APRIL ADVENTURES: TAKING FAMILY TO CHICAGO

I'm back with more April adventures as promised!

If you read my last post about our two week trip to see family, you would know that my sister-in-law and her family will be moving very soon to a new state. They told us a while back they wanted to come see where we live now before they moved, so they came up for the last weekend of April for a quick weekend trip. Samuel's parents came too because they had not visited Wheaton since the weekend we moved here. We had 6 adults, a 6- month-old baby, and a 21-month-old all staying in our two bedroom place. It was pretty cozy, but oh so fun.

They, of course, wanted to go to Chicago while they were in town! We've lived in our new town for TEN months now, which seems so hard to believe, and we had not been to Chicago since last August. It's only about an hour away from us so that's kind of crazy, right?! It was about time we went back. 

The first time we went last year it was only Samuel, Charlie, and I who rode the train in for the day. Let me tell yall. This second trip with family was WAY more successful, enjoyable, and eventful. So keep reading for some tips and details of fun things we loved doing. 

1. Choose the right travel method. First things first, we drove instead of taking the train this time. Don't get me wrong, riding the Metra was a super fun experience that I hope to do again soon, but for a big group (we had 6 adults and 2 infants) it was just so much easier to drive exactly where we wanted to go because of strollers, diaper bags, babies, a nursing mother, etc. 

The drive into the city was not terribly bad. I had always heard how awful the traffic would be. My husband, the driver, might disagree with me but I didn't think it was all that bad. The hardest part was trying to find parking, but once we realized most places were about the same price we just settled on one. 

The cost of parking was ridiculous, so be prepared for that if you decide to drive your own car. We were there from about 11 am - 4 pm and it ended up being $37. To be fair, we parked at probably the most popular parking garage directly under Millennium Park, compared to my sister-in-law who parked about a mile away from Millennium Park and only paid $12. It truly was nice to be in a convenient spot that day even though we paid a little more for that convenience. Just to give you some perspective, when we rode the Metra it was still over $20 for our tickets. 

2. Pick just a few main destinations. Our main destination for the day was Intelligentsia Coffee. My sister-in-law was a beast at mapping out everywhere we wanted to go. The first time we went to Chicago this was not the case. We failed at planning. People, planning is the KEY to an amazing Chicago trip  because you really have no conception of just how BIG this city is. It can seriously take 30 minutes to go from top to bottom of the city. So you have know where you want to go in order to survive. 

The location of Intelligentsia we picked was just a block away from Millennium Park. Look at it HERE on the map as a reference. It was so so good, you all. I wasn't sure if I was going to love it (because I think Quills coffee back in Louisville is the worst, and I thought it would be similar) but I really loved Intelligentsia. I'm so glad we stopped in there for coffee first thing because the temperature was in the 50s, which felt like the 40s. In April!!!! Chicago winter never ends. It was nice to have a warm cup to walk around with.

After we got our coffee, we walked back over to Millennium Park for those who had not been. Is that place ever not crowded!? It kind of is one of the best photo spots, though. We grabbed a quick Panarea Bread lunch across from the park to take care of the babies diapers/feedings. 

 

Which brings me to my next tip: 

3. Plan your destinations based on what's nearby. Make your plans doable. It's not realistic to plan to go to place A, then drive to B and C. That will waste your money and your time. We walked to a nearby shopping area (essentially an indoor mall) called Block 37 which we found on the maps app. It was just a short walk from where we already were and it had a lot to see and do! We went to the Disney store, a two story Anthropologie, Magnolia Bakery (no relation to Chip and Joanna's Magnolia, but they had the BEST whipped chocolate banana pudding. Oh my.), and got a break from the cold wind being inside.

4. Go to Garret Popcorn. That's the last tip. Just go there. Get the Garret Mix with caramel and cheddar popcorn, and you will have pretty much guaranteed a successful Chicago trip. It's DELICIOUS. 

I'm definitely not an expert at Chicago travel by any means yet, but our experience from the first time was just so night and day I wanted to share the things we found helpful. 

I still have some other things on my Chicago bucket list like:

Stan's Donuts

Go to a Cubs Game

The Navy Pier 

The Skydeck at Willis Tower 

Lincoln Park Zoo

Chicago Children's Museum

Firecakes 

Oz Park 

Garfield Conservatory

Drop anything else you think we would like in the comments. I'd love to know what other things you recommend doing! 

-Emily 

APRIL ADVENTURES: TWO WEEK TRIP TO KY AND TN

Loooong time no blog! How's your start of Spring been? It's been a busy month for us, but filled with the most exciting things like family, vacation, and lots of traveling. 

