Sisters, shopping, and sushi, oh my!

So, my big sister came, with her family, to visit last weekend and we had such a good time. Claire and Sammy hadn't seen their cousins in a while (who are the same age as each of them) and we definitely hadn't seen them in Chicago in a while since my brother-in-law is a busy political man these days and can't get much time off of work.

The weather forcast predicted cold and rainy, but it ended up being sunny and fabulous instead, so we took as much advantage of the city as we could and acted like big tourists all weekend.

We rode the "el" (which is the subway here in Chicago) into the city because the kids think that is a big treat. Personally, I'm always afraid Sammy is going to somehow leap in front of the train tracks, so I don't ride the "train" very often, but the kids love it when we do.

The "el" is always fun on the way into the city, but by the time you're done with your downtown activities, I'm always wishing we could grab a cab home because of all the hassle of public transportation.

We also took the bus which the kids loved even more (no seatbelts!). We headed, of course, for Michigan Ave to do the stuff the kids love.

This is my brother-in-law on the phone. He was on the phone most of the morning on a conference call. Luckily, he was able to mute it and just listen most of the time, but he would have to occassionally say things like "Ben is here" or something like that. It seemed so fancy to me.

I think Matt started feeling like maybe he wasn't very fancy after a while of Ben being on the phone. Haha. What? Are you kidding? You're super fancy big guy! Who else would carry our American Girl Store bags around Chicago? Just kidding.

Here we are walking into the American Girl Store mecca of insanity. Notice the brother-in-law still being on the phone. I can't believe he could hear anything while walking through that store.

Claire found her Josephina doll, and the cousins got a few outfit for their dolls. Sammy kept saying "I'm gettin' outta here!"

He did okay though. We kept promising him that we were getting food next, so he hung in there.

I made empanadas for dinner that night, which were pretty good if I do say so myself. My dear friend Bridget helped me with the recipe, and she's an incredible cook, so they were much better than the first time I tried to make them.

We spent Saturday morning at the park with the kids....

....and Sammy was finally in his element. He can go all the way across the monkey bars now, which he's very proud of.

And then, finally, the babysitter came on Saturday night and we grown-ups got the heck out of dodge. We weren't even sure where we were going, but we just wanted a break from the babes. We had such a good time.

We even found a parking spot right up at Rush and Division where it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a spot normally. When we find a parking spot at a meter instead of having to pay for an expensive parking garage Matt is so much happier. So yay! It's always better when the Big Guy is happy.

Laura and I pulled the guys in and out of a few stores that I don't get to frequent usually. Urban Outfitters was the first and then Anthropologie.

I love that store so much I could just move into it! The home stuff and the clothes are so fun. Of course, if I bought everything I wanted to buy there I would have to move into it because I couldn't afford my home anymore.

Sushi was next, but by that time we were exhausted and just wanted to get home so we got our sushi to go and headed back to my house....

...where we were greeted by these houligans who had not gone to sleep for the babysitter. They had the quickest snack ever and then we threw them into their beds so that we could finally devour our sushi.

I can only eat sushi after the kids have gone to bed because I love it so much and I don't want to be distracted while eatting it.

Spider rolls are my new favorite sushi roll. So good. So, so good.

Thanks for coming big sister! And come back soon!