My day is nearly over and I"m JUST now sitting down to the computer to post this blog post about our trip to Chicago...I could just give you the play by play run-down of our day, but then I would have to put myself in the same category as Little Munchkin who seems to have the need to keep a running commentary of every moment of our lives...I honestly don't know WHERE in the world she gets the desire to hear herself talk and talk and talk...hmmmm...perhaps I'll discuss this with myself in the mirror tomorrow morning...
ahem
So...Chicago...
Let me begin the tale of our adventure as it commenced in the dining area of Buca De Peppo the Saturday night prior to departure. I had received a gift card to this restaurant and as gift cards manage to burn holes in the pocket of my Italian Stallion, we had this card all of about 2 weeks...but that was because I didn't tell him about it until 2 days before we went...so in reality, it burned a hole pretty quickly.
After a delicious start of garlic toast and salad...we (and by WE I mean Italian Stallion who also finds it difficult, at times, to keep secrets for very long) decided to tell the girls the SURPRISE for the weekend. The SURPRISE being a trip to Chicago...they were ecstatic to say the least...I think their favorite part was, "You mean we get to skip school???"
Turns out it was a good thing that we told them b/c the amount of packing required for a family of 5, along with each of their dolls and their dolls suitcases, apparantly takes more than the average time requirement...I also completely forgot that dolls NEED a different pair of shoes, pjs, outfits, coats, accessories and play materials for each day that they travel...this of course IS a necessity and can NOT be taken lightly...and so an extra suitcase was called upon...I think at this point, you could just refer to me as the lady in waiting...waiting...waiting...on 3 girls and 5 dolls...
After falling into bed by 11pm that evening, we were up at O dark Stinkin' Early in the morning to get a jump on the road...we left by 8am and made a stop at Meijer for much needed donuts and couple of bananas...cuz, really, who can go on a road trip without bananas?
We arrived in Chicago by 2pm their time and bundled up straight away to head to the American Girl store to "scout" out the premises...Daddy surprised us all with a large sum gift card that he had won at the office! KUDOS to Cranel, Inc! The store was wall to wall people, and so we did what any parent would do in this case...we gave the girls the camera and told them "Just go take pictures of things that interest you...we'll hang out here and hold the coats!" They had lots of fun and after exhaustion and whining began, we thought that would be the perfect opportunity to make them sit still in a restaurant!!!
And so we headed to Giordanos pizza for some Chicago style pizza...Some favorite memories will be playing with mozzerella sticks and eating the leftover pizza for 2 days. It was delicious and broke up our mile walk back to the hotel.
It was blustery cold outside, but the girls were absolute troopers...even Little Munch who wanted to walk by herself...big 3 year old that she is...They hoofed it far in that cold and we were proud of them.
Thinking that all that cold, and walking and full bellies would make for a leisurely morning, Italian Stallion were
surprised figured that we'd be up at the crack of dawn again and were ready for a morning of swimming on the 27th floor of our hotel, overlooking the city. Due to Italian Stallion's crazy travel schedule of late, he has racked up the points and therefore a few free hotel nights were available!!! There was even a free hot breakfast each morning...which was heavenly, I might add...and the girls kept saying, "Hey, Mom it's now 9:05...everyone else is listening to announcements and I'm sitting in a hottub on the 27th floor!!!" My girls have their priorities straight I tell you!
We went to the Museum of Science and Industry Monday morning, which was free admission, and were able to see the Christmas tree displays from around the world...I went to the Scotland tree cuz I'm 1/164758694056837 Scottish and it just seemed IDEAL that I get my picture taken in front of a tree from my heritage.
After making our way back to the hotel to bundle up, we headed towards Michigan Ave...our destination was the AG Store, but we were planning some stops along the way...one being Lego Land, where we actually purchased our very first lego set...being that we have only girls, this was a new concept to us...but we are just those types of parents, that want those well-rounded features in our kids...that, and I think Daddy could only handle so many Hello Kitty shops and princess dresses...
Disney store, the Apple store and a pit stop at Ghiradelli's for some ICE CREAM...it just hit the spot on that below freezing day...yummmm nothing like ice cream to warm your insides...:)
Finally making it to the AG store we let the girls make their choices and Little Munchkin was able to get her first doll...to which, after searching doll and after doll...when Daddy pulled the last one off the shelf she said, "OHHH THAT's my Emily!" She hasn't let go of the doll yet...she sleeps, eats, and even poops with little Emily...
We used hand warmers to keep us warm as we trudged back to the hotel, played a bit with the purchases and then headed out again to cross the river to the old Macy's to see the Christmas displays in the windows...It was a late night when we arrived back to the hotel and Daddy saved the day with a run to the hotel lobby for mac and cheese and more bananas...God bless bananas!
Our last day Chicago saw us swimming again and then heading to the Field Museum (another free admission day) to see SUE the dinosaur and just enough historical stuff to be able to qualify for a "educational" field trip for an excused absence from school!!! And then we headed home.
I know I sounded a bit lacking in the enthusiasm and heavier on the sarcasm, but really, that was just for "effect"...as if I had some literary sense in the first place...but REALLY, it was an AWESOME trip...the girls were amazing, the time we spent together playing on the elevators, giggling, snuggling in the king side bed, talking and just being together was soooooooooo worth it! I am sooo grateful for these opportunities with our kiddos...and the fact that we had a free gift card to even make purchases was just icing on the cake...
Little Munchkin was asking in the car today when we could all go back again...
Someday baby...it was definitely worth the trip!
p.s. little side note...I did NOT bring my camera, my baby, my "connected at the hip" piece of equipment and therefore I was feeling a little helpless as I tried to figure out the small point and shoot...so please bear with my lack of photo taking abilities with regards to this post...I wanted our trip to be about the experience rather than Mommy DOCUMENTING the experience while she missed half of what was going on trying to get the best "angle"...
