Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Chicago Trip - Family, Food and a couple of great finds!

Our family just got back from the beautiful city of Chicago for our summer vacation!  We have not been up there for a couple of years.  We all flew up and stayed a week, visiting with family most of the time.

One day we were driving out and happened upon a nice big Goodwill store in Indiana.  Oh, I wish I had a lot of time to look around, but went right to the basket area and look what I found!  A beautiful miniature basket around 8 inches long!  It looks like an antique to me!  I think it had $2 on it.

Right near the basket was this crock.  I turned it over and it had a raised inscription of 7005 on it, and knew it must be old.  Upon further investigating, my $2 vase turned out to be a Zanesville Stoneware piece valued around $45!  WooHoo!  I love it!

It was actually chilly in the evening the first couple of days we were there.  The guys played bags, the kids had fun catching up with their cousins and my sister in law Diane and I sat freezing by the fire!  They made fun of this Floridian, because I was saying that 59 degrees was cold.  :P  We enjoyed the crisp night air, and seeing the fireflies out.  We don't get those in Florida!  Ryan and Alivia tried catching them.

What else do you eat when you go to Chicago, except PIZZA!!!!  Oh my, when we got off of the plane I made my husband stop at a pizza place for a slice of deep dish for lunch, then one of our family gathering nights always includes a pizza night from Aurellio's, so I got my share then as well!!  It is SO good!! 
On the way to my sister in law Susan's place, we pass by one of Al Capone's old brewery's, which is now a car shop.  I like the painting they now have on the wall there.  This is in Thornton, IL

Another look of the old Al Capone place

When visiting family, we do a lot of sitting and eating up there.  Ha!  I gained 6 pounds in one week alone!  Italian Sausage, Lasagna, Mostaccoli, Chicago Pizza -- time to work off the extra weight!  Here is Danny and Sarah sitting on the front porch with my niece Catherine.

Danny and Sarah flew up for our reunion weekend, and on Sunday they had to fly out.  Here they are showing their train tickets, as they went downtown to sightsee and eat deep dish pizza at Gino's East with Uncle Tom and Jon.  They also saw the Bean and the new Marilyn Monroe statue, before heading to the airport to catch their plane back home.

All of the Cousins from Rick's Family together 
A fun Pyramid Picture

Always sad to come home from seeing family!  I wish we all lived closer.


2 comments:

The Polka Dot Closet said...

Oh what fun you had....Cold? I didn't think there was anywhere that was even close to cold! yes. 59 is cold to us Floridians. Your kids are so cute and that pyramid picture will be a family heirloom for sure!!

Carol

Cindy's Stitching said...

looks like you all had a great time. great photos. I was in chicago last year. great place to visit.