Life on the Hill: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

We did it!!!! After only 3 hours in Chicago we got what we never dreamed we'd get.....

an autograph by Dwayne Wade!!

As soon as we arrived at our hotel, we got off the elevator only to be surrounded by the entire Miami Heat basketball team! I was the coolest mom in the world for a few hours because I chose the hotel the team was staying in while in Chicago!! Who knew!!

Anyway, it was a moment Jake will never forget!

Not only did we see Dwayne, but Jake spotted this tv celebrity from across the room...This is Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel. We watch his show ALOT, so Anna got his autograph. He was very nice and talked to Anna and Joe for a few minutes. I wrote him a note on his blog today, thanking him for being so kind to us. Hope he reads it!!

Anna meeting Andrew

We went to the game that night and had a great time!

I don't think Dwayne agreed with this ref's call

The next day I was sick and stayed in the room the entire day, but by Saturday...I was 99%! We went to The Field Museum and spent about 5 hours looking and learning about everything from dirt to Pirates!

From there it was straight to Juicy Couture for Anna!!

She had waited long enough and was determined to shop til she dropped!!! It started raining and eventually turned into freezing rain. We ate supper at Lawry's. Nothing like a good steak dinner when you are cold and soaked to the bone! Oh, did I forget to mention, we opted OUT of the taxi ride to eat....we walked/ ran 6 blocks to our destination. I have kidded Joe that we got a taxi for every excursion except the one when it was raining/snowing/freezing!!! That is the one we decided we didn't need a taxi!! Anyway, it made my shower that night feel that much better.

When we were leaving Chicago Sunday morning there were several inches of snow on the ground and we had to sit on the tarmack for over an hour while we were being "de-iced" for departure. It was comforting to know that the airline had taken all precautions to get us home safely.

Came home to sun and warmth...great feeling!! Here are a few of our pictures from the trip.