We took a mini vacation to Chicago to meet up with Mimi and Papa for the weekend and enjoy some time together as a family before mommy has to head to work full time...we had a wonderful (although not so relaxing time). It was Caleb's first trip in a hotel and he did not do very well. He and Hannah shared the front room of our suite and Craig and I had the back. Caleb woke up around 4 am on Saturday and wouldn't go back to sleep...of course we didn't want him to wake Hannah, so we