Mr. Birthday Visits Steve

When Steve turned 30-something-else this year, I knew it was another cause for secret celebrations!  He surrendered all planning energies to me, *enter coniving laugh*.  First, the night before his birthday, I arranged for Gma to come watch the kids and I caught the train midday to surprise him at his office.  It was great timing since I caught him making last minute copies before packing up his briefcase to run to the train home.  Sneaking up behind him at the copier and watch him clear 15 feet in startlement was worth it.  *Click. (mental picture).  He was so surprised that I was actually down there that the rest of the evening didn't really matter, he claimed.  Until he found out what was planned.  

We spent the majority of the evening atop the John Hancock Tower in the Signature Lounge.  


Chicago Trip Tip 586:  For anyone wanting to do the famous Observation Deck views at either the Sears or Hancock Tower, take it from me, the Signature Lounge at the Hancock Building is the way to do it.  

• The view from the Hancock is SO much prettier than the Sears and 
• You can go to the Signature Lounge for FREE AND you can treat yourselves to an amazing chocolate mousse cake instead of paying the $18/person admission to go see the same view one floor up, sans the chocolate cake.  Survey says Signature Lounge.

       Funny Lucky story.  Can't decide if it was funnier or luckier.  Probably just luckier.  We arrived at dusk, the busiest time, and saw a looooooong line to go up the elevator.  At least an hour.  We were undeterred, however, and were happy to wait in line.  But, the Madura Magic was at our service.  This guy just started talking to us and when the elevator came down he bursted out "They're with me" and escorted us on the first ride up.  Wow.  Head of the line.  And one of the best tables in the house.  Turns out he was a wedding crasher.  HA!  What a life!

       We arrived to watch the sunset and stayed to watch the city lights come on.  It was beautiful.  


Oh yeah, and Chicago Trip Tip 587:

• Ladies:  The best view of the city is found none other than in the women's restroom in the floor-to-ceiling windows.  I'm not kidding.  When I went in to check it out, NO ONE was using the restroom for what it was meant for.  We were ALL pressed up against the glass with our cameras! 

After walking around the city on a very romantic and picturesque stroll, we ended our evening at a very nice hotel called the Omni Hotel on Michigan Avenue.  Thank you Business Perks.  When Steve did a charity auction for one of the Bears Players, he was thanked with a gift certificate to this place.  Awesome!

The next morning we walked through the city, grabbed breakfast at the Corner Bakery where he ironically ran into an old high school friend (totally odd at 10 AM on a Saturday morning, 2 hours away from where they grew up).  We headed over to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Body Worlds Exhibit...and the Tornado Alley Omnimax movie...Couldn't help it....I'm somewhat of a covert storm chaser myself...or, so I wished.

Chicago Trip Tip 588:

• The undeniably best seat in an omnimax theater is the one right above the projector.  It just is.

We came home Saturday evening and celebrated with cake and ice cream with our kids.  And LOVED that we introduced the Trick Candles back into the 21st century.  

HA HA HA!

Happy Birthday, Steve!