A Long Awaited Special St. Patty's Day

There's a particular memory that sticks out in my mind. Well, two actually. It was March 2007. I had talked my boyfriend (now husband) into a weekend in Chicago. I was soooo excited to show him the sights of one of my favorite cities. We had very little money to throw around at the time, so we booked a hotel room through Hotwire (we still use this for cheap hotel stays on our road trips). We left Des Moines after work one Friday night and arrived in Chicago late. 

Despite it being after midnight as we checked into our hotel, I couldn't help but to want to walk around the city streets. We were also hungry. So, we went in search of food. At 1:30 a.m. we stumbled upon an open restaurant that quickly became our favorite Chicago eatery. At 3 a.m. we arrived back at our hotel room in the Hyatt Regency, requested a wake up call, pre-ordered a room service breakfast, and fell asleep. As our breakfast was delivered the next morning, the first thing I did was pull back the drapes to let the sunlight in.

I excitedly called Matt over to the window. I have seen the Chicago River dyed green many times in my life. I had never seen it being dyed green until that moment. We sat in our pajamas, enjoying our breakfast and coffee, and went on to have a spectacular long weekend roaming the city. That perfect morning was so simple, yet it sticks out in my mind as a perfect moment. 

My husband and I have looked forward to taking our minis to Chicago for St. Patty's Day since our oldest was born. We knew from experience we'd like them to be a little bit older so they could manage the crowds and craziness that weekend brings. A year ago as we drove back from our long vacation in the Florida Keys (on St. Patrick's Day), I looked over at Hubs and said, "next year we're doing this day in Chicago." So we did.

Sure we have friends in Chicago we could have stayed with (and we did the second night), but I wanted a memorable experience for their first Chicago St. Patty's Day. I booked a River View room at the Hyatt Regency right on the river. From our hotel room, we saw the river turn green while we ate St. Patrick's Day donuts and were thankful to not be in the crowds below us.

Recreating our Looking Down At The River pic from 2007

Again it was one of these simple memories that will mean more to me than them, that I'm almost positive. As for the rest of our weekend, it was delightful (you can read about it here).

Sammy and Michael The Leprechauns Take Chicago

If you're an avid blog reader, you may remember our beloved leprechauns Sammy and Michael, who came to life one St. Patrick's Day as an activity that quickly became a special daycare thing. Who would have guessed that these random Dollar Tree purchases would be the highlight of spring breaks for years??? Anyways, last spring break we went to Florida for 14 days and Sammy and Michael were left at home. There was devastation from the minis and their disappointment has been talked about for the last year. 

This year when we decided to spend St. Patty's Day in Chicago, I made sure to grab those damn leprechauns so they could join us....but if you're my minis, Sammy and Michael surprised us in Chicago! We made sure to take them along on most of our adventures, but they spent Saturday night and evening napping in my purse instead of enjoying the activities (mostly because I didn't want them to be dropped and shattered on the busy Chicago sidewalks).

While Hubs and I were packing up the minivan to leave, the minis went to grab Sammy and Michael out of their sensory bin and noticed they were already missing! Those tricky little leprechauns were already on their way to Chicago. I heard a rumor they were buried in a green hat somewhere among luggage but out of site from little eyes.

When the minis went to sleep, those little stinkers (because we don't call them shits in front of the kids) came to life and got into mischief in the hotel bathroom! By morning they were ready to watch the river dying, eat donuts, and go to Shedd Aquarium with us.

They helped themselves to chips and guacamole and salads for lunch. Good thing they made it out for lunch because they forgot to make an appearance for Chicago style pizza for dinner at Pizano's.

The aquatic show was a favorite.

The last thing Sammy and Michael saw of Chicago was Cloud Gate (also known as The Bean). They then went into my purse for a good nap (quite honestly, it was at this point that we met up with friends and I completely forgot about them, especially as I kept shoving things on top of then in my purse). They did come back out to get into trouble overnight and hide a pot of gold, which the minis promptly found Sunday morning.

We're lucky enough to have awesome friends who indulged in our Sammy and Michael fun. However, our leprechauns didn't stick around for green eggs and ham (and toast and bacon) and got packed into a suitcase so they wouldn't be forgotten.

Sammy and Michael are now tucked back in their sensory bin in storage (in the basement). The minis claim they're getting ready for next year.....when they'll get into even more trouble.