Record Breaking Weekend!

This was a fabulous weekend!  We broke the record on how many family members we could see in one weekend!  It was so much fun!

So let’s start with lunch on Friday.  Eddie was able to meet up with some of our “New Mexico Family” on Friday afternoon for lunch.  Some of the members of the Lucero Family met up in Chicago from all over the country so that they could go to the Notre Dame football game the next day.  So a quick get together was in order.  It was really nice for Eddie to be able to be with them.  I was at tea with the girls so I wasn’t able to see them on Friday before they left.  But that was ok …

Amy, Laura, Eddie, Brad, Shelli, Julie and Uncle Don! Pay no attention to the photo-bombing lady waving!

Uncle Don and Laura came in from New Mexico, Amy and Shelli in from Colorado, and Brad and Julie in from Arizona.  What a great reunion for them to be together, and a great opportunity for Eddie to see them, even if it was for just a quick lunch.

So, that’s six so far, adding to the three girls, that’s a whopping nine people for us to visit with here in Chicago!!  But that’s not all!!

On Saturday morning, Mary had to make her way home, and Gigi had to make her way to pick up her baby.  So they hopped on the Orange Line back to Midway.  Mary caught her plane back home and Gigi grabbed the two girls to bring back to our apartment!

At the same time the girls were going to Midway, Eddie was heading on the Blue Line to O’Hare Airport.  Our nephew, Daniel, was landing at noon for a week-long work conference, but he was going to begin and end his week with us.

I know, I know, that’s a lot of coordinating, right?  Not to worry, we’ve got it covered!  And while they were all at airports, Coco and I snuck in a little more touring.  We heard about a “behind the scenes” tour given at one of the famous icons here in Chicago.  The “Chicago Theatre” gives tours on random Saturday mornings, and we were in luck!

The playhouse was beautiful and has an amazing history.   Called the “Wonder Theatre of the World” when it opened on October 26, 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the first large, lavish movie palace in America.

After being almost torn down, reconstructed at least twice, and left for empty, the house is now completely restored and is host to many of Chicago’s big name concerts.  We saw tunnels and dressing rooms, balconies and secret “viewing” places all inside the theatre.  The most amazing and scary part of this tour was the balcony.  It is huge and constructed and engineered in a way that is a modern miracle.  In order to prove that the balcony would hold all the people when they were building the original theatre, they put over 26,000 pounds of sandbags on the balcony floor to show everyone that it would really work.  Scary, right?  Well, needless to say, it’s still holding up today.  That was a fun tour for anyone who is a fan of the arts!

After the boys had a real “Chicago” lunch …

… we caught up at the apartment with everyone (which now makes TWELVE family members we’ve seen this weekend) and immediately took off for another walk around the city!  We had to take the girls … shopping at the famous Marshall Fields!

The famous “Walnut Room” Christmas Tree!

 

The “Grand Staircase” of the original Marshall Field’s Department Store

The people of Chicago still call this amazing monument “Marshall Fields” even though Macy’s purchased it a few years ago.  I love all the history of it so, I too, tend to call it Marshall Fields.  Makes it a little more special.  Besides, there are a million “Macy’s” right?

Next stop, Grant Park … what will we find there?  Well, first we found Daniel “in the Bean” …

Where’s Daniel?

the girls at the Symphony …

and us girls longing to trade in our tennies for some skates …

We ended the day with a Shake Shack burger and fries and then went home to hit the hay … the girls had an 8:00 a.m. flight in the morning … so you know what that means!  A bright and early departure from the apartment, that’s what it means!

The boys left us girls to our own devices while they decided to stay the night in a much more quiet atmosphere.  They walked up to the Drake Hotel for the night where they got to watch football and be boys without 5 girls to bother them!

The Christmas Tree at The Drake Hotel

On Sunday morning, my comadres left the apartment around 6:00 a.m to catch their flights home.  I was blessed to be able to spend this week with them and I am grateful that they were able to take the time and spend it with us.  We had a blast and I am looking forward to another “Girls’ Week” soon!  Hurry back Comadres … I miss you already!

Well now that the comadres have all gone home, there was no time for crying!  We still have company and I have more family to see!

I met Eddie and Daniel at the “Original Pancake House” up near the Drake for breakfast to start our day.  This is a little, teeny, tiny place that serves up the best pancakes ever!!  You usually have to wait in a long line that goes down the block but today we got lucky!  We beat the rush and were able to be seated right away!

We had another full day ahead so after getting our protein (yes, we got some protein I promise!), Daniel wanted to see the Art Institute.  Remember that I said that you just can’t see enough of this place?  Well, we tried again.  It was really fun watching Daniel take it all in.  He has done some European “starving student” travelling in his day so he’s seen some of the best museums.  But he loved it and, like the rest of us, didn’t want to leave.

However, “Goose” was honking their names … Eddie had made a reservation at Chicago’s famous “Goose Island Brewery” for a 2:00 tour.  So we split up and the boys hopped on the Green Line for the quick ride out to Goose Island.  Here’s the view from the Green Line …

And here’s the view from the tour …

Unlike the Lagunitas Brewery, this one allows you to taste as you go!  So, you’re not going to have that “thirst” problem here either!  Not quite tea, but still quenches your thirst!

A few tastes of some different types of originally crafted brews.

While they were on that tour, I caught up with a different tour!  I took a short walk up to the river where I found a few New Mexicans taking the architectural tour!  I know you can’t pick them out, but they’re really there!

Julie, Amy, and Shelli are looking right at me pretty much from the center of the boat.  They told me a funny story too.  I was waving like crazy at them so they would see me and they said the tour guide said to the people on the boat, “Oh look at the friendly Chicago lady, welcoming you all back to the dock!”  Haha!!  They were like, “Um, No, that’s our crazy cousin!”  Too funny!

I got to spend a little bit of time with them, although I’m so bummed that we forgot to take a group picture!  So, the one with Eddie will have to do til next time!  It was great to see them so spontaneously here in Chicago!  We will definitely make plans to see you guys next time you’re in town for a game!

We finished off the weekend with Daniel and carnitas.  This is a big thing here in the city.  Restaurants offer just carnitas on their menus.  Nothing else!  So obviously, they’re really good at it!

Well it was another full day and a record-breaking weekend with family … you can’t really ask for much more than that!

Ok, talk to you tomorrow!