We survived another Doran vacation

A hectic December made our visit to the Doran’s even more welcome than it usually is. The first thing we had to do was figure out how to keep the live Christmas tree watered while we were away. JT devised and ingenious watering system which worked like a charm (Brian, we will have our tree up for your visit next week!):

Christmas Tree Watering System Schematic

We flew with Porter to Midway Airport on Sunday December 26 and Paul and T met us at the airport to being our first leg of the journey downtown Chicago. I cannot say enough good things about Porter — what a fantastic flight experience! We stayed at the beautiful Kimpton Monaco Hotel for one night, our suite was lovely.

Our sweet suite at the Kimpton Monaco

We decided to walk to a Mexican Restaurant JT and I have been to many times. It took us about 10 minutes.

Su Casa Chicago Illinois

From there we found that lovely little French store I adore, it was nice to get out of the wind. Then for some serious shopping, Filene’s Basement, Nordstrom’s Rack (JT got a great coat), Loehman’s and the boys went for a beer at the pub across the road from our hotel.

The Kimpton hotels offer free wine from 5-6 every night, so of course, we had to partake! We then took off a bit early to have a cocktail at the bar at Shaw’s Restaurant.

Shaw's Bar

T and I shared our appi’s and mains to keep our consumption lower, Oysters Rockefeller and then the Grilled Seafood Platter, the boys had the Lobster Bisque, Paul had Surf and Turf, and JT had the seared Ahi Tuna! Everything was excellent, although my feet were frozen under the table!

We finished off the evening with a drink at the Oyster Bar and some live blues. It was an amazing evening.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant (complimentary continental) and then headed off to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was so crowded, it would have taken us over an hour to get our tickets, so we decided to pass. But we did have a gander at the store, where I bought Jack’s birthday present!

There were more than 500 people in line for tickets

We decided to head back to Yorkville with a pit stop to pick up Paul’s car (mice had chewed through $250 worth of wiring in their garage!) and a quick stop to see the Rock Star Bus — OMG it is one humongous bus! We unpacked in Yorkville at the comfortable home of Paul and T and had our customary cocktails before heading out for dinner.

Paul had to work the next day, so T took us to the outlet mall and a couple of stores. I lucked out at Nine West with my Ruby shoes, but not much else.

Ruby Shoes

T made and amazing dinner on Tuesday night and we may have had a bit of wine. Potato and Leak soup, roast pork with roasted sweet potatoes (with a balsamic glaze). YUM.

Wednesday got off to a late start for me, I was feeling a lot under the weather. T loaned us her car and we ran around Yorkville and Naperville a little bit. All in all a great day. JT and I made dinner, Roasted Celery Root soup and JT’s wonderful Chicken Cacciatore on penne pasta. Also very YUM. We were careful not to imbibe as our flight home was at 10am and we had to be out of the house by 7:30!

Thanks Paul and T, we really needed this diversion. Your support and friendship means a lot to us, particularly over the coming months.