Chicago

We visited Chicago last week, and had an amazing time in this city that is so dear to my heart.  I lived in Chicago for 2.5 years while attending graduate school, and it's the place where Mark and I got engaged.  We were so excited to show the kids this special place, and it's been on our bucket list for a long time.  We decided to fly to Chicago to maximize our time in the city, and the direct flight from the Greensboro airport (which is less than 10 minutes from our house) was a breeze!  My packing challenge this trip was for each of us to carry our belongings in backpacks, and to have no checked baggage or bulky suitcases.  I was proud that we were able to fit five days' worth of clothes, toiletries, and necessities (including a collapsible travel booster seat for Leah!) into our backpacks.  This worked, and was especially helpful since we didn't have a car for the first half of our trip and relied on public transportation:

I remembered how to navigate Chicago's public transit system (hooray!) and the children were excited to ride the "L" from O'Hare into the city.  Our hotel was downtown in the middle of the Loop and within walking distance to many sights.  After checking in, our first stop was Portillo's, to try much anticipated Chicago-style hot dogs:

Chicago-Style Hot Dog = All beef frank, poppy seed bun, mustard, onions, relish, pickle, tomato, peppers, & celery salt (and NO ketchup!)

While we were eating hot dogs, we realized that it was only a little after 10:00 a.m. CDT... but we were still on East Coast time and had gotten up early for our flight, so no one minded this unconventional "brunch"!

We walked to Lake Shore Drive and the children got their first glimpse of Lake Michigan, which was even bigger than they had imagined!

We spent the afternoon at Navy Pier, and the weather was gorgeous!

Our first Navy Pier attraction was the Centennial Wheel:

Even though our family had our own air-conditioned, enclosed gondola, we quickly learned that this was not Mark's cup of tea, and he was mercilessly teased by these two for his dislike of heights:

The views were amazing, and 3/4 of us thought that the Centennial Wheel was very cool:

The kids also enjoyed the climbing walls and swings at Navy Pier, and were able to do these several times thanks to no lines:

While at Navy Pier, we hopped onto a scenic boat tour of Lake Michigan, which was a lovely way to see the city and enjoy the beautiful day:

Then it was time for Chicago deep dish pizza!   Lou Malnati's did not disappoint, and this was a great dinner spot for us:

After dinner, we went to the SkyDeck at Willis Tower (formerly known as Sear's Tower):

The SkyDeck is on the 103rd floor and contains clear observation boxes and glass ledges that overlook the city.  The views span four states and it was amazing to have a piece of glass be the only thing separating us from the ground below.  Mark graciously volunteered to take pictures of us (and I'm pretty sure we couldn't have paid him a million dollars to step onto the ledge):

Willis Tower SkyDeck was a fun grand finale to our first day in Chicago.  We walked almost 6 miles on Day 1 and 8 miles on Day 2, so we slept well each night!  

On Friday, we woke up and went to the Field Museum.  Our plan was to see Sue, but we learned that she is in the process of being relocated (and we were only able to glimpse a sneak peek of her in her new exhibition hall).  For those of you who may not be familiar with Sue, she's the largest, most extensive (over 90% recovered), and best preserved Tyranosaurus Rex specimen ever found, and has been the star of the Field Museum for decades.  However, Maximo the Titanosaur (the largest dinosaur in the world), now occupies the Grand Hallway, and is HUGE!

Can you spy Leah standing under Maximo? 

The Field Museum was incredible, and afterward, we walked along the lake to Buckingham Fountain and Millenium Park:

The kids had fun playing at the adjacent Maggie Daley park, and we loved checking out "The Bean" and finding our reflected images: 

After a quick lunch, we rode the "L" up to the LakeView neighborhood where Mommy used to live and visited Wrigley Field.  The Cubs were away, but we were able to peek inside the baseball stadium through open doors and see the ballpark.  We had a treat and sat in the new outdoor plaza beside Wrigley Field: 

Next we visited the Magnificent Mile.  Michigan Avenue is one of my favorite Chicago destinations, but 22 year-old me never could have imagined that on my future visits to Chi-town, the Lego Store would be my first and only shopping destination!  The kids LOVED the escalators at Water Tower Place (home of the Lego Store), and still say that this was one of the highlights of our Chicago trip!  I thought the display (made entirely of Legos) in the store window was especially impressive: 

We had dinner on Friday night at the Rainforest Cafe, which was within walking distance of our hotel.  It was the perfect, fun novelty restaurant for the kids, complete with a Balloon Man and themed decor:

On Saturday, we met our friends at the Lincoln Park Zoo and had a great morning looking at the animals and watching the Air and Water Show over Lake Michigan.  Daddy picked up our rental car and we stayed with Miss Nicole and Mr. Jim at their house in Glenview on Saturday evening:

On Sunday morning, we drove to another Chicago suburb, Grayslake, where we visited our dear friends who we haven't seen since last summer.  We worshipped with them at their church, where Daddy's childhood friend, Brian, is the pastor.  In the afternoon, the kids had fun at their town pool, which had two awesome water slides and a climbing wall!   

Leah and Megan.

The five children played so well together and the adults were able to relax and catch up.  We went out to dinner at a cute outdoor restaurant in downtown Grayslake and walked to an ice cream shop afterward:

Sweet friends!

After more play time on Monday morning, it was time for us to drive to O'Hare to catch our flight home.  It was such an amazing vacation filled with friends, new things, and LOTS of walking...  We love you, Chicago, and hope to come back soon!