We realized today that we have now lived in Chicago for almost 4 weeks! Time flies by so fast We are finally feeling acclimated to our new home and are trying to take advantage of all that it has to offer. We started our Chicago Bucket List, and I am so excited to work on it!! One of the great things that has resulted from this recent uproot and move is that we have realized this:
Live like you will be moving in one year because we just might be! We are so grateful that we dug our roots deep in Minnesota and were constantly out exploring and falling in love with all the things that make Minnesota so unique. We put our hearts in our callings and tried to love and serve our neighbors and ward members. This made the move extra hard because we had completely fallen in love with our home, neighborhood, friends, and ward. This also made the experience of living in Minnesota so much sweeter. I vowed to myself that in each place we moved to in our lives, I would move with the attitude of diving in and living and serving with my whole heart.
We've been able to do some fun things in Chicago so far-- and look forward to many more! Here are some photos of our first week in Chicago:
One of the first things we did was walk to Union Station and figure out where Ryan needed to go for his first commute to Naperville on Monday. The original Union Station Building is beautiful. This is a picture of Ryan's first day (of course I walked him to his train).
My mom came into town right after we moved to help us unpack boxes. It was amazing to have her help so I could work and we could get ourselves out of these boxes!! We also tried to show her a good time while she was here. That first night she was in town we decided to paint the town red. We walked from our apartment, up to state street for some great shopping and then up to the Magnificent Mile. Sorry for no photos, it was so hot and it actually raining on us 20 minutes into it, so we were a hot mess :) We ended up walking from 4pm-10pm for a total of 6 miles not including all the shopping in stores...don't worry, Ryan was out with his friend from college that night, we met up on the Mag Mile around 9:30.
The next night we walked down to Millenium Park, and "the bean".
Note our sweet "walking shoes" --we learned from walking 6 miles the day before that tennis shoes are must if you decide to walk the city!!
Love the Chicago Skyline from Millenial Park.
On Friday we had a beach afternoon trip. Michigan Lake looks a lot like most beaches in Orange County on a Friday afternoon--minus the skyline.
My mom loves the beach just about as much as I do!
After the beach we found a little hot dog dive that was amazing. Our first official Chicago style hot dog as locals.
On Saturday morning it was time to take mom to the airport. Dad booked her a super early flight (he must've wanted to spend the rest of Saturday with her :)) So we were all up at 4am and got her to the airport by 5am. We decided since we were close to the Temple at that point, we would go ahead and do the 7am session. On our way to the temple we found a random McDonalds and decided that would do us just fine for breakfast. I noticed another McDonalds across the street that looked old school, and wondered why. While inside McDonalds, I found out. We were at the very first McDonalds location ever. The McDonalds I saw across the street had been preserved like a psuedo museum for McDonalds fans to go and view. They even have manicans inside that look like the workers. Sweet find, right?
The Chicago Temple is so beautiful. It was such a sweet experience to go to our new "home" temple. I look forward to going back many more times (and taking more photos of Ryan and I...no one was in the parking lot that early to take our picture for us!)
Another only-in-Chicago find was on our way to Costco. Does this look familiar?
That's right! It's the only replica of the Tower of Pisa in the United States! Approximately half the size...
So there you have it! Our first week in Chicago. Only, imagine a million boxes that were once in our condo that are now gone thanks to my wonderful mother!! I decided I was sick of looking at boxes and didn't take any photos of them...sorry.
Ps. If you know of any Chicago must-do's please comment on this post, so I can add it to our growing bucket list!!
1 comment:
Ahhh!! You're making me jealous! Isn't it random that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is part of the YMCA? And yes, that is the YMCA where I went all growing up! You are in my stomping grounds ... my house was maybe 15 minutes from there (I don't know mileage in Chicago - only times!). I need to call you!
Post a Comment