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| Functional artwork in our hotel room! |
Jack had a work convention up in Chicago this week so we decided it would be a fun little trip to go up and join him. He arrived Wednesday and we joined him Thursday afternoon, surviving the drive by snacking and watching a couple of movies along the way. The kids are pretty darn good travelers.
We’d been to The Windy City before, but it was a really quick trip and it was more to visit Jack’s mom who was there for work than to see the city. Though this one was only about 24 hours, too, we were able to see a bit more of the city than last time.
We hit the ground running. Or walking, technically. After willingly giving up an arm and a leg to park at the hotel (rip off!), we explored the hotel room, then went out in search of dinner.
Found it! Having some friends and family who are either Chicago natives or adoring fans, we ate some delicious deep dish pizza to fuel up before a looooong evening stroll.
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| See that Ferris wheel waaaaay in the distance? That’s where we were headed. |
…until we finally arrived at the Chicago Children’s Museum, which just happened to be having a free night. Made up a bit for having to pay so much for parking.
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| Princess Claire! |
I always find it funny how kids can be so tired of walking but the second there’s a stripped crosswalk or something engaging, like a children’s museum, all those complaints go out the window. We had a jolly good time playing princess…
…climbing up big rope ladders and getting stuck halfway because you’re afraid of heights…props to Evelyn for overcoming her fear while Kate and Claire climbed circles around her.
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| Pretty! |
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| There weren’t enough chairs at our table, so Jack sat on his own, pondering as he enjoys doing. |
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| Claire was not amused. |
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| Boiling like lobsters in the hot tub. |
…and everyone used their last bit of energy to play on a fun, leaf-shaped jungle gym. Then we got in the car…
…and everyone zonked out. Except me, thankfully. We navigated out of the horrendous city traffic and within an hour, were out in the countryside, where we most enjoy it.
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| Kate really needs to learn how to sleep comfortably in the car… |
Overall, it was a super fun couple of days. Sure, there were meltdowns (a few on my part, too), the typical horrible Chicago drivers, a couple of comments about the number of children we have (really? I didn’t notice we had four and I’m pregnant again), cold weather, weary feet, enough walking to induce early labor, too many black coats (it must have screamed that we were tourists for wearing some color), and terribly expensive parking. Still, there were a lot of really nice people who waited for us to take our touristy photos instead of barging through, who held doors and greeted the kids, delicious food and interesting places to visit. It’s always fun to have a quick getaway, in part because it reminds us how much we love being home.
