Saint Patrick's Day EVE 2013

We had such a fun Saint Patrick's Day weekend this year!  My best friend Julie came to visit, and she and I, along with my trusty sidekick Maeve, spent March 15th at the Hyatt in Chicago, courtesy of Marc's points. 

 

 

 We got there early and while waiting for the room to be ready, hung out at the cool kids lounge - you know, for people with points who travel alot?  Ha!  We were so giddy at the free snacks and great view you could totally tell we were amateurs.  Amateurs who were happy to change diapers and snuggle babies with killer views of the city.

 

That's Julie for you...always has been a baby whisperer!

 

We did make one excursion to see the Cloud Gate, locally known as "The Bean" 

Maeve screamed, we got rained on, it was fabulous.

 

 

Can you spot us?  We're right in the middle, Julie is in a black jacket, I'm in grey with a camera up to my face, and Maeve's stroller is black and closed up tight as she screams her guts out under The Bean.  Boy was she ripped.  Not a fan of the bean at ALL.



Finally, with a binky and my iPhone White Noise app, she fell asleep.
I think all the bumps in the city sidewalks kicked up her reflux and made her tummy hurt.

 

We hustled back to the hotel, got our room squared away, and went to dinner at Bubba Gumps on Navy Pier, since it was a Friday in Lent and we couldn't eat meat.  We loved their margaritas, but the shrimp Po' Boys weren't so impressive.  Neither was Navy Pier in the pouring rain.  But the company was great regardless of weather! We enjoyed some dessert back at the lounge and then tucked ourselves in for a good night's sleep before the festivities the next morning.

 

The weather the next morning was supposed to be totally crummy, so I'd asked for a room with a view of the river, in case it was too miserable to venture out.  And it was, too cold for a baby that is, with snowflakes falling and no sun to be had.  But the sister-in-law of the century, Ulia, came to the rescue and drove all the way into the city to babysit Maeve at the hotel so that Julie and I could go out and watch them dye the river green.

 

 

Maeve put on her best Irish smile for her Auntie, and Julie and I scored the abslolute BEST spot on the river to watch from.  I'm not kidding.  There was only one gap in the entire area surrounding the river - we had no idea why that one place wasn't mobbed like the rest, but we made our way for it.  Down Wacker Drive, down two sets of stairs and across Columbus Avenue we went.  And when we scored our spot right in the middle of the Columbus Avenue bridge, a nice young police officer came over and politely explained that he was keeping that area clear and that we'd have to move along.

 

Wop. Wop.

 

Just like we'd done at countless concerts and bars in our youth, we milled about a bit, shuffling around in the four foot area we'd claimed, pretending to discuss our options, while the police officer got sidetracked by some knuckleheads trying to run across Columbus Ave. in the middle of traffic.  By the time he was finished with them, the dyeing of the river had begun, and there were a dozen people behind us, so there was no way he was moving the crowd!!  Yippee!!

 

And there we were, as the rumble of speedboats came from

right below us under the Columbus Ave. bridge. 

 

 

The story behind how and why the river gets dyed green is a great one.  The mixture used to dye it is a concoction that plumbers use to find leaks in pipes that are submerged in water.  It starts out orange and then turns flourescent yellow, to bright green, and finally to the kelly green everyone knows and loves.

  To this day, it's the Plumber's Local that does the river dyeing. 

 Plumbers 130 - see the jumpsuits?

Only two boats - one does the dye dropping, and the other helps mix it up. 

See how orange it is in the mug he uses to dump it?

 

This one is the mixer boat.  How awesome is that color?!  I swear, Photoshop did not touch these images - this is exactly what it looked like!

 

 

 

And when they were done,

the river was as GREEN as green can be!

 

 

 

But wait!  I almost forgot to mention the leprechaun!!

You have to see this to believe it.

 

 

 

 

He's on a board, fitted with jets, that are powered by water coming from his buddy in the jetski.

And look at how high he can go on this thing!

 

 

Now that is one crazy job to have!

"What do you do?"

"I'm a leprechaun on water stilts. You?"

 

 

 

After the plumbers were finished, the crowd started to dissipate and the tour boats started cruising. 

 

 

 

 

And Julie and I had crossed one major thing off my Chicago bucket list...

but the best part was that we got to do it together!!

 

 

 

I'm so lucky to have a lifelong friend who loves me enough that when I go to the store to find a green sweater and instead come out with matching green fur hats (for $6 apiece on clearance, paid for with Kohls Cash, cha ching!) she smiles and wears it even though she'd probably definitely rather be caught dead.

 

But we WERE the coolest kids on the river thankyouverymuch. 

We had quite a few people ask to take our picture because we looked so festive! 

And there seriously wasn't a better spot to be had on the river that day,

so I'm so happy we braved the weather and made it happen!! 

 

When we got back to the room, we got to see the river from that vantage point too.

 

Our wee 'Colleen' enjoying her first Chicago Saint Paddy's Day.

With her favorite Illinois Auntie!

(or 'Anty' if you're from these parts)

 

Then we grabbed lunch at the hotel - I had the grilled cheese, it was delicious!

 

And washed it down with the requisite cup o' green beer.

 

SLAINTE!!

(for the uninitiated, that's pronounced "SLAWN-cha" - Gaelic for 'heatlh')

 

 

As we were headed out of the city, we grabbed a picture of Maeve down by the river

(she wasn't thrilled, but hey, you only get a first St. Patty's Day once!)

while Ulia, who should be sainted herself, helped the bellman put our stuff in the minivan.

 

 

Please excuse my pigtails.  I was not trying to pretend that I'm 20 when my crow's feet will tell you I'm clearly not.
It was the only hairdo I could think of that would work with my Irish fur trader hat!

 

 

 One last funny memory from the trip. 

They tried to charge me for a Red Bull from the minibar in the room.

I had to explain that we had to take the Red Bull out (and later put it back)

to make room for Maeve's breastmilk.

 

Watch out folks, not everyone can party like us!!