When we went back home to Louisville for Christmas, we knew it would be our last time in Kentucky until April. You may not think 4 months seems that long, and really it's not, but it was the longest stretch between seeing family we had had since moving last July. And it was going to be over winter which would make it feel even longer. But come April, Samuel would be attending the T4G conference for work which, as it happens, was back in Louisville! So all three of us were going along to spend time with family for a whole week.

During that long winter like I mentioned, we found out that both of my sister-in-laws and their families would be moving this summer. It seems hard to believe that in the short span of a year, all three of the James kids would be moving to new states away from family for the first time. But each for great, God glorifying opportunities that we are so excited for! For the last few years we have been doing our James family vacation in May, but with the moves coming up, we started to wonder how we could squeeze in at least a small family vacation in April. We had this crazy idea to take the week after the conference off for the family vacation and it worked out absolutely perfectly. That's how we ended up sneaking in a TWO week trip!

The first week of our trip, which contained the 3 days of Samuel's conference, we stayed at my parents house. We did ALL the things, you guys. We had a belated Easter meal with my Mamaw and aunts and uncles, Charlie and I had a mall shopping day with Mimi and Aunt Rae Rae, Samuel and I saw A Quiet Place on a date, we had dinner with sweet friends from our pervious church, I saw one of my best friends from high school, Charlie and I got haircuts by my talented cosmetologist sister, we got pedicures, ate Steel City Pops, and played the worlds hardest game of sequence.


S N A P S H O T S  from  the  first  week

Easter// Mamaw + Charlie

Mimi reading Charlie a new book

My Favorite Muffin + Aunt Rae Rae

He was a BIG fan

We went to the Zoo with cousins and old church friends!

B O T T L E  B R O K E N  (on  accident!)

Charlie was bottle broken during this trip!!!! Color me SHOCKED. Before this trip, he was drinking basically all of his cow's milk in his bottles. He would ask for it every time and get super sad if I even thought about putting the milk in a sippy cup. He would drink his water in a sippy cup or Contigo water bottle, but not that precious milk. It had to be a bottle. Even though I was hoping to break him of it eventually, I was totally fine with him keeping the bottles until 2ish, or at least until he finished cutting his last teeth - the two year molars. Throughout teething, the bottle was his main source of comfort so I was fine with him having it until then. 

I joked to Samuel about "forgetting" to bring the bottles to see if we could break him of it, but decided the thought of having to go buy new ones in Louisville if he needed it would be silly. So I washed them and put them out to dry the morning we were schedule to leave Wheaton. That night in Louisville, I went to make Charlie his bottle before bed and I realized I DIDN'T PACK THEM. I was highly anticipating having to go get at least one bottle the next day, but would you believe it, he never asked for it. Not once in the whole two weeks. And then we came home and he still didn't ask for them. So, I hid them away and his bottle days officially ended. I was amazed how easy it turned out to be! Maybe the Lord made me forget to bring them to Louisville. ;)

  

D A T E   N I G H T 

Also squeezed into that week was Samuel and I's first night away since having Charlie. He did great spending the night with Mimi and PopPop! He's such a champ when it comes to saying goodbye to us and we are so, so thankful. We ate dinner downtown, and walked along the river at sunset. It was really special to be able to do that back in our hometown.

Louisville, Kentucky

G A T L I N B U R G  James  Family  Vacation

On Saturday we left Louisville for a 4 day trip to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our James family vacation! That place is our go-to getaway. We stayed in a big cabin and soaked up all the family togetherness, playing games and watching The Greatest Showman for the first time. We always love to go to Cades Cove, and this time we got to see a mama and baby bear just hanging out nearby. We also went to the aquarium, played putt putt, and went out for pancakes!

Charlie had a BLAST getting to play with his cousins on this trip. His speech went through the roof after spending that time with them, too. He was already saying tons of words well, but after being around the other kids his clarity was noticeably better. He fell in LOVE with his two little girl cousins, Leighton and Addie. It was especially precious to watch him be so sweet to Addie who is 5 months old.

We will always treasure this vacation before everyone's big life changes.

Cades Cove 

Addie and Aunt Emmie

The cousins 

Cades Cove// Charlie + Leighton

We headed back to Wheaton on Friday, almost two weeks later. With that we had officially taken our longest trip as a family ever. I was so excited to share this trip with you, but also to "blog scrapbook" it for myself for years to come. We left this trip feeling so thankful - for parents who hosted us, a job that let us travel, a baby who slept well for the first time on vacation, for time to spend with family and friends, and for new exciting things ahead for the James kids.

If you thought that was all the excitement we had in April, stay tuned for another APRIL ADVENTURES post from when we went to CHICAGO with family last weekend! I will have a happy report of a much smoother trip this time around, and some new favorite food finds you have to do if you come to Chicago. 

Stay tuned for more adventures.
Emily