Chicago

A few weekends ago, we took a little family trip to Chicago. We only live like 5 hours from this amazing city and had yet to go. So, with Jackson's pending arrival, we wanted to get in this little time with Graham and take him to the Aquarium (among other things..)


Like I said, it's only 5 hours. Right. Remind me next time we decide to go to drive in the night. The traffic was terrible! It was all the construction's fault...but seriously....it added 2 1/2 hours to our drive. And someone that I will not name doesn't do well in traffic. And he was driving. So guess away. We ended up even letting G out of his seat to crawl the walls because we were at a dead stop. It's all good though, we made it to Ikea before the rain started. Matt was like "why are we stopping at Ikea again? We're going to eat dinner at like 8:30 if we stop." Sweet sweet husband...I told him it was my life long dream. So we practically ran through both levels tossing random things into our cart. I mean, I know we were in a hurry...but it's Ikea. There are so many fun things to look at!


That little stop at Ikea was actually a blessing. Apparently that storm that hit while we were in there was quite a storm. Several buildings in downtown Chicago actually lost windows. As we were pulling into downtown, it's like the clouds parted and a beautiful evening opened up. We found our hotel, checked in, and headed back out to dinner. Yes, we sat down to eat at 8:30. And major major props to Graham for being a travel rock star despite only having a 30 minute nap. Darn construction with the stop and go. Anyway, dinner was delightful and having the toddler that was jumping in the booth entertaining all around was just an added bonus.


Back at the hotel just in time for some more rain. Oh, can't forget to mention that when we first walked into our room and started setting our stuff down, G freaked out. I think he thought we were leaving him there or something. Once he realized we were all staying, he loved looking out the window (we were on the 23rd floor) and getting excited about all of the cars below. The picture below is how we barricaded G in the corner so that we could watch TV.




The next day we set out to visit Navy Pier. When we got there, Matt was like "wait, I thought you said this was a pier...all the piers I know of are just a walkway out into the water." I just laughed. The name is deceiving. Navy Pier has more in common with a mall than a pier. There is a Ferris wheel, a children's museum, many restaurants and shops as well as countless bike and boat tours going on. But my favorite part is the view from the end. You can see the whole shoreline and skyline of Chicago and on a day like that one, there would have been tons of sailboats out on the lake. But this pier is like a mile long. And it was getting warm. And G was crawling out of his skin in the stroller...so we didn't make it to the end. We turned around and headed back out to the fountains in front. I can't lie...the pictures and the fountain fun made missing the view at the end of the pier worth it.

Other kids had on swim suits...we weren't prepared. This is his "come over here" motion.

This was super cute.

When it was time to go I called G over to the shady spot to re-dress him. He just took off running in the other direction. We thought he'd stop and turn to see our reaction but he just kept running....so Matt took off after him.

We headed to find some lunch. Dude. The Corner Bakery. It was awesome.

That afternoon G and I headed out for what I thought was a short walk to The Land of Nod. Boy was I wrong. Dead wrong. 2 miles doesn't look so daunting on paper or when I set out in my walking shoes...but through the city streets and in flip flops...I called Matt when we got there and begged him to come rescue us from the walk back. The walk was worth it though because that store is so cute!


The next morning we headed to the Aquarium. I went with my family a few years ago and loved it. There is just something beautiful about life under water. Don't get me wrong though, I'm terrified of under water. Not in a pool, but in a lake or ocean. It's so sad because Matt would love for me to learn to surf and I'd love to get into snorkeling and/or scuba diving. Oh well.


Back to the aquarium. Graham loves animals, especially Nemo fish. And he loved loved loved looking at all of the fish exhibits. They have this one Caribbean Reef that you can walk all the way around and see everything from sting rays to a massive sea turtle. And then there is the huuuge coral reef display. It is like 14 feet tall and 30 feet wide of absolutely breath taking coral reef. So very beautiful. Oh, and the huge shark tank. Sort of creepy, sort of awesome. I could go on...you should just go.

These were so cool! I can't remember the name but they bury themselves halfway to blend in with the grasses and then feed on things that float by.

G spots Nemo.

Oh hello "Memo."

Watching the dolphins from under water. They are so cool.

We had such a wonderful trip. It was so fun and special to do something with just the 3 of us. No, it wasn't super relaxing with all the walking and toddler-ing going on. But that's just the stage in life we are in. So we might as well make the most of it right?! Good thing we love each other! Just the first of many family trips that involve the whims of our children.