The Last Hoorah!

Okay so for those of you who do not wish to read a long blog post, this is not the one for you. However if you want to know exactly how much fun Stacey and I had stay tuned.

Below is a slide show of all the pics we took. They were to cool not to add all of them.
In The Beginning
Okay so the trip started with Stacey and I buying our very own train ticket. The first sign that we were really independant ( Brent totally drove us to the airport, because we didn't know how to get there). From there we tried to give the train guy our tickets and he told us to wait until we were on the train.(In his head he probably said train retards). So we sat down and got very excited to go. There was the cutest little boy who sat right in front of us and his name was Simen. So the big mouth that I am totally said "Well this isn't bad now, but let's see what kind of crowd gets on in Gary". I kid you not 5 seconds later Simens mom says "Are you excited to go to grandmas in Gary, Simen?" Open mouth insert foot Katie!!! The lady announcing where we were at every station was kind of hard to understand so we were following our stops on the map. According to us we had 3 stops to the exit we wanted, so when we heard her say people getting off at Van buren St. get your stuff ready we didn't really pay attention. Next thing you know Stacey and I are hauling our stuff off the top grate and trying to get off the train before it left again!

The next eye opener...

Stacey and I wore some jeans and a cute top on the train thinking we would change in the hotel for wicked. As we walked to the Palmer House Hilton, I went to open the door and a man jumped and I mean jumped to get in front of me and say "Welcome to the Palmer House". From there it should have been the clencher for me but no the six bell hops with white gloves asking me if they could help was the clencher. Brent warned us that the lobby was kind of hard to find so I asked one of the bell hops to point it out to us. After taking the most exquisite elevator to the second floor, we found it. As we were waiting in line we both had the biggest eyes ever at the magnitude of what Brent had bought for us!!!! I have never felt so underdressed, unsophisticated, and ultimately humiliated in my life. We checked in and it was all Stacey and I could do not to freak out right there in the lobby. The receptionist handed us our room keys and elevator keys ( thats right not every one gets elevator keys) and she showed us to our very own elevator!! cool huh??? After the leather seat ride up to the 22 floor, we graciously found our room and shut the door. All I have to say is WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The Room...

The room in and of itself was to die for. Stacey and I both had our own bathroom, robe, bed, and lounge chair. If that wasn't all the room was so amazing. The decor was victorian, and the linens were beautiful. The towels were egyptian cotton, and the shower... ooooh the shower was awesome! It had two heads and one was on the small of your back and the other on your head (Well for me anyway, Stacey said the lower one hit her high on the back 'cause she is short! :) We took lots of pics of the room and played dress up for a while. When we first got into the room we shouted like little school girls how cool we were. A quick phone call to the hubbies to let them know we got there and safe, and to thank Brent for one kick A room and we were off to get ready for Wicked.

$$$$$$ Dinner. $$$$$$

Both of us had not eaten all day and were looking to do some fine dining. Granted neither one of us has ever eaten fine dining and all I know about it is what I see on Hell's Kitchen. So little miss picky Katie went to try new things.

We decided to eat in the hotels fine dining resturaunt Lockwood. The usher told us about the menu and suggested some things. We were seated and the waiter was Italian ( or at least he is one great actor!) We had some very fresh bread while we looked at the menu. For the first course I ordered a beet root salad n stuff. Stacey ordered the Bacon and egg. For the main course I ordered a filet mignon and Stacey ordered the Prime rib eye. For dessert I ordered the apple tarte tartin, and Stacey the chocolate something or rather.

Palet cleansing is for the birds!!
So mister italian comes out with this thing he says is supposed to cleanse the palet. (If you have ever seen the princess diaries I thought it would be some cool ice cream) Nooooo nooo nooo! He says it is a tuna in cucumber sauce with a side of potato. So Stacey takes a big ole bite and says "hmmm?" So I decide to try it cause I am trying new things tonight right. She neglected to tell me it was RAW tuna! I guzzuled down my diet coke just to get the bite down. I told Stacey she sucked. So our first course came out and my beet root salad was awesome! I had a baby pear on the side and a fried piece of goat cheese. I have never had goat cheese but it was sooo good. Course one fabulous. Stacey's first course was a sunnny side egg on top of a piece of pork(we think) with some apple bacon then a crusty pastry on the bottom. Really good. Not a fan of the egg but the rest was kickin'. Course two. My filet was perfectly cooked on top of mashed potato puree. With a really good sauce on the edges. In between the steak and the potatoes were some huge mushrooms! But I was going to try new things. So I made Stacey try it first and she said they were really good. She was right! They were magnificent!. So mine was fantastic! Stacey's prime rib was medium but I had an outside piece and it was really tasty. She had some big white thing at the top and she thought maybe it was halibut. So she took a bite and said that it wasn't fish but it was crunchy. So I tried it. EEWWWW it was a leek! I didn't know what a leek was but apparently it is a form of onion! A huge onion too. I told Stacey I hated her. Finished the second Diet coke on that bite. Dessert. So the apple thing was awesome! It had baked apples in the bottom with ice cream in a waffle shell. There was this brown sugar stick coming up out of it. I tried a bite and it was a rum stick! oops!
Stacey's was this cool chocolate stuff. It wasn't too chocolatey which is wierd cause it was all chocolate. It had a chocolate top that when you stuck it with your fork, the chocolate came oozzing out of the top. Really good.
So the bill came and we were taking bets on how much it would cost. Our first inclination should have been that there were no prices on anything. The grand total you ask $200 for two of us. Stacey was up all night that she paid for it. We called the boys the next day and they were actually pretty cool about it. (THANKS GUYS)

Off to Wicked...
As we headed out of the hotel the bell man haile us a cab. Stacey's first cab ride. We got to wicked and took some gorgeous pics of the foyer. Once inside the theatre you are not to take any pics. And if you do, you will be caught. I kid you not the ushers are crazy! They made a lady delete them right in front of the usher to make sure there weren't any on the camera. What can I say about Wicked.. Go GO Go it was so amazing! I got my very first playbill, and Grandma Rosie would be proud. The set, acting, and singing were to die for. If you get a chance you really should go.

We hailed a cab back to the hotel and had to go back out for some drinks ( not what you think, the hotel was a coke only hotel and Stacey needed some dew bad). We got back and the bell man asked to see our keys. I had to rummage through my purse to find them but when I did I said "did you need to see both the room and elevator key?" I wasn't trying to be a punk but as soon as he saw them he said ohh sure head right in ladies. Thats what I thought bell dude!

Good nights sleep does a body good...
So I slept so well that Stacey had to find me in the middle of the night. I forgot to tell her that I sleep sitting up. oops! Yes I do for those who don't know me on that level. We decided to go to the Shedd aquarium to see the sea life. With kids you just don't get to have as much fun for yourself. We saw the coolest dolphin show ever. Stacey's camera luckily is kick'n and she got some great shots! I did get one very close up though. We had to hurry back to the hotel to get our things to get on the train.

Taxis and Memorial Day.....
So you can't get to the hotel in a cab from Shedd cause there are parades everywhere. We had to walk back to the hotel, get to the train in 20 minutes. We practically ran the whole way there. We got our tickets sore feet and all, and managed to get back on the train. The perfect end to a perfect weekend. Brent was there with the kids to greet us. He took a picture of us in the end and Stacey and I decided that we have to do this once a year.

Thank you to Brent for everything. You really do take care of me and I really appreiciate it! I love you money maker!

For those of you who made it through the post congrats I talk alot in person and in a blog.

Peace out