A Surprise Visit From Michelle

My dear, sweet sister Michelle surpirsed me by coming out for a visit the end of October.  I was planning on flying by myself with Ava to Utah to spend the month with my family but little did I know that Drew and Michelle had been in cahoots and planned it so Michelle would come out here for a weekend and then we would fly to Utah together on the same flight.  As we say in my family, I got "scandaled"!  I was waiting for Drew to come home from Chicago for the weekend and when he walked in he said "close your eyes, I have a surprise for you" and when I opened them Michelle was standing in my front room.  I just started screaming and crying - I couldn't have been more suprised or more happy.  We had a nice weekend in Champaign and then packed up and drove to Chicago Sunday night.  We stayed at Drew's apartment (right off of Michigan Avenue) so Michelle, Ava and I bashed around Chicago on Monday and Tuesday while Drew went to class all day (poor Drew).  We had such a fun time.  Here are a few pictures from our adventures:

We wanted to try an authentic Chicago dog while we were there. 

Michelle chillin' inside Downtown Dogs

We met Drew on his lunch break and ate our Downtown Dogs on the bank of Lake Michigan.  Not a bad way to spend a lunch break!



Drew in front of his school (okay, this isn't the actual building he went to school in but it said Northwestern University so we just had to take a picture!)

For lunch on Tuesday we met Drew at Gino's East.  Definitely my favorite pizza joint in Chicago.  Best marinara sauce.  Ever.  Hands down.

The rest of our time in Chicago was pretty much spent shopping - surprise, surprise!  What do you expect when you are staying basically across the street from H&M, The Apple Store, Forever 21, etc. etc.?  Then, tuesday evening we packed up and Drew drove us to the airport.  The flight went so well - I don't know how I could have done it without Michelle.  Ava slept the entire flight while Michelle and I laughed out loud watching episodes of Modern Family on her laptop.  Quite an enjoyable flight, I must say!