Chicago

And we're off!!  After weeks of packing, planning and stressing, we headed to the windy city for a conference for Jarod and vacation for the rest of us.  I was looking forward to this, but at the same time dreading the thought of what could happen...screaming children in a vehicle for 9 hours, losing Andrew in the big city, no one sleeping in the hotels.  As it turned out, we had a wonderful time and everything went so smooth. 

This was the first of 3 stops on the drive out there.  Grandma and Grandpa came with us and Andrew couldn't wait to stop to get out and play with them.  They were such a big help!  We definitely couldn't have made the trip without them.

Knuckles!

The DVD player was essential to the peace and quite we experience in the car!  We didn't hear a peep from Andrew as long as a movie was on.  The downside to this is now he expects a movie every time we get in the car.  Sorry buddy!

M big boy is starting to take some steps with some assistance.  How can he be old enough for this already?

We stopped at a scenic overlook of the Mississippi river at the Illinois state line.  After being cooped up in the car, Andrew enjoyed the wide open space.  So did Grandpa and Grandma!

We finally made it!  Our first day in Chicago was their hottest day of the year!  We ignored all the warnings to stay indoors, threw the kids in the stroller, and took off for some sightseeing.  Our strategy quickly developed into going into any store where we could fit the double stroller through the doors just to get a break from the heat.  We didn't see many famous Chicago landmarks, but we did browse through plenty of interesting souvenir t-shirt shops.  Air conditioning is a wonderful thing!

The best part of our walk was stopping at the water fountains to cool off.  It was oh so refreshing!

Dominic didn't enjoy getting splashed but Andrew, my little fish, had a blast!

Our first night for dinner we went to heaven...I mean Giordano's.  My mouth has been watering for this pizza since we first started planning this vacation.  Deep dish Chicago style pizza loaded with cheese and a buttery, flaky crust to die for!  It is pizza perfection.  Well worth the hour and a half wait!

The second day we started out getting caught in a rainstorm.  I'm not talking about a light drizzle, it was a complete downpour.  We knew the rain was coming but we thought we could make it to Navy Pier before the storm hit.  Boy were we wrong!  We were drenched from head to toe.  But despite frizzy hair and wet underwear, we had a great time once we got to the Children's Museum at the Pier. 

Andrew was serious about his playing. He could have stayed in each room the entire day.  But since this was a huge museum with lots to see and do, we tried to move him along.  He threw a fit every time we made him leave one room, but quickly became interested in the next room, and then threw a fit when he had to leave that one. 

The rest of the day turned out to be beautiful.  We enjoyed a nice stroll down Navy Pier with a Margarita for Dave and Ben & Jerry's for me!  After Jarod was finished with his conference for the day we drove down to his old school, ICO, and took a tour.  They were having a reunion so he enjoyed seeing some of his old professors and classmates. 

 The next day we went the the Shed Aquarium.  We learned a valuable piece of information...if you go to the Shed, be sure to bring a stroller.  Those with strollers get to bypass the hour long wait through the front doors and get to enter through the handicap doors on the side.  We got right it!  In addition to looking at all the exhibits, we took in a water show with Beluga whales, a 4-D show of Happy Feet, and the Jelly Fish exhibit (my favorite!). 

We ended our trip spending an evening with the Lefferts.  We all went to dinner at Lawry's Steakhouse, a very fancy, very formal, very un-kid-friendly restaurant.  When we arrived I panicked just a bit seeing all the things Andrew could knock over and run into.  And to top it off Dominic was tired and wouldn't stop crying.  Thank goodness for Grandma who got him to sleep right away and Jarod did a great job of entertaining Andrew.  So we all got to enjoy a delicious meal and good conversation. 

I think I learned from this trip not to spend a lot of time stressing about all the things that could go wrong and to not let that stop us from experiencing life.  Traveling with children is more difficult, but it is doable.  All it takes is some planning ahead and a lot of pacifiers, snacks, toys and movies!