Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Above: Chicago Cultural Center

Above: The view from Kelsey's school

                             

Our Ride:)

Chicago Holy Name Cathedral

"The Bean"

                                                              Above: Birthday Dinner

We surprised my daughter by coming to Chicago for her birthday....didn't want her to spend the day alone.
It was a great but busy day!
We all took the train in the morning. It was a crazy ride just trying to get there on time. We hit every stop light, got behind every school bus, and hit at least three construction sites! Not to mention when we got to the station we still had to park in the deck and stop by the desk to get our tickets printed out.
We arrived with 15 minutes to spare....got to the desk only to find out there was a delay and had to wait an hour for the train. Unfortunately, this cut our time with Kelsey a little shorter than we planned.

Once we got there, Kelsey took us around to some sites we haven't seen yet. (Dad usually has to work and doesn't get to come up often.)
All her friends kept telling her she had to stop and see the cultural center, so that's where we headed first.
It is a beautiful building... accented with millions of small tile designs, gorgeous domed ceilings, and some amazing wood work.

We also got to visit one of the college campus' she attends...its was an unusual set-up for a college, but nice to see her daily routine. It's almost like it is one whole floor of a mall. There are lots of shops and a food court. The class rooms are all in one area. I'm not sure exactly how many floors it has, but there were a lot! The view from the front of the school was just breath taking!

The next stop was my pick, The Holy Name Cathedral. The guys sorta moaned and groaned about this one,
but it was worth the stop.

Dad didn't get to see "The Bean" when we went, so we swung by there on our way to Kelsey's Birthday dinner. We had such a good time when we went there before, we just had to take him to Millenium Park.

Last but not least, we went to dinner where we got to see dad wearing a bib! (He wouldn't let me post a picture, but we got to poke some fun. I also didn't notice he gave me the bird while trying to dodge my photo, so ya probably best no post lol.)
Sang Happy Birthday to our birthday girl ... took the poor college kid shopping to buy toilet paper and all the other goodies she needed before we had to head back to the Union Station to catch our train.
Even though it was a slower paced day than we usually have when we visit, the guys were wiped out and went to bed as soon as we got home. LOL they are soft hahaha.

Happy Birthday Kelsey!! We love you and enjoyed out day together.