My friend Camille and I decided back in December that it would be a lot of fun to fly out to Chicago and surprise our friend Haylee. She had no idea we were coming, but we coordinated with her husband and made plans to show up at her son's basketball game Friday night. Mille and I flew from our respective homes and landed a few minutes apart at Midway Airport, and then off we went. We were super late to the game, so by the time we got there, it was over. We waited in the lobby of the school for Haylee to come out. She did, looking a tad bit angry because her son's team had lost and because he didn't get to play much. Then she saw us and went from looking angry to confused, and more confused. Haha. It took several minutes for it to sink it that we were actually there and then she was just shocked and really excited. I told Camille it would only be a successful surprise if she peed her pants or cried. She cried, so it's a win.
We had no plans at all, but had a fantastic weekend. We stayed at a hotel together, staying up super late as we do catching up on life and laughing and crying. These ladies have been my best friends since 6th grade, so we know everything about it each other and have so much shared history. Day one we spent in Rockford area, near where Haylee lives. We toured the town, saw the school where she works, and got to see her house. We also visited her friends -Camille and I's old roommate Stefani's brother lives there with his wife and they are Haylee's close friends. It's a very small world. We then drove to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, thinking it would be fun to go into WI. We entered the town and there were a TON of people there. A little googling told us it was the annual snow sculpting contest. Lucky us! We walked way out on the frozen lake, which was super cool, and saw all the amazing snow sculptures. There are some super talented people in the world! That night, we went to a Rockford Ice Hogs Hockey game, the local team that feeds into the Chicago NHL team. Hayes and Justin are big fans, and now Camille and I are too! I predicted a win for the hogs in shoot-out & lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. Who knew I had hockey guessing skills??
Day two we went into Chicago. On our way in, we had Chinese foot massages, our very favorite thing to do together. We also had breakfast at Wildberry, reminiscent of our first trip together to Chicago in 2018. We then went to the famous Bean and walked down to the pier. It was a lovely day, perfect for walking. At the pier, we happened upon our second cool thing- which was a groundhog day event with several of the actors from the movie. They pulled out a groundhog and he did not see his shadow, so it's apparently supposed to be an early spring. I will take it! We then went to pizza at the Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company, again something we have been dreaming about since our first trip in 2018. We remembered it well and it did not disappoint. It's super delicious and a fun little restaurant. Sadly, we then had to take Hayes back to her husband and Camille and I stayed overnight close to the airport so we could fly out at the crack of dawn today & get back to our day-to-day lives.
Love these ladies and the role they've played in my life. Now a few pictures, in backwards order, because why not.
