Chicago Babymoon

Arlo and I had planned on a trip into Chicago as part of our Christmas gift to ourselves. I've been hearing these "last trips as a couple before the baby is born" called "Babymoons." So that's what we wanted to do ... stay in a nice hotel, see the Christmas decorations and go to a show. Unfortunately, the Indiana Toll Road is extremely dangerous in icy conditions and we live in a very icy climate. So I kept being unsure as to how to plan this trip. When should we go? When will the weather be nice? It was too difficult for me and so I kept putting it off. Well, the Sunday after Christmas, it warmed up and rained (not even frozen rain) which cleared all the of the streets of ice. The weather forcast for the following Monday and Tuesday was clear skies and temperatures in the 40s so we thought "here's our chance!" We booked a room at the Palmer House Hilton in the Loop and got tickets to see the Blue Man Group, both on Monday night. We had a really nice time. We went to the top of the Sears Tower. We had deep dish Chicago pizza (the place we went, Pizanos, was not really very good). We walked around a bit in the Loop and the Magnificent Mile (although, I've had better walking days and it was still a bit cold in the evening for walking). We went into the Macy's in the Loop to see the Christmas decorations and had the most amazing mint chocolate deserts (cheesecake for me and ice cream pie for Arlo) after lunch in the Macy's restaurant. All in all, a fairly slow and leisurely trip ... which was exactly what we needed. Here are some pictures:

Sears Tower through the Loop buildings

Night Skyline view

A Blue Man

Proof that we were both in Chicago. Notice my coat unzipped and my scarf just dangling from my neck. I was actually still warm. Sorry there's no belly shot here.

A few Christmas Trees we encountered

I think the most memorable thing for me from the entire trip is re-establishing just how sweet and adorable my husband is. We were tired and cold from walking around Monday evening. As we had been upgraded to the executive level of the hotel, we had access to refreshments so Arlo got us some hot cocoa to drink in the room. I was flipping through a guide book thinking about what we would do the next day and I thought Arlo was flipping through the hotel information book. He'd been quiet for quite some time and I looked up and saw him writing. Assuming that the answer would be "doing math" I asked him what he was doing. Here was his answer: "Writing a letter to our daughter." I think I started crying right about then.