The Shisler Family Blog: Surprise Ride

Grandparents day was Friday at school, I will post about that as soon as I get those photos off of my big camera. In the meantime, Saturday we surprised the boys with a SURPRISE RIDE to….Chicago. We planned it a few weeks ago when we realized our weekend was open and Scott was headed there Monday for a weeklong meeting. The boys have never been to Chicago in the winter and Christmas time is always so pretty there. Our oldest niece lives there and we had not seen her since the summer…so we packed up the boys on Friday while they were at school. Saturday while Papa was making pancakes we told them to shower up we were leaving today. They were all excited. Mom and Dad headed back to Edina and we headed East.

We got there early afternoon and went straight to Ariana's Apartment, after a quick tour we headed out on an errand for her. She needed help picking up a new sewing machine…not so easy when you don't have a car. By the time we got that, returned it back to her house and got down to our hotel downtown it was dinner time. Ariana chose pizza, which didn't make ANY of us too sad. We headed to Giordano's which was a close walk from the Hyatt. The wait was terribly long so we got it to go and ate it in the Skywalk of our hotel, which ended up being perfect. It was quiet, the view was lovely, we had a long bar to sit at with stools. We enjoyed catching up with Ariana and hearing all about her latest.

We then headed to our room to watch a very intense Buckeye game. Sadly, we lost. Not an easy loss for any of our boys, well Max didn't seem to mind. But it was disappointing, I won't lie. But I tried to remind them…. to be "humble in victory and gracious in defeat". Not so sure they loved that advice a lot, but hopefully some day it will ring true. :) We went to bed with some sad boys.

Sunday came and everyone seemed to wake up happy and cheerful and ready for a day on the town. After a slow start, which for us is 8:30 am, we headed a few blocks for breakfast at the Corner Bakery and proceeded to walk down Michigan Ave to visit shops that were on the boys' lists. FIrst up, Nike Town…4 floors of Nike heaven for Tommy and Drew. Then to the Disney Store for Max and the Lego store was next. We poked in some others as well. I got to visit Anthropologie, I could live in that store. Nordstrom Rack was a fun stop….Several others as well. Not many shopping bags with Christmas around the corner but fun to look.

The snow started to fall late morning, it was BEAUTIFUL. We had lunch at Potbelly's…Tommy's FAVORITE….and then Scott and Max headed to the hotel while the rest of us stopped at Ghiradelli's for a hot chocolate and fudge to bring home.

A nap in the afternoon for Mama and Max and off to dinner we went to one of my top 5 restaurants…Roy's. Not only is it named Roy's….my Dad's name…but it is Hawaiian fusion meaning it is a Hawaiian restaurant. The first time we went was on our Honeymoon, it holds a special place in our hearts. AND they may have THE VERY BEST Molten Chocolate Lava Cake around.

The boys and I left the hotel at 5 am today to get back for part of school. Tommy has his first game tonight. (if you miss school you can't play so we HAD to get back for that :) ) Scott will be home on Friday, via airplane.

It was a whirlwind time, but fun to see Ariana, and to enjoy family time in Chicago.