Chicago 2011

It's hard to believe, but I have not returned to Chicago since we moved from there in May 2007.  I think that is the longest stretch of time I had NOT been to Chicago since I met Jason.  

Since we took a Disney vacation in January, we knew we would not be taking a big summer family vacation this year. We figured we would do a long weekend in Chicago, a long weekend in KC, and try and get to DC to see my brother and his family.

So off one Thursday morning we went.  We left bright and early with a car loaded down with suitcases, toys, kids, and a cooler.  Almost immediately, Henry began to fuss.  

And he fussed and fussed and fussed until we finally stopped about halfway to Chicago and let him run around a bit at a neighborhood park.  When we got back to the car, he finally fell asleep which made for a much more relaxing trip North.

Upon arrival in the Windy City, we checked into the Palmer House, which was lovely.  While Henry and I got settled in our room, Henry and Amelia drove our car south to our old neighborhood to park it on the street so we wouldn't have to pay the $40/day to leave it at our hotel. 

While they were taking a trip down memory lane, I thought it would be a good time to lay Henry down for his second nap of the day.  Turns out, Henry had something up his sleeve.  When we weren't looking, he somehow mastered how to crawl out of the pack-n-play and decided to display his new skill in Chicago--5 hours from home in a strange hotel.

This is Amelia on the steps of our old apartment in Hyde Park.  The last time I walked through that door, she was just shy of a year old and we were moving back to St. Louis.

Jason and Amelia rode the train back to the hotel and in the meantime Henry was not napping and my eye was rapidly swelling!  Apparently, I was allergic to something in the room (presumably mold) and the hotel quickly moved us to a new room a couple of floors up.  This was not how I envisioned our first day of our family vacation!

Luckily, our new room was MUCH better and way bigger.  Jason stood guard at the pack-n-play prohibiting Henry from escaping until he became so exhausted that he gave up and fell asleep.  In the meantime, Amelia and I checked out the hotel pool.

After a dip in the pool for Amelia and a much needed nap for Henry, it was time to explore the city a bit.  Our first stop was a favorite of mine and only steps from our hotel: Millennium Park. There was a concert going on and the kids enjoyed running around on the lawn and dancing to the music.

 

During our walk to and from the hotel, my sandal broke!  And just like that, I was walking barefoot in the Chicago streets. Yuck! So, that night we stopped by Old Navy to pick up a new pair.  Plus, it was downright chilly there when the sun went down, so I bought a hoodie and Jason picked up a pair of jeans. Amelia did her best to convince us she needed a few new accessories....

The next morning while Henry napped, Amelia and Henry went to visit the Sears Tower (or the Willis Tower as it is now known).  I have never been and I'm glad I didn't go this time.  It was difficult enough seeing pictures of Amelia on the glass ledge.  Not sure how I would have handled it in person!

Later, we went to Navy Pier.  It was a bit of a walk, but the kids hung in there.  First up was the Ferris Wheel. 

Then, it was a few more rides on Navy Pier...

Henry was a bit of a handful by this time, so we headed in for a drink lunch.

I ended up taking Henry on the 1.5 mile walk back to our hotel while Amelia watched 3 shows inside Navy Pier.  She really liked the Pirate play apparently.  She wanted her picture with one of the pirates.  He said, "Let's smile really nice for your dad" and then this is how the picture turned out.

The kids had been begging to take a dip in the Millennium Park fountain.  So after naps, we suited them up and let them go.

Everyone was pretty beat by the time we returned to the hotel (or so we thought).  Henry ended up waking up around 11 pm and saw us from his bed (which he had not even attempted to crawl out of since the first day).  In an effort to keep him quiet, I went and sat by him.  Bad move!  It became a game to him and two hours later, Jason finally took him down to the floor in the hotel with all of the banquet rooms and let him run free.  He was sure that Henry was exhausted and ready for bed when they returned 45 minutes later.  But as soon as Jason put him in bed, he started screaming louder than ever.  Despite the fact that it was 2 AM, we decided we had to let him go.  I was so nervous someone from the hotel would come to kick us out.  He ended up crying for 5 (long) minutes and then fell right to sleep for the rest of the night.

