Marble House

In addition to The Breakers, we also visited Marble House. Given the choice, the four of us would have preferred living in the much smaller Marble House. It was great seeing both mansions decorated for the holidays.

The cage made certain that those making deliveries to the kitchen couldn't wander upstairs.

Alva Vanderbilt was a suffragette. 

Another glorious kitchen (and pot rack!).

The Breakers

We all had time off between Christmas and New Year's, so we decided to head to the Newport Mansions. Despite living in New England our entire lives, none of us have ever been to Newport. The weather didn't really cooperate, but the mansions were beautiful nevertheless. We were so impressed with The Breakers. 

The kitchen was to die for (and probably where I would have been working as an Irish immigrant, as much as I would have liked to have been upstairs in the main living area!).

My Kind of Town

Although the Winter Classic was in South Bend, we stayed in Chicago.  It was the girls' first trip to the Windy City and despite the cold, they really enjoyed it.  We did a lot of walking on our first day, taking in many touristy sites.

Cloud Gate, also known as "The Bean"

Bean selfie, courtesy of Emily.

Willis Tower

Along the Chicago River

Michigan Avenue at dusk.

Nike store - Emily has the same shoe size as Alex Morgan and is only a few inches shorter.

Mike and Sandra treated us to a delicious dinner, the culmination of which was this insane dessert.

The next day, it poured....

So. Much.  Fog.

We had dinner at at Lou Malnati's and the girls experienced deep dish pizza for the first time.