I stripped her down and held her as covered as a could and waited at the entrance of the bathroom in order to flag Johnny down.  He showed up pretty quickly and handed off a new Pull-Up.  Unfortunately, all of Lila's clothes were in a checked bag getting rained on outside (Fast-forward: I'm OCD about packing and put all of the girls clothes in labeled Ziploc gallon bags, so even though their suitcase was COMPLETELY soaked, all of their clothes were dry.  Take that Southwest...and the hurricane.), so Lila had no clothes.  Johnny then went on another walk around the airport with the new mission of finding child pants.

Meanwhile, Lila ran around the airport in just a Pull-Up.

After about 30 minutes, Johnny finally returned with the only child pants in the entire airport.

"Crabby in the Morning"

Though happy with our new pants, our happiness was soon dashed when we realized that our flight was being pushed back to 10:30 and then 11:00.  We continued to hang out at our gate which was conveniently located by one of the airport bars.  This location provided interesting companionship in the form of old people who had had too much to drink.  Remember the old couple from dinner?  Well that man sauntered over from his Bud Light at one point to check on Olive and actually kissed her on the head.  Now I'm not overprotective of my kids with strangers, but I think that might have been a step too far.  There was also an older woman who insisted on holding Olive for a few minutes while regaling Johnny with tales of her bad back and bronchitis. 

By 10:00, we had one diaper left between the two girls, Olive still hadn't slept, and I was entertaining Lila by walking up one moving walkway and back on the other one ("Tick tock it's yike a clock Mama!").  It was at this point we realized that if we had rented a car at 4:30 we would have been in Raleigh already.

We FINALLY got on the plane at 11:00 and took off around 11:30.  Both girls slept on the short flight, thankfully, and I was patting myself on the back for surviving a harrowing layover without a single meltdown, Lila or Mommy.  As we landed and I was pridefully unclipping my little angel from her carseat, Lila totally lost it.  I mean went bananas. It was almost one in the morning, and she was completely hysterical.  She sobbed from the airplane to the baggage claim to the car, "I don't want to get in dat white car! No fank you! No fank you!", to Grammie and Grampie's house.  It was almost two in the morning by the time I got her in her bed.  At this point Johnny and I are whisper yelling at each other about where the other one put the diaper bag and so on.

Long story short: we survived.  So if you ever have a two year old and a baby on a flight that connects in Baltimore, I suggest you bring an extra pair of pants.

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

And don't worry, Lila already ate all of her Easter candy...and probably some of Chloey's.