Family Vacation in Arizona

Day 1: Travel Day We left for Arizona from Chicago in the late morning and arrived in Phoenix in the late afternoon. Makai was so easy to travel with now that he’s older. He can listen to instruction, pull his own suitcase, and use a booster, instead of a full car seat. We just buckled the booster into an Uber car on the way to the airport. By the time we rented our car and drove to Goodyear we were pretty hungry, so we met everyone at a restaurant called Oregano’s. There was a wait, so we caught up while sitting outside. Makai and Grace fell back into their shenanigans immediately, as though no time had passed.

Day 2: Relaxing at HomeOn our first full day of vacation, we mostly hung around the house and relaxed. Makai swam in the pool and played with Gracie all day. He thought her playground and huge back yard were actually a park! And that her cool tent was a castle.

Day 3: Blackhawks vs. Coyotes In the morning Dallas somehow noticed that the Blackhawks were playing the local Arizona Coyotes, so we got seats. Really good seats for not nearly how much they would have cost at the United Center. We got four tickets and took Dallas’s dad and Makai. This was Makai’s first hockey game. The funny thing was that the entire stadium was filled with Blackhawks fans!

Day 4: Dinner with Amber and GuyWe hung out all day at the house. Makai swam every day of vacation except for one or two. He and Gracie were getting along so well. And he was so happy to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma C. Amber and Guy relocated their family outside Phoenix to Chandler recently. We met up with them at Cibo in Phoenix for dinner. Lots of fun catching up. The food was fantastic. Makai discovered a love for Nutella!

Day 5: Trampolining and Relaxing at the WigwamMakai and Gracie playing at home.

In the morning we Caroline and I took Makai and Gracie to a trampoline park. Gracie had been there a bunch of times, but Makai had never been to a trampoline park before. He loved it.

In the afternoon, Dallas and I headed over to the Wigwam Spa and Resort. It was not far away at all, but we just wanted some time to relax. We got a really good $100 rate, drank some drinks by the pool and layed in bed for 12 hours straight without a little kid waking us up! Totally worth it.

Day 6: Relaxing with the Family On the way back from the Wigwam, Dallas and I went and got breakfast at Black Bear Diner. We thought we’d finally found a local place that wasn’t a chain but then we read on the placemat that they have like 100 locations. It was really good, though. So good that Dallas, Jordan, George and Kathy went after golf a few days later.

 It was hot in Arizona. Not so much in Chicago!

 The best part of the trip wasn’t really doing anything. It was just Makai and his cousins hanging out and having fun. They had SO much fun!

After Makai went to bed we decorated for his birthday the next day. He was so surprised when he went into the kitchen the next day!

Day 7: Makai’s 4th Birthday Jordan, Liz, and Mahea flew in from Seattle on Makai’s birthday. FINALLY we got to meet Mahea and all the cousins were united. We spent the day swimming. And swimming. And visiting the neighbor horse. And swimming.

 The highlights of dinner were kalbi ribs, fried rice, and wontons.

We got Makai an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. They didn’t have Transformers, but this monster was so cool. We put Transformers candles on it. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and Makai blew out the candles. Then Makai opened his gifts. He got a couple legos sets, some Avengers toys, and a nerf gun. Perfect ending to a perfect birthday for Makai.

Day 8: Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, CarnivalLiz, Caroline and I took Mahea, Grace and Makai to Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium in the morning while Jordan, Dallas, George and Kathy went golfing. We went to this zoo the last time we visited and it was fun to bring the kids back. They especially liked the petting zoo area, although when we got home, Makai told everyone his favorite animal was the “common mouse.”

The zoo knocked all the kids out and they were fast asleep on the ride home!

 We spent the afternoon napping and hanging out. At night Jose and Caroline took Makai and Grace to a carnival. This is the first time Makai went on carnival rides. They said Makai was really reserved and a bit scared and Grace wall all for it! Makai was white knuckled on the ferris wheel and Grace wanted to go faster!

