Christmas Vacation Road Trip: Chicago {Part 2}

Our 4 hour trip from Wi to Chicago was super easy and we relaxed in the hotel 

and the grabbed some deep dish pizza for dinner! 

 The next morning we toured the city. First stop, Navy Pier. 

 It was very cold. 

I really wanted to try these donuts(found them on a Chicago food blog), so we went around 11Am and they had a sign on the door that said Sold OUT and they were closed! 

Bummer- maybe next time. So, we hit up Portillo's for hot dogs! 

 After lunch, we visited The Bean. 

 Then we walked the Magnificent Mile. 

 I think Chicago is one of my favorite cities! 

Christmas Vacation Road Trip: Wisconsin Dells Swimming and Skiing {Part 1}

We took a fun road trip the week after Christmas as a family. We decided to take a month off of fostering and thought this trip would be a good time to reconnect and process the whole foster experience. Anyhow, we left on a Sunday afternoon and were going to stop in Lincoln, Nebraska, but saw this huge storm that was supposed to hit while we would be sleeping. SO, we drove the 14 hours straight through. Oh my goodness. We haven't done that since college and we are WAY older than college. It was tough but we managed. We arrived in the early morning and thankfully the resort let us check in early for only $20! We slept for a while and then headed to the pool! 

 We chose the WI Dells since they had a great deal for a stay there- for the price of a room (around $150 a night) you could also use the indoor water park, indoor amusement park and skiing lift tickets for everyone. It was a killer of a deal especially with 6 people in our family! 

That snow storm that we escaped, 

eventually hit us in WI dumping around a foot of snow!

 It was beautiful! 

 The room reminded me of camp but we made due. It was clean and comfortable. 

The town was definitely touristy!

 The amusement park was small but fun. 

Mark had to rescue Elijah because he was scared to come down. 

 Dinner at MooseJaw

 Skiing the next day was SUPER fun. It was a VERY tiny mountain but just the kids speed. 

We skied for about 6 hours into the night. So fun! 

They ditched the poles after one run- too much to handle. 

Poor Ari got wiped out by a snowboarder but was fine.

 Lift Ride Selfies! 

Ella has mastered the Pizza. 

Elijah just loved the bunny hill  (he's on the right)and he really got good at the pulley system 

that brings you back up the mountain. He wouldn't get in line but wait on the side for other people to miss and then grab on. It was impressive. 

 That night we needed a restful evening so we saw the new Star Wars movie. 

 The next day we stopped at the Cheese Shop and then hit the road to Chicago!