About a month ago, Benjamin’s brother Abraham, his wife Chelsea, and their daughter Pearl flew from California to Chicago for a conference that Abraham was participating in. After their trip to Chicago, they drive Houghton, Michigan to their brand new house! We couldn’t resist the chance to see them. Its not very often that they are just under 6 hours away!
We crashed on the floor of their fancy hotel room. They treated us to some yummy deep dish Chicago style pizza (my mouth is watering right now). It was an interesting experience. We pulled up to the hotel, but there was no where to park to unload our things and the fancy bell hops and valet parking guys were all over us trying to help us take in our things, but we felt kind of embarrassed unloading an air mattress in front of them, so me and Stella hoped out, took as many bags as we could and went upstairs with Chelsea and Pearl. Abe and Benj went to try to park the car. They drove all over trying to find something that didn’t cost an arm an a leg. After finding a spot quite far away, they found out that they needed to print an email or something to leave their car there. So they walked back to hotel to print the paper only to find that the email didn’t actually send. So they walked back and ended up bringing the car back to the parking garage right across the street from the hotel. It was $60 to leave the car there over night (or was it $40? I can’t remember), but after driving around in busy downtown on a Friday night, they just needed to find a spot! They walked the air mattress in the stroller with a bag on top, so the bell hops couldn’t see how ridiculously cheap we are. Haha. It was stressful, but now the whole thing is kind of funny. Also, Stella’s first tooth was cutting through that night, so Benj and I spent all night awake with Stella trying to shush her in the bathroom and put ice on her gums so she wouldn’t wake up little Pearl. (Does this whole experience remind you of anything, Mamma Kaye? That time we all slept in the same room in Utah?)
The next day went a lot better. Stella was so worn out from the night before that she actually took great naps on the go in her stroller (something she usually wont do). 
We checked out of the hotel and started exploring Chicago! It is such a happening, busy city!
Those are antique sewing machines in that window:
It was so much fun hanging out with Chelsea! She is the most generous, giving person! She used her Cheesecake Factory gift card to treat us to cheesecake. She bought me hot chocolate from Starbucks, super cute printed jeans from Macy’s, a teether for Stella, and she even gave us a box of her beloved Trader Joe’s Jo Jo’s for the drive home. If you know Chelsea, you know that she loved Trader Joe’s. She was moving from having it right down the street to a town that is no where near a Trader Joe’s. She stocked up in Chicago. When we come visit you guys in Michigan, I am bringing you lots of Trader Joe goodies!
The Windy City was a bit windy.
That picture was taken right after Pearl’s stroller tipped back a little. Pearl was fine, but the lady in red behind Abe, was started by it and kept getting right up in Pearls face asking “IS YOU OK?” over and over. It was pretty funny.
We were shocked that it was freezing cold in July! We didn’t pack Stella any warm clothes. Good thing she has a cute cousin Pearl to borrow a jacket and shoes from! Isn’t that just the cutest little jacket? It zips in the back. I love it.
I hate my face in this picture ( I think it was a Stella-Stop-Sucking-On-My-Hair face), but I think the look on Abe’s face is hilarious!
We visited “the bean”. It is a giant chrome, reflective sculpture that looks kind of like a bean. It was my favorite part.
Can you tell these cousins adore each other?
They show their love by trying to eat each other:
And grab each other:
Let’s play Where’s Waldo! Can you find Benjamin in the reflection?
These next few pictures are from underneath “the Bean”.
We stopped in to a Best Buy to use the restrooms. Stella and Pearl outside the restrooms:
Guess who we saw at Best Buy? George Lucas and his wife!!! Can you believe it? People kept walking up to him and asking for his autograph. He was very nice to everyone, but we felt a little bit bad that the poor guy couldn’t just go look at TV’s in peace. So we didn’t bother him, but Benjamin did push record on the camera hanging around his neck to see if he could get a shot of him. In the video you can see some eager people walking away from him excitedly.
That night, Abe and Chelsea picked up their new car and we drove to our hotel. Abe had a bunch of Marriott reward points saved up and he was so nice to book two rooms with his points. We bought frozen pizza’s and ice cream. Between that and Chelsea’s Trader Joe’s stash, we had a little late night feast. Stella did much better that night. We did late check out the next day and enjoyed a morning hanging out in Ave and Chelsea’s room. Stella and Pearl got some more playing time in:
It’s hard getting a decent picture of two wiggly babies.
They are never happy at the same time:
But sometimes they are both sad at the same time. Can you see Stella’s pout and her little tear?
And then there are all the crazy faces they make:
When one is smiling, the other has their eyes closed:
Or they are both laughing at something else on the other side of the room:
Or one of them is looking at the other to see if they are smiling or not:
I think this is the best one we could get:
We ate a picnic lunch on the grass outside the hotel after check out and bid each other farewell. It was so great to see them and we are so grateful for their generosity! Congrats on the new house and job!
Stella on the way home:
Goodbye Chicago!
