Thanksgiving 2018: Chicago

My husband and I visited Chicago before we had a kid and when we were still living in Texas; we now live only three hours away. We have traveled to Chicago a few times since moving up here (twice for flights out of O'Hare and once for a work thing) but we were never there to visit the city. After our Thanksgiving 2017 outing to Louisville,KY we wanted to get something in the books for Thanksgiving 2018. We decided Chicago would be fun and it was only a short car ride away (but the longest car ride since kid-o has been out of diapers).

Since we were only going to be there for two nights we decided to be fancy and stay at the Ritz Carlton. The thing I loved most about the hotel was its proximity to all the shopping. There is a mall on the same block and The American Girl Store. We shopped at the AG store and even got my old doll's hair done and ears pierce (now she is Alana's doll). Then we enjoyed some pizza and hit up the Disney Store.

The next day was Thanksgiving Day and we headed to Uncle Dan's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Not knowing much about this parade, or parades in general, we positioned ourselves a block next to the block that was being televised. Turns out, that's the last black to see anything. So, we got there at 7:45, parade started at 8 and we didn't see anything until 9:30!! And it was 32 degrees! We ended up only staying for a few floats and balloons before we headed into a Subway to warm up. After spending some time in Subway, we headed to the Christkindlmarket, a replica German Christmas market. It is very cute and has great food and treats but the crowds make it not worth it. You could barely move around with a stroller and when crowds are that big I tend to just say, "let’s go." And that’s what we did. We pretty much relaxed in the hotel for the rest of the day and then headed out for Thanksgiving dinner. So much easier than cooking all day and then having to clean up!

We took advantage of our late check out on our last day and walked to Lincoln Park Zoo. It’s a really nice walk along Lake View Drive and has great views of the city. The zoo is great too and its free so that is always a bonus.

I loved seeing the city lit up in Christmas lights and it was good to explore parts of the city we hadn't seen before. 

Thanksgiving in the South: Louisville, Kentucky

As I get back into this whole blogging thing and I was looking over my past blogs I realized I did not post about our Thanksgiving trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Back in the day I had just a travel blog, travel mi amor. And then I got pregnant and realized that maybe I couldn't just focus on travel anymore because my brain and life were shifting in a major way. So I created the spotted bulldog; a mix of travel and lifestyle blogging named after my sweet Lola.

SO....about Louisville...

As many of our friends know my husband and I are really into travel hacking...you know collecting hotel and airline rewards points and getting to travel for free...In late 2017 we only needed three more nights to keep our Platinum status with Marriott so we decided to meet family in Louisville, KY for Thanksgiving.

Louisville is abut a 7.5 hour drive for us so we left the day before Thanksgiving and arrived at the Marriott located downtown and settled in for the night. Our daughter, who was 2.5 yrs at the time, traveled great! We were on the cusp of potty training so when she wanted out she would tell us she had to potty. But we learned quickly that she was playing us! Once we arrived we were pretty surprised that a lot of restaurants were already closed for the holiday. We finally found found some burgers and went back to the hotel.

On Thanksgiving day we headed to the Belle of Louisville Riverboats for our Thanksgiving lunch cruise. It was nice not to have to cook and the food was good for what it was. However, the scenery wasn't all that great, that part of the Ohio River is pretty industrialized, but you got a little history about the city. Later in the evening we drove to the Mega Cavern to see the Christmas lights. The Mega Cavern is a man made cavern that was created by a massive limestone quarry. Now its used as a storage facility, adventure park and during the holidays, a light display.

The next day we headed to the Louisville Slugger factory and museum. As an engineer its always fun to see how things are made and we all really enjoyed the entire facility. After that it was off to the races at Chuchill Downs! I had never been to a race track before and I have to say it was pretty fun! My mother-in-law and I took Alana into the Kentucky Derby museum and the guys started to place their bets. I wasn't a fan of the mint julips but it was super fun to place bets and win a little.   

Saturday we were back on the road headed north. It was a short trip but it was fun! Before we had kids we would travel over Thanksgiving every year, hitting up Key West and Hawaii twice. And after doing it again in 2017 we remembered how much we enjoyed it.

Is there a holiday you like to get away for? 

First Family Thanksgiving

My title is a little deceiving - obviously its not our first family Thanksgiving but it is our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3 (or 5 if you include the dogs). We are hosing both Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house this year because I did not want to deny any Grandparent their first holiday with their grandbaby (and I didn't want to travel with a baby and 2 dogs). So my family spent the long weekend with us! Which is good because we need some extra hands to help with the decorating.

Some of the best recipes I have found in the past have been on Buzzfeed and this year was no different! I used their Cranberry Relish recipe and their Sweet Potato Stacks recipe - which was a hit! Both the sweet potatoes and the stuffing were made in cupcake tins and my husband's suggestion for next year was to make everything in cupcake tins! Challenge accepted?!

Our Thanksgiving Feast consists of the following:

• Cranberry - Orange Relish
• Simple Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potato Stacks 
• Green Bean Casserole
• Corn
• Turkey Breast
• Stuffing
• Dinner Rolls
• Cookies
• Brownies

I hope you had a WONDERFUL holiday and I cant believe November is over and December is here! I love December because it is the most wonderful time of the year!