Last summer, when the two older girl were in Texas, we took Soul and Glow on a little getaway and called it “two-kid weekend.” When True and Brave left for Texas this summer, Soul was eagerly anticipating the next two-kid weekend. Actually, she was hoping two-kid weekend would be six weeks long. After we explained we couldn’t go on vacation for 6 weeks, and that the while they were gone, we would be doing lots of special two kid things, she was cool our upcoming getaway was only going to be a weekend.

Since we’ve been busy with house stuff, the only available weekend to leave was our anniversary weekend. Initially, Ben and I had plans to spend that weekend together (and send the girls to my parents), but we decided it would be best to lump the two occasions in one. Thus, I declared it “two-kid & anniversary weekend!” Soul chimed in and said, “No. It’s only two-kid weekend. You have to celebrate another time.” Ben and I just laughed, so it did become two-kid weekend, and we will have to figure out another opportunity to get alone time for our 11th anniversary. Honestly though, it was still a special weekend, and though Soul said it wasn’t our anniversary, we still greeted each other in whispers and kisses.

Ben and I debated all week long where to take the girls for the weekend. Their only request is to swim all day long, so we were going to head to San Diego, but then a good deal popped up on Hotel Tonight, therefore, we headed to Orange County instead. We kicked off the weekend with a stop at our favorite ice cream place and then the rest of the time was spent at the hotel. We brought a cooler of food so we didn’t have to leave the hotel for our meals. The weekend was pretty much… swim, eat, nap on repeat.

It was such a chill weekend and I love this sweet way we celebrated our two littlest ones and our anniversary. #celebrating11with2

on soul: watermelon swimsuit, c/o sunuva. on glow: tropical swimsuit, c/o sunuva. both goggles, target.

Ben and I purchased the City Go Card to for our Chicago sightseeing. There was so much to see and do that we thought this would be the best way. We did a lot of traveling on foot (props to Glow who was a trooper and kept up with us sans stroller). We’ve been going stroller free for a couple years now, so she doesn’t get that as a fall back option anymore, but considering we are suburban people and cars are our mode of transportation, she did an excellent job keeping up.

We used our City Go Card for the Big Red Bus Tour, which was fun for the kids to sit atop the big red bus. They got such a kick from how close we would pass under bridges and lights. It was so cold out, but they loved sitting at the top. The bus tour is not as refined as the Chicago Architecture Foundation tours, but we did learn lots of little tidbits from our guides. We also did a lot of walking to get us from place to place.

For lunch, we headed to Lou Malnati’s for their deep dish pizza. We went with their classic style deep dish and Ben got a thin crust pizza for himself. Our tummies were stuffed and we were all definitely impressed. It totally lived up to the hype! We are thin crust pizza lovers (we like it crispy), but that thick, buttery crust was really tasty. All of our leftovers tasted just as yummy the next day!

After our very filling lunch, we headed over to the Adler Planetarium. The girls enjoyed the interactive exhibits, but we really enjoyed the constellation shows. It was so relaxing and realistic. Our absolute favorite part was going into Chicago’s oldest planetarium. It’s this quaint globe that fits about 8 people, and you go in and out through this (slow) moving bench on a ramp. I loved hearing about where it’s been, what it was used for, and the long process of restoring it back to its former glory.

After Adler Planetarium, we headed to Navy Pier. It was fun to walk around a bit and look out on the water, but we didn’t really do much of anything else there. Plus, it was a really cold day and that Chicago wind is fierce, so after a full day of cold and windy, we were ready to warm up. We headed back to our hotel to relax a bit before heading out to dinner.

The plan was to go to Parachute (we tried the first night but they were closed), but our second time around, we got turned away because we didn’t have reservations. We didn’t think to make any for this place (darn us!). The menu looked intriguing, so we were bummed to miss out. The hostess was really lovely and was trying to accommodate us, but with such a large family, it’s not that easy to sneak us in somewhere. We had reservations for the following nights at other places we wanted to try more, so Parachute was not meant to be for us. Someone please go and tell me all about it! 

Thus, we decided to go the Chicago style hot dog route and chose Gene and Jude’s to give us that experience. The line was long, but the servers were fast, so we were enjoying our Chicago style dogs in no time. I’ve never thought to use fries as a topping, but it really was delicious. None of it was healthy, but our hunger was satisfied, so it’s all good. Actually, I’ve been craving one of their hot dogs lately. Maybe I’ll bake my fries in attempt to make a “healthier” version.

After a full day of exploring, we were eager to get back to the hotel to cuddle in bed and watch Food Network. That’s pretty much how we like to end all our evenings when we are on vacation.

read all about day one and the start of our trip. #bratchersixmidwestfix

I had seen this new dessert place, The Loop Churros, pop up on Instagram and I was excited to take the girls there to try it. As we were driving up towards the spot, we noticed the place right away because they had a line wrapped around their building. Normally, I stay away from lines, but we had time to kill, so we decided to wait. Plus, I did promise the girls an ice cream adventure, so I must deliver.

We waited in line for an hour. AN HOUR!!! Insane! Thankfully, we spent a good chunk of it in the shade, but still. The girls and I chatted, we chatted with the lady in front of us, and somehow, we all managed to stay patient enough even when there was a family that let about 6 extra family members cut and join them in line rather than go to the end. Oye! I debated saying something, the people in front and behind me wanted to say something, but nobody did. It just wasn’t cool, but we all became friends with each other.

