Chicago!

So, back during the craziness that was November, we made the trip to Chicago for a family wedding.

The flight to Chicago...the cousins got to sit together

It was so much fun to see the extended Hanson crew.  We stayed at the Dana Hotel and Spa.  It was such a different place than we had ever stayed and we enjoyed the full walls of windows.  The boys enjoyed looking down on the world below.

No, Sam's not trying to mug you here, this is the only shot I had showing the window of the hotel.

We got together on the night before the wedding with the whole wedding party at Gino's pizza...YUM!!

Brunch the morning of the wedding was at the Spiaggia Restaurant.  It was on Michigan Avenue overlooking Lake Michigan. I heard that a certain current president even takes his wife here to eat on special occasions.  From what we experience he has great taste.  The food was wonderful!

Mmm....pastries!

 Next stop: The John Hancock Building

Listening to Ross (David Schwimmer) narrate the city

 Wedding time!

Token family picture 

Yup, they're Hansons. Already bellied up to the bar!

I didn't get a whole family picture, but we had the whole group there. My grandpa's brother and his wife and his brother-in-law and his wife along with all their children still with us and grandchildren made it to the wedding.  It is so much fun to get together with everyone from across the country.  If only we were able to do it more often!!

My "Hanson" men: my brother Nick, his son Max, Sam, Bryan,  my uncle Mike, Mason, John, Joe, Dad, Bradley, and Grandpa Max.  What a great crew!

Two beautiful ladies: my aunt Shelley and mom

Cheese!!!

Cousins 

Dancing up a storm

make-shift slide at the reception

 The day after the wedding, we took some time and walked around Chicago.

Silly faces

Sam with Grandma and Grandpa

 Both the bride and groom are chefs in Chicago.  The bride works at the Purple Pig and the groom at Graham Elliot.  We got to see the Purple Pig on our walk around town:

The last day of our trip was also my brother's birthday, so we celebrated in style with red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and pizza from Giordanos.  It was a great ending to a great weekend

Make a wish! 

The picture doesn't do it justice...it was seriously 2 inches deep with cheese.  CRAZY!

Sam with Great-Grandma Lorraine

Today I'm thankful for:

My wonderful husband.

OK, this is our family blog, but I (Laura) write the posts. 

Lately, I've been gone... A LOT.  

This summer we got new license plates for our vehicle:

Travelin' Fam

I didn't know how true that statement would be! One of our nieces thought it stood for Traveling Female...that was true, too.  I feel as though I saw the gas station attendants across the state more than my friends that live here!  When I added it all up, I had been out of town (beyond day trips for work in the panhandle) 17 times in 15 weeks.  

Here is a breakdown:

Denver x 2

Lincoln x 4:

Go Big Red!!

South Sioux City 

Laramie, WY:

Road game

Milford 

North Platte 

Lexington 

New Orleans, LA:

Enjoying a carriage ride

Kearney 

Elsie 

Omaha

Chicago:

I've got some handsome men on my hands!

Ashland 

Yikes!!!!!

Just another day!

Now, I was lucky enough to have Bryan and the boys with me on 9 of the trips, but on the other 8, my WONDERFUL husband stepped it up and was an awesome dad to our lucky sons.  I am pretty sure there were several people who made the conclusion that he was a single dad (and a great one at that!) 

What a great dad!

I think we are going to be home for a little while now. I'm happy to get to be at home for a few days this break.  I know it won't be long before we are stir crazy and on the road again, but for now, I will be enjoying short drives and sleeping in my own bed!

So, as I count my blessings this Thanksgiving, I want express my gratitude to God for blessing me with such a wonderful husband.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Quick Trip to NOLA

On our way!

In our effort to get to all 50 states, we decided to take a quick trip to New Orleans to knock another state off the list. 

Our first stop was for some food.  We had po-boys at Johnny's.  YUM!! Sorry, no pictures of the delicious-ness that was.  The sandwiches were billed as 8-inch sandwiches, but I'm pretty sure each one was at least 10-12 inches long with LOADS of meat.  

Then we went on to Jackson Square.

Sad faces...Mason was hoping for a different kind of park.

Whew!  Some plants to play on

Carriage ride around the French Quarter

The French Quarter

We stopped for a little snack at Cafe du Monde. Of course, per everyone's recommendations, we tried the benginets.  They lived up to the hype.

SO MUCH POWDERED SUGAR!!!

On our second day, we ventured out to the Louisiana Children's Museum.  It.was.awesome!!! We had so much fun there.

Exploring on the way there

Light table

Experimenting with pulleys

Slides in the toddler area

Who has more hot air?

Big bubble!!

Huge bubble!!!!!

Climbing wall

A Tale of Two Deanies...both great in their own right.

One that had delicious home-style cooking and Bryan's favorite meal of the trip: the Fried Catfish

The other that had the largest 1/2 portion of seafood I have EVER seen!!

Just a little too cold for the rooftop pool.

Mason loved watching the street performers. 

Here he is dancing to the music

And here he is posing with the tin man

Burbon Street

Normally, I have a no Nebraska clothes rule on vacation, but we had to support them on game day! 

After we flew back, we decided to take an extra night and stay in Denver.  The boys got to play in the pool and that made everyone happy! 

If you ask Mason, this was the most fun we had the whole time