Michigan/Chicago Trip

We visited Chelsea, Spencer, and Piper for a week in August.  This was my third time there this year since I had been there to help Chelsea when she was feeling sick.  This was Matt's first time visiting them. We flew into Chicago and went straight for some deep dish pizza for an early dinner.  Soooo good!

Matt had booked us at an historic hotel called The Drake.  It was right on Lake Michigan, and we had a corner room with an awesome view.

After checking in, we got on a train and headed for the Cubs game against the Brewers.  Brewers won, but it was so fun to be at Wrigley Field.  It was terribly hot and humid at the start of the game.  

Feels like 106 degrees!! Crazy.  As people started filling in around us and as I was feeling weighed down by the humidity, a little bit of claustrophobia set in.  Just in the knick of time, a huge storm blew in.  The game was paused for about an hour and half.  Luckily we were sitting in a sheltered place and didn't have to get up to take cover from lightning and heavy rain like thousands of other people.  It was quite entertaining to watch the beautiful black clouds, lightning, and the deluge of rain.  Lots of people around us cleared out and the temperature dropped significantly which all helped me to feel better.

Feels like 72 degrees!  Much better!  That black sky wasn't black because it was night.  Nope.  It was black, ominous clouds.  

After the lightning moved on and the heavy rains stopped, the field crew squeegeed gallons of water off the field, and the game resumed.  It was a very late night by the time we got back to the hotel.  

We rented a sweet minivan (yes they can be sweet!) and drove to Stevensville, Michigan where we found the Calls waiting for us.  We had a grand old time playing with Piper at their home and at the parks.  Matt and Spencer golfed at a super nice course, Golf Club at Harbor Shores.  We all had a beach picnic one day at Lake Michigan and had fun in the warm sand.  A few of us had fun in the cold water (no one over 30!).  We ate brunch twice at a cool little restaurant called Oaks Eatery in Three Oaks, MI.  Blueberry season had just ended, so we picked blackberries instead at Stover's farm.  Piper loves to look up books on the computer at the library and then go find them, so we did that one afternoon.  We also enjoyed going to church with them on Sunday where Piper wore a mask for the first time.  Then Chelsea made us yummy dinner, chilaquiles.  On our last evening before going home, Matt and I drove to a lookout point in St. Joseph and watched the sun set over the lake.  Oh, and most importantly, we offered to babysit Piper while Chelsea and Spencer ran off to Chicago for the night.  Matt and I let her fall asleep on the couch and then transferred her to her bed so that she wouldn't be more upset than she already was when her mom wasn't there for the bedtime routine.  All routine went out the window, and we watched Alladin.  The next morning we watched Big Hero 6 and then picked up branches in the backyard together.  Chelsea and Spencer came home after lunch with Albanese gummy bears and chocolates from the factory. And all was right in the world again for Piper!  

It sure was hard to say goodbye to that little family.  

We drove back to busy and congested Chicago and stopped at Portillo's for a Chicago Dog and a chocolate cake shake.  Then we flew home to smoky and hot Utah.