Day 9: Pumpkin Painting + Professional PhotosOn our last day of vacation we painted pumpkins in the morning. Gracie painted her face, just a little!
In the afternoon we all went to Estrella Star Tower and got family photos taken professionally. It had been since before any of the kids were born that we’d all been together. And the first time with the kids, of course. We’re hoping to fix this and get together every year, but just in case, it will be nice to have photos together!
That night there was more face painting. And hanging out. The next morning we had to leave. Makai misses his cousins so much!

My Sporty Spice Week

(null)(null)(null)(null)On Thursday I went to the United Center to see the Blackhawks take on the Flyers with Becky. It was my first Blackhawks game and my first NHL game in 13 years. The Blackhawks lost, but I still had a fun time!

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(null)In the meantime, Jess, Sara and I had been discussing going to a Bulls game. We tossed around a lot of dates and looked up a lot of different ticket prices. We finally settled on St. Patrick’s Day, which happened to be the day after the Blackhawks game! So, I was at the United Center two nights in a row! This time the Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets.

(null)I took Friday night off and Dallas went out for March Madness. I forgot it was even March Madness until a week or so before. On Saturday we all met up at Brownstone for brunch. Dallas left a few hours later to play ping pong, but Makai and I hung out all day to “watch” basketball. In truth, I didn’t really watch much basketball. We even had a side trip to the park with Ellyza and Lena. But I did notice Makai Mason, the star player on Yale’s team.

The Blackhawks 2015 Stanley Cup Parade and Rally

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We had a better view of the celebrating ants in 2013 when the parade went down Columbus and the rally was in Grant Park. This year it’s through The Loop to Soldier Field (below).

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The parade:
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Fans on the right (all the red), parade in the center, Soldier Field on the upper left:
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The Blackhawks 2013 Stanley Cup Parade and Rally

After winning the 2013 Stanley Cup early in the week and after many days of taking the Stanley Cup all around town to party and carry babies, it was time for the Blackhawks to have their official celebration with parade starting at the United Center and ending at Grant Park with a rally. I made sure to go into work today to check out the festivities because my office overlooks Grant Park. The commute in was TERRIBLE. Tons of inconsiderate drunk bros, but in the end it was worth it to see everything go down.

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This was 9 a.m. Looking pretty crowded, even though the parade didn’t even begin until 10 a.m.

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All of Millennium Park was closed except the area by Park Grill.

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About 10:30 a.m.: The parade was beginning. What we noticed was that on the route from the United Center, it was just the double decker buses with the Blackhawks players. But when they got to Randolph and Columbus, they met up with the rest of the parade – trollys, floats, people carrying flags – and then proceeded south on Columbus to the rally field.

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Hard at work!

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Here are the double decker buses coming over on Washington from the United Center and turning onto Michigan Avenue.

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Pausing for a second to admire what a pretty day it is today!

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The double decker bus here is the first in the line of double decker buses and had the Stanley Cup. If you look close you can see the sun reflecting off of it. What you can’t see it? Let me zoom in!

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See it!??!

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All the buses stopped for a little bit and the mounted police got in line ahead of them. There were more mounted police behind the buses. There were also a lot of motorcycle police and police on foot and in SUVs and cars and every kind of police you can think of. If you look close, you can still see the Stanley Cup on the bus!

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The buses beginning on the parade procession.


A one-minute video of the parade procession.

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Stopping to admire the great view!

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They say that 2 million people showed up for the parade and rally!

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Time for the rally at the southern part of Grant Park.

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All these people were trying to get to the rally and they started jumping fences around the huge construction site that is the northern part of Grant Park. And then where to go? It was like watching ants. They had to find a way out, which meant they had to jump another fence to get out.

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View of the rally, which was just south of Buckingham Fountain.

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Finally, the rally ended with fireworks at about 12:20 p.m.

