Surprise Weekend

My sister, Natalie, turned 30 last weekend and her husband planned a huge surprise celebration in Chicago. Natalie knew she was headed to Chicago on Friday night for dinner with my other sister, Megan, and her husband, Chris. She was told that her favorite restaurant was closed that night due to a special event and that they had a late check-out from their hotel the next day so they could spend the day shopping and then head directly to her birthday party in Indy.

We arrived in Chicago on Friday morning. We were able to have dinner at Lou Malnati's with our friends Matt, Anita and Mei Ling Witt(my god-daughter). Saturday morning my parents took the South Shore train up from South Bend and we spent the rest of the day dodging Natalie on Michigan Avenue.

Joseph loved the Lego Store.Mostly he loved playing with Grandpa & Grandma (and riding the elevator up and down at the hotel) and would have preferred that Momma & Daddy weren't there at all.

In the evening we headed over to Jon & Natalie's hotel to prepare for the surprise. Jon thought of everything, down to the surprise banner and noise makers.

Natalie headed out of the hotel with her luggage. Then pausing when Jon stops by the lobby bar where her family and friends were waiting.

Natalie doubles over in surprise. (at this point Joseph started crying from all the noise and, assuming that Natalie must be as scared as he, made it his mission for the next half hour to comfort her.)

Jon arranged for a private dinner in the Wine Room at Natalie's favorite restaurant, Roy's. They had special menus made up that said "Happy Birthday Natalie" at the top.

Her dessert plate also said "Happy Birthday Natalie" in chocolate.

After dinner, the next surprise - a 26-passenger limo to drive us around town.We made a few stops along the way and ended up at the John Hancock building where we enjoyed the foggy view from the 96th floor. We also watched a video Jon made for Natalie on the 14 flat-screen TVs inside the limo during the ride.

It was a fantastic, although exhausting, weekend. Happy surprise Birthday to my 30-year-old sister Natalie! So glad we could be there to celebrate.