These past couple weeks have been pretty stressful due to exams and crunch time for Thanksgiving and the end of the term. My cluster girls and I were getting pretty high-strung and we decided we needed a VACATION! What a great idea, right?! One of my roommates lives in Bolingbrook, IL, which is fairly close to Chicago, so we decided to pack up last weekend and head over to the Windy City! It was also our clustermate’s birthday so it was perfect for a big celebration! Chicago was also putting on the Miracle Mile Lighting Celebration which included a Disney parade and fireworks! Obviously, we had to go. 🙂 It was really crazy!
We drove to Bolingbrook Saturday morning and arrived around 10:30 AM (they’re one hour behind Holland and it is only about a 2.5 hour drive). And then, THE BEST PART CAME: We took the train into the city! I had never been on a train or even seen a passenger train in real life, so it was REALLY COOL. 🙂 I guess it’s pretty much the same as a subway, but above ground. It was definitely a neat experience.
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Jenn and I preparing for our FIRST TRAIN RIDE at the station!
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Bucca di Beppo‘s, an Italian restaurant with family-sized portions, to celebrate Hannah’s birthday. We even got a huge dessert served in a big martini glass with about a quart of icecream and 12 brownies. It was awesome and we were extra full.
Hannah blowing out her candles, with the Chocolate Dessert waiting for us to dig in!
After dinner, we hung out around Michigan Ave. for the parade. We saw Santa, Disney stars, and even Rudolph! There were millions of people and we learned to navigate the streets fairly adequately.
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Betsy takes in the parade, confetti, lights, and the crowd!
We took the train back to Shannon’s house in Bolingbrook around 9pm, where her mom graciously made us pizza and we had yet ANOTHER cake. Stomachs full of sugar and our feet tired from walking all day, we crashed pretty hard.
It was an excellent weekend and a perfect adventure, not to mention the bonding time we experienced. I love my Dykstra 3-5 girls!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
-A