The next morning, a certain adult male was extremely crabby, so Amelia (who slept through the entire shenanigans the night before) and I headed to the beach while the boys slept.  I was hopped up on lots o' coffee and practically skipped the two miles to the beach.

We decided to hit the beach near the Planetarium.  We got there fairly early in the morning and there was hardly a soul.  It was so beautiful and peaceful and COLD!

We spent a couple of hours there that morning burying each other, making sand angels, collecting rocks, and swimming. We took our time getting back to the hotel.  I think some of the best views of Chicago are from that area.

We even stopped by to see the huge Buckingham Fountain! 

The boys were feeling better upon our return.  We ate some lunch and then ALL laid down for an afternoon nap.  Then, we headed to Michigan Avenue in hunt of the American Girl Doll Store.

On the way, we found the Disney Store (our second of the trip) and Peter Pan!

And then we finally made it to the American Girl Doll store.  This was our first experience with this type of thing and I am not sure who was more overwhelmed--me, Jason, or Amelia.  Amelia definitely enjoyed looking at all of the dolls and accessories, but we got out of there with nothing but a catalog pretty easily.  (I just had to repair the catalog last week, however, damaged from repeated viewings).

Luckily, it was pretty close to dinner time and Henry was getting squirrely, so we missed the entire second floor of the store. And I didn't have to try too hard to pry these "bitty babies" (and their $70 jogging stroller) from Amelia's hands.

After a meltdown at Chik-fil-A from Henry, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel for the evening.  He wouldn't resist a quick stop at the park one last time for a cold dip in the water for our tired feet!

In the morning, it was back on the road to St. Louis and back to this....

Sigh.  It was decided at that point that KC and DC would have to wait until Henry is a bit more tolerant of traveling. I was just telling Jason that I thought Henry had improved since the Chicago trip a month ago. And then, that night he cried the whole ten minute ride to the restaurant we chose for dinner. And cried the 10 minutes home.

Despite the fussy ride, pack-n-play debacle, broken sandal, and swollen eye, we had a fabulous time sharing Chicago with our two kids.  It was great to see some old sites from the year we spent there and enjoy some cooler weather! I'm sure we will be visiting many more times over the years to come!

Chester Day Trip

 A couple times a year we like to take a day trip to Chester, IL.  It is where my grandparents are buried and I have lots of great memories traveling there as a child to visit my great aunt and uncle.  We had been trying to plan it for awhile and lucked out with decent weather for our trip a few weeks ago.

Although it was a bit windy....

The Chester Welcome Center has a new fancy deck on the back now that overlooks the river, a bridge, and a train track (complete with a train no less!).  It was the perfect place for a 4 year old and a 1 year old to burn off some steam after the 2 hour trip.

Unfortunately I cut Popeye's head off a little and by the time I went to take another both kids were off and running.  Chester is the home of Popeye!

We stopped off to pick up some lunch and then headed to one of my favorite Chester spots.  I guess it's official name is Mary's River Covered Bridge, but I've never called it that.  I just think it is a beautiful spot and a rare sight to explore.  We ate and then checked out the bridge and the very swollen river.

Amelia also checked out some ants and a ladybug or two.

I found humor in this sign.  Particularly the sentence that starts, "All of the timber in the bridge is the original...."

After everyone had had enough of the bridge (actually, after I had multiple close calls of children wondering towards the swift-moving river), we stopped by my grandparents grave.  This is a tricky subject for an inquisitive 4 year old.  She mostly took it in stride, asked a few questions, and then requested we check the rest of the cemetery for a stone with her name.  So, we wondered through Paradise Cemetery (no joke) for a half hour in search of an "Amelia".  Unfortunately, we came up short despite finding numerous "Henry" stones.

