visitors!

my sweet friend abby from chattanooga came to see us last weekend! it's so fun exploring new places with friends, especially when they don't mind you dragging them to school meetings or hitting up every garage sale and thrift store within 30 miles. doesn't that make you want to come see us! plus it was all part of her birthday celebration. yep, she's that good.

after all the fun of school meetings and thrifting, we of course had to make a trip downtown.

taking the water taxi from the train station to michigan ave is one of my favorite things to do. it's like getting one of the big water tours for $2, without all the interesting chicago facts of course :)

we hit up navy pier for the first time which was lots of fun. side note - there were real camel rides for kids outside the pier. definitely not expecting that one.

we ate our very first chicago hot dogs and they were great. mine was totally plain, not exactly chicago style, but james and abs raved about theirs too.

we also tried the huge ferris for the first time and it was awesome. the best $6 we've spent in chicago.

it's the best view of the city shoreline for sure

but definitely a little freaky at the top. i loved it.

we hit up michigan ave for some maternity clothes, drooled over cute kids decor at the land of nod, and tried on every vest at patagonia before we - literally - ran 12 blocks in 12 minutes to make it back for our train home. preggo running 12 blocks in boots was so not attractive. but cars totally stopped to let us pass. or maybe they just stopped to laugh at me. either way, we made it. and had a total blast doing it.

thanks, abby for making the trip! it meant the world to me and happy happy birthday!!