Well I've been home from Chicago for a few days now but I've been so busy with work & Harry Potter (I have to finish them all before July 21st!! Ahhh!) that I haven't had time to tell about my trip! First of all, it was TONS of fun. I wasn't ready for it to end. Not only was it fun seeing everything but it was cool just hangin out with Melanie since I never get to see her :(. The first day was a little hard cuz the week before leaving wasn't a very good one and the day we got there I found out someone I knew died, but after that it was soooo much fun. Here's a list of things I did:
1. Wednesday July 4: The first night we went to a whitesox game and saw an AMAZING fireworks show complete with songs and everything, and we had the perfect view.
2. Thursday July 5: We went downtown and saw a cool library, rode some trains (real ones), went to the top of Sears tower, saw Wicked, went to the "taste", and visited an art museum. It was a busy day but it was SO fun seeing downtown Chicago and walking down the streets. Melanie was quite an awesome tour guide too :) 
3. Friday July 6: The next day we took a 4 hour drive to Nauvoo and visited all of the cool demonstrations they have there which show how pioneers lived. We got to eat bread, gingerbread cookies, and I even made rope! We walked along the trail of hope and I got to stand in the Mississippi river! Then that night was the opening night of the Nauvoo pageant, which was pretty cool. 
4. Saturday July 7: The next day we toured Joseph Smith's and Brigham Young's house (learning lots of tidbits I never knew before) and then went to Carthage. It was pretty cool to actually be there since it's such an important part of church history. Afterwards we headed on back to Melanie's. 
5. Sunday July 8: We went to Melanie's ward and then came back for a little lunch & (much needed after the busy week) naptime :). Afterwards we walked around the University of Chicago where Josh goes to med school, & then went to a beach at Lake Michigan and dipped our feet in and walked around. The lake is pretty much like an ocean cuz it's so huge so it pretty much felt like I was at a normal beach. Oh, & this girl was doing yoga next to the lake which I thought was pretty darn funny, so I took a picture
6. Monday July 9: The next day we slept in a little and went to a free zoo. Some of the animals there were just SOOOOOOOO cute and it definitely made me want to have a polar bear, baby monkey, meerkat and penguin as a pet. I'm pretty sure someday I will too. Then we went to the Nature Museum, which included a room full of butterflies that fly all around you! Some of them were really pretty. That night we FINALLY got to eat at Giordanos (I don't know if I spelled that right) which is this really good Chicago style pizza place that Melanie wanted us to try.
7. Tuesday July 10: The last day :( :( :( we went to the Museum of Science and Industry (I think it's called) which is kinda of like the science center but a little different. The building was HUGE and there was so much to see. Afterwards we had to head on over to the airport, so we took the subway (I'll admit, which was a little scary at first since we'd had melanie to show us exactly what to do before but we were on our own this time. It was super easy in the end though). We got to the airport in one piece & took our (delayed) flight back home. I didn't want to leave, but I am soo grateful for the opportunity I had to visit and that my sister was able to take time off to be our personal tour guide! It was a trip I'll always remember.
The End. :)
