My Kind of Town

Tide Pool...see below for interesting Audrey commentary.
Sawyer trying to rip the plastic duck off the ground at Shedd Aquarium.
Audrey checking out the sea dragons.
Riding the tortoise at Shedd.
Audrey with her goods from American Girl Place.
Riding the boat on the Chicago River.
Audrey making a friend on a ride at Navy Pier.
Riding the hippos at the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Running out of the ant hill.
Checking out the view from our 10th floor hotel room.
Riding the carousel at Navy Pier with Aunt Emily.

Checking out the monkeys from the floor.
Playing with Abby at Aunt Emily's apartment.
Riding the ferris wheel at Navy Pier.

This weekend we headed out for the west side of the state to visit Ben's parents and then drove on to Chicago. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about taking the kids to a big city. The logistics are a little different. All I could think about was timing, packing, taxi cabs, hotel sleeping arrangements, Sawyer screaming in the car for hours on end and Sawyer running into the middle of Michigan Avenue. He did scream in the car for hours and also did come close to escaping on MI Ave. but we'll revisit that incident a little later. Other than those two things it actually was much easier than I thought it would be.

When we first arrived in Chicago we met Emily at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It's a really old zoo and fairly compact so you could really get up close a personal with the animals. The kids enjoyed the monkeys because they were so active. Sawyer lay on the ground at numerous exhibits, just to make me cringe. I think he enjoyed seeing the animals from a different angle, who knows.

After the zoo we headed out to Emily and Rodney's apartment where we spent Friday night. For Audrey, this was the highlight of the whole trip. She couldn't get enough of the 3 cats. She keeps saying Abby was the nicest because she's the girl and the other two are boys. Mackie, one of the boy cats, hissed at her. Yesterday she got mad at me and hissed, she then went straight to the rug for a time out. Hopefully we won't have any more hissing. Audrey loved sleeping on Aunt Emily's floor with the cats. She only woke up Rod and Em once with her sleep talking.

Another interesting thing about staying at Emily's apartment was Sawyer and the pack and play. We put him down for a nap and we kept hearing him making noises for about 20 minutes. Ben went in the room and he was trying to climb back INTO the pack and play. I was surprised he got out of it since there really isn't anything for him to boost himself up with. He then climbed out at 6:00 am, we obviously threw him right back in. No way were we going to get up at 6 on our vacation. He climbed out again at 8:30, a much better hour. I'm waiting for him to climb out of his crib at home. I know the crib days are numbered and I'm not liking that.

On Saturday morning we headed to our hotel in the middle of downtown. After checking in we walked to Navy Pier and went on all the rides. Of course, Sawyer did not want to sit through even the short carousel ride without switching horses 3 times. We should have known that he would not sit through the 7 minute ferris wheel ride. Luckily, Ben had the job of restraining him and I got to sit with Audrey. Audrey went on one ride without us and made a little boyfriend. They talked the whole ride and then Audrey told us she made a new friend. It was pretty cute. We took the water taxi back on the Chicago River which I thought was really cool. I love looking at the buildings from the river.

After Navy Pier Mr. Ginger needed a nap which leads us to the Michigan Avenue escape. While Ben and Rodney were crossing MI Ave. Sawyer decided it would be a good idea to arch his back and escape out of the bottom of the stroller, in the MIDDLE of the busiest street in Chicago. Luckily, the guys grabbed him before he could get too far, which then led Sawyer to throw his LEGO car into the middle of the street, breaking it into 2 pieces. Screaming then followed. Fortunately for myself and Emily, we were in the peaceful, girly heaven of the American Girl store. Audrey wanted matching pajamas and slippers for herself and her Bitty Baby. It was expensive but worth it. She wore the pajamas for 24 straight hours and is carrying her doll everywhere.

We had a relaxing Saturday night with some deep dish pizza and a swim in the hotel pool. We had a suite so we put the kids to bed and then hung out with Em and Rod in the other room. Suite hotel rooms are the best invention when you have little kids. In the morning we headed out to Shedd Aquarium, which I highly recommend for little ones. Sawyer was even interested in doing more than running around. That doesn't happen too frequently. One funny thing at Shedd - They had a small tide pool for the little kids to put their hands in so they could touch a starfish and a sea urchin. Audrey informed the lady that you aren't supposed to touch sea urchins because they are poisonous. The lady told her that the kind they had was OK but Audrey wasn't buying that. Audrey then told her that they needed to make the water warmer because starfish didn't like cold water. I guess all that time spent reading the fish books with Ben is paying off.

After Shedd we headed out to South Bend to visit Amy and her precious new baby boy, Reed. It was great to see the whole family! Ben and I are now over the trauma of Sawyer crying in the car for over 5 hours total. Although, I wouldn't say we're over it enough to travel more than a half hour from home for quite some time. Time heals all wounds so we'll see. It was a whirlwind weekend but so much fun to see our family, friends and such an awesome city!