Oodles of Boudles

After weeks of anticipation, the Boudle Family Reunion finally rolled around this past weekend. On Wednesday afternoon my parents rolled into town. On Friday night Josh & Jeff both flew in and then on Saturday the 9 of us were finally all together. On Friday morning we packed up the car. When I say packed up, I mean as in we couldn't see out of the back windows. This was for two nights in the city, mind you. It was pretty ridiculous and reminded me why we don't fly anywhere as a family these days. Too much stuff! My parents and Reese ended up having to take the train into Chicago because we couldn't fit them. Kevin, Talan and I met them at the hotel. Speaking of the hotel....holy moly! A friend of mine was able to pull some strings and get us into a 2 bedroom suite at the Palmer House. The hotel is breathtaking when you walk into the lobby: I was already blown away but walked into the room and started jumping up and down and screaming like a kid in a candy store. AH-mazeballs. I was in awe. I've only seen hotel rooms like the one we stayed in on TV. I would have been happy staying there all weekend long but we were all hungry and ready to explore the city so we packed up and went out for some lunch. After lunch we headed over the Christkindlmarkt, an open air German Christmas market in the middle of the city. Our first stop was the Santa House. It was starting to get dark by the time we came out so we took some photos and then hit the road. It was a freezing cold day to start so you can imagine how bone chilling cold it was by the time the sun set. I heard that there would be Christmas caroling at Millennium Park which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. It started at 6PM so at 5 we made our way over there. We stopped to watch the people who were brave enough to get out on the ice and then made our way up to the bean to grab some free hot apple cider and to listen to the carolers. Unfortunately the arctic temps were just too much for the kids to handle. They were both miserable so we had to take off before they started singing. After some nice warm baths, I ordered room service for the kids and we waited for Josh & Jeff to arrive. Before we knew it we were already into Saturday. Saturday morning we bundled up and headed out into winter weather (single digits!). The windows at Macy's were a must! We ended up a block from the Market so we went back so that Josh & Jeff could browse (and get a fried apple snack!): Once again the cold got the best of the kids so we decided to go back to the hotel rather than fight it. We got back just in time for Steve's arrival. I feel like the day flew by from there. That night we exchanged gifts. My parents got us all matching pajama bottoms and Kevin & I got everyone Keith's Nicevillian shirts so we were just one big cheeseball family that night! There were two dining room tables so we took advantage and ordered in food that night. It was delicious! After dinner we surprised my Mom with an early birthday celebration. That was followed by a lot of games and good times. And hey, when you're in matchy-matchy outfits, there are photo-ops galore! You know when you laugh so hard your stomach starts to hurt? This was one of those times: (Very impressive photo bomb Mom!) I was so happy to be surrounded by my parents and all three of my brothers. It was the first time in a long time. And the kids were thrilled, too. Happy Holidays indeed.