– My coworker Raf got some great shots down at street level.
– You might remember that the Blackhawks won it all back in 2010 as well. I watched the winning game with Aimee and Ashanth out in Utah.

6 Days on the East Coast

Day 1:

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My trips these days always begin with tortas from Frontera at O’Hare. YUM!

Day 2:

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The view from my New York hotel. Empire State Building on the left!

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After a long day of meetings, my team went out for dinner at Brasserie Les Halles. This is the French restaurant that is the home base of Chef-at-large Anthony Bourdain. I had the French onion soup and the cassoulet (a French casserole with a white bean base, three kinds of sausage, duck confit and pork belly!). For dessert I had chocolate mousse that was made with Valrhona chocolate, a high-end French chocolate. Everything was SO delicious. My coworkers and I just kept commenting how great everything was!

Day 3:

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There was a Dean & Deluca cafe just down the block from my hotel. Very different than the Soho market I used to visit, but still very good when I stopped by for breakfast.

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The Roundarch Isobar office is not far from the Word Trade Center. This is One World Trade Center, otherwise known as “Freedom Tower.” Just a few days earlier, “on May 10, 2013, the final component of the spire was installed atop the skyscraper, making One World Trade Center tentatively the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest building in the world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541 m) in reference to the year of American independence.” Look at how incomplete the building was about a year ago when I was in New York.

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Security badge photos are the worst!

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The East Coast has the best seltzer. I used to drink the Adirondack seltzer when I was traveling to the Boston office a lot last year.

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The Garden was around the corner from my hotel.

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Going to meet up for dinner at Chelsea Market… Ze Olde Office is across the street.

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Chelsea Market

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I was a little early so I walked around Chelsea Market….

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…. and went to my favorite chocolate shop, Jacques Torres. Remember when we got a personal tour from the man, himself?!?

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I met Jess, Tien, Jeannette, Yvan and Juliette at Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina in Chelsea Market. This was Juliette’s first dinner out. She’s only 4 weeks old!

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I had ricotta ravioli with asparagus and it was served in a crispy Parmigiano Reggiano bowl! The food here was so good. All of the pasta was freshly made on site!

Day 4:

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I left New York to go to Boston, but before going to the airport, I met up with Jeannette and Yvan and Juliette for coffee.

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Juliette is so precious! Only a month old!

Day 5:

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Dallas used to live in Boston and I spent a lot of time there last year so it was fun to walk around and talk about places we both had visited. This building is behind a plaza where I used to visit food trucks at lunch. It wasn’t painted like this last year!

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Dallas showed me this place, Chau Chow City where he used to go to dim sum with Billy and Ging and Josh. He said it was the best dim sum in Boston. Funny because I used to walk past this place every day when going from my hotel to the office.

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Dallas loves Anna’s Taqueria, so we had to go there for lunch.

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After lunch we walked around Beacon Hill and then through Boston Common, where there was a Youth Pride event going on.

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I stopped at the Intercontinental Hotel to use the bathroom and we ended up staying for a while to watch the Blackhawks lose to the Red Wings.

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That night we went to Colleen’s wedding. More on that later!

Day 6:

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I had to head out of Boston in the evening, but before doing that, Ross and Chelsea picked us up and we went to visit Matt and Molly. We’ve hung out with their daughter Lucy many times, but it was our first time meeting their identical twins, Theo and Quinn!

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I’m holding Theo and Dallas has Quinn. They are about three months old.

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Uncle Ross, Lucy and Quinn.

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Aunty Chelsea and Lucy were picking flowers in the backyard. We had an impromptu barbecue and sat outside to eat. It was so nice out. And Matt and Molly’s whole yard is in full bloom. I especially liked the lilacs and they have a ton of them!


Excitement at the airport in Boston. I was just sitting there when all of a sudden flashing lights and an alarm went off… throughout the terminal. Everyone just acted like it was nothing but then I saw some firefighters walk by. A few minutes later the alarms turned off. False alarm?

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In the cab home. I never noticed the vomit clean up fee.