Chicago

Kevin, the girls and I travelled to the Windy City this weekend. We were busy every moment of the weekend - but we had a great time. On Thursday afternoon we drove to Morton (about the halfway point) to spend the night. We didn't want the girls to be tired and whiny upon arriving in Chicago, so we decided to drive the second half on Friday morning.

When we got to Chicago we immediately went to my brother, Rick's, apartment. He has been in Chicago for about a year and this was our first visit. We got a tour of his apartment, but headed out pretty quickly because we were all hungry and his place wasn't baby-proofed (what single 26 year olds is?). He took us to a restaurant called The Pick Me Up Cafe. It was a cool, trendy place - with only 1 highchair and 1 booster. Thankfully, Norah refuses to sit in a booster - this booster was DISGUSTING!! No kids menu - so Norah had a $7 grilled cheese, of which she ate maybe 3 bites. Lucy had scrambled eggs - no idea how much that cost because we had to special order them. My food was great! In the middle of lunch, Lucy decided to fill her diaper and she smelled bad - of course, no place to change her except back in the car 2 blocks away.

From lunch we head to the Shedd Aquarium. Oh, first we need gas - we have less than a gallon left - Rick informs us that there aren't any gas stations as we drive closer toward downtown. We head the opposite direction and see a sign for $2.97 - not bad. Oh, wait, you have to purchase a car wash to get that price. Our REAL price was $3.17. Not bad for some, I'm sure, but I got gas at home the day before for $2.45. I see why Rick drives a Hybrid.

We had fun at the Shedd. The girls love the HUGE fish tank in the middle of the Shedd. Norah was anxious to see the baby beluga whales and the dolphins. We watched the dolphin show - as adults we thought is was great. The girls got a little tired of the waiting and talking, but loved watching the dolpins jump and flip. Lucy kept clapping her hands and squealing.

After we dropped Rick off we headed to our hotel to get settled and swim - oh no, the pool is closed for renovations. Thankfully, Norah never asked to swim. We ordered a pizza and put the girls to bed. My girls are usually in bed between 7 and 7:30, Friday night it was closer to 9 before they were asleep. We had a 2 room suite. The girls slept in the front room - Lucy in the pack 'n play and Norah on the pull out couch. They are not used to sleeping in the same room so they giggled and giggled.

Saturday morning, after my Starbucks run, we headed out to visit our friends, the Stubbs. They have to boys, Josiah & Nathaniel. The girls enjoyed running around, playing with friends, and playing with real toys. Norah and Josiah ran in circles around the house - playing football. Yes, you read that right our little princess was playing football - well, sort of. She was really just chasing Josiah - while Kevin and Josiah tossed the ball around. We enjoyed some Chicago style pizza before we headed back to the city.

We picked Rick up and headed to the Chicago Children's Museum on the Navy Pier. The girls loved it! There was so much to do and everything was very interactive. After walking around the Navy Pier for awhile, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. Rick got a kick out of hanging out with the girls, but he doesn't think he wants to have kids.

We left for home this morning around 9:30, made a couple of stops, and got home about 3:45. The girls did GREAT!! Lucy napped before lunch and Norah napped a little after lunch. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. We are usually very strict about how many movies the girls watch in the car (usually 1 movie per trip over 2 hours), but today we let them watch 2 movies, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Meet Strawberry Shortcake.

The girls were exhausted when we got home because they hardly napped at all and went to be late each night. Lucy was in bed by 6 and Norah 6:30. Both fell asleep instantly.

We had fun, but with a 1 1/2 year old - a weekend was more than enough!