It was a nice little trip and Amelia loved being in "a whole nother state!" for the day.  One of these times I vow to be a little more adventurous and check out one of the two Forts in the area.

Be Sure To Wear Flowers in your Hair

(I've been told it is a faux pas to refer to San Francisco as "San Fran", so I will be writing the city's entire name out each time it is necessary).

Jason and I had a very rare opportunity to get away together and although it may not have been exactly ideal, we jumped at the chance! He was due in San Francisco for a AAAI conference (some sort of allergist meeting if you aren't up on the acronyms) and I decided to tag along.  After all, the hotel room was paid for 100% as well as his plane ticket and all of his meals.  Initially, I got a little nervous after the ticket was purchased about leaving the kids (particularly Henry), but quickly got over it once I boarded the plane.

I wish I could say the weather was beautiful, but it wasn't.  It was coldish and/or rainy almost the entire time we were there.  I wasn't too deterred, though.  That gave me an excuse to lay in bed and take a nap or crash on one of the sitting room couches near the fireplace and read my huge stack of books I picked up from the library before leaving St. Louis. (I finished 4 books on the trip!).

When I wasn't laying in bed, sleeping, or reading, I got out and explored the city. It is beautiful!  Hilly, but beautiful.  It was a great walking city, easy to navigate (although I would have paid good money for a topological map), and I felt super safe (with the exception of the night Jason and I traveled to the "tenderloin" area in search of a particularly well rated Indian restaurant).

I actually ventured into Chinatown twice during our stay.  Once with Jason and once by myself to go back and buy Amelia a little kimono-type outfit as a souvenir.  What a fun place to explore!

 

The hills in this city!  I think half of my pictures were of hills I had just climbed.  Not that exciting, really, but I guess I felt the need to take a picture each time to document my accomplishment.  And I'll be damned if I didn't climb one hill, walk all the way down the other side, and then come upon another hill that was bigger than the first.

One day while Jason was in meeting much of the day, I took an 8.5 mile tour of the city on foot.  Man were my feet and legs sore after that!  In the middle of it, though, it didn't really feel like much work because there were so many beautiful things to see.

This really would have been a great opportunity to play around with my nice camera, but I was too worried about being solely responsible and misplacing it somewhere in the airport.  So, my old camera it was.  These little sea lions were so interesting to watch.   I would have liked to get a few better pictures of them!

I hiked out of the way to get to see Lombard St.  I now think people who take the trolley (as opposed to walking) to the top are very, very wise.

We moved hotels on the last night due to an oversight on Jason's part when booking the trip.  The second hotel was in the middle of the action.  The weather had really taken a turn for the worst by then, but we survived by finding a little winery that overlooks the bay and splitting a bottle of wine. I could have stayed there all day and night.  I honestly cannot remember the last time I was so relaxed.

We slacked a little on the booking of the Alcatraz tour.  We missed out on catching a night tour and almost missed out on seeing it at all.  We decided to take the first tour on the morning we were supposed to leave San Francisco.  We closely watched the clock to make sure we had enough time to get back to the hotel for the shuttle to the airport.  We had enough time to see most of the island, but a little more time would have been nice. 

As it turns out, we could have stayed and toured Alcatraz all day AND night.  It turned out our flight home was canceled and the next flight they could get us on was 11 hours later.  The flight was supposed to leave at 12:30 AM!  And to top things off, we were automatically re-booked on separate flights because the flights weren't booked together in the first place since Jason's work booked his.  Jason was set to fly through Dallas and I, through Chicago.  Luckily, I cried and begged enough that we eventually got on the same flight (and some meal vouchers!). But, 11 hours in an airport was pretty much my breaking point.  Then, our flight got delayed another hour and we were in danger of missing our connection in Dallas.  Luckily, in the end, we made it home to our well rested kids with no further problems. It was a harsh return to reality, but a wonderful trip overall.  I (almost) wouldn't have changed a thing!