After our hour wait, we finally put in our order, and we waited (patiently) for another 10 minutes for our churros to be ready. We chose one churro with matcha glaze, and dipped in fruity pebble cereal with the soft serve ice cream. The second was a cinnamon churro with soft serve ice cream, and hot fudge and nuts sprinkled on top.

We quickly took our churros to the car (after taking pictures), where Ben was waiting (he was working), to share with him. The girls loved it, but they aren’t quite as discerning when it comes to dessert. They happily munched on the churros and devoured the ice cream. Ben and I thought the ice cream tasted just like McDonald’s soft serve ice cream, but the churro was pretty good. So next time, if there is a next time, we will skip the ice cream and order churros. I’m an ice cream gal, but this wasn’t worth the $5 plus dollars for a churro with ice cream. On the other hand, this place is always worth the $5 plus dollars for ice cream. While #illalwayssayyestoicecream, in this case, I think I might just say yes to the churro. Nevertheless, the girls and I made good memories waiting in line together and it’s always fun to try someplace new. Life is sweet indeed!

Ben and I learned real fast that you needed be a super aggressive driver when you’re driving in Chicago. Good thing we are from Southern California, so that’s pretty much second nature to us, but I think we had to crank it up a notch in Chicago. I gotta give all you Chicago people props for your driving skills. Once we finally found our hotel (we stayed at the Swissotel), we checked in, relaxed a bit, awed at the view outside our hotel window, then got ready for dinner.

We wanted to go to Parachute, but they were closed, so the second choice was Big Star. It was a lovely evening, so we opted to sit outside and enjoy our new surroundings. First, Big Star had good reviews on Yelp and was recommended by Food & Wine, but we were slightly disappointed in their food. We did like it, but it wasn’t spectacular. I did like their walking taco (taco out of a Frito bag) though.

The rest of the evening was spent wandering around that neighborhood. Then, we topped off dinner with ice cream from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, which was around the corner. We all had this little buzz of excitement being in a new city. The girls were taking it all in and observing how things were very different from back home. I loved seeing their zest for travel coming out.

Click here to see a recap of our #bratchersixmidwestfix.

We left on a Saturday for our #bratchersixmidwestfix road trip. We were supposed to leave Friday, but Ben was sick all week and still wasn’t feeling well. He wasn’t 100% on Saturday, but he was a trooper and off we went. The first day we got as far as Grand Junction, Colorado. We went through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and finally (late that night)… Colorado.

We didn’t know how far we would make it each day, so we booked our hotel while on the road. Ben does all the online booking because I get headaches if I read for long periods in the car. For most of the trip, we turned to the HotelTonight app (use RBRATCHER2 to get $25 off and I get a discount next time I use it too, so everyone wins!) or Hotwire to find our hotel.

The girls did so well on the road. We brought some of our school books with us, so we did homeschooling while we traveled. In addition, as we entered each state, we would color it on a US map and one of the big girls would read out basic information on those states from one of the books we brought along.

After staying in Colorado our first night, and going through the rest of Colorado and Nebraska, we ended up in Altoona, Iowa for our second night. Ben does most of the driving during the day, we usually switch in the late afternoon, and I get us to our destination for the evening. I love road trips and sitting in the car for hours. I really enjoy looking out at the landscape and seeing it change from place to place. This world is so vast and so beautiful; makes me in awe of God and how amazing He is. Besides admiring the view, I love having dance parties in the car. I go crazy dancing (when I’m not driving). Ben laughs at how much I get into it (it’s pretty much my arms flailing everywhere).

Those first two nights were kind of rough since Ben wasn’t 100% yet, so a cough was keeping him up at night, which was keeping me up at night. Praise the Lord we had enough energy to be alert and drive on through. The girls were so excited to keep coloring through the states. After two full days of driving, and crossing the Mississippi River, we were almost at our first main destination… Chicago. We all felt a burst of exhilaration knowing we were almost there.

Ben and I had planned to do a road trip with the kids in May, but we weren’t exactly sure of our destination. Initially, we were thinking it would be to Yellowstone, but most of the lodging was already booked. We had discussed going to Chicago for our anniversary in July (we both have never been), and then I told him, “Why don’t we take our family road trip to Chicago?!” He loved this idea, so that’s what we aimed for. We didn’t anticipate him getting ill prior to us leaving, but we were flexible and rolled with the punches. We hadn’t made any reservations yet, so we figured we could visit somewhere else in California if that didn’t work out, but thank Jesus it did!

More posts coming soon about the rest of our #bratchersixmidwestfix. Check out that hashtag on Instagram to see some other photos from our road trip (follow me @cakiesblog!).

True and Brave flew out to Texas yesterday and I sent them off with this little travel pack. Their backpacks are a project found in my book. Inside are some flash cards, snacks, but I think what got them really excited are the books. I Like to Draw/I Like to Write and Finish This Book are perfect summer activity books. The I Like to Draw is for True (it’s also I Like to Write on the other side); she’s really been into writing stories lately (she’s always loved drawing). The Finish This Book is more a detective type book and I know my Nancy Drew fan will have fun completing it.

This past Christmas, True received the Hello Kitty Fuji Instax from my parents. She has really been into photography and I call her my little kidtographer. Brave would borrow True’s camera to take her own pictures, but I had a regular mini Instax someone had given me as a gift (though I already had one), so we gave that to her to take with her this summer. The regular Fuji Instax doesn’t come with a shoulder strap, so we purchased this case and shoulder strap for her. She was so excited to have her own camera. One day last week, they both wore their cameras all day at home. They plan on making a scrapbook with all their pictures (they did so last year), so it will be fun to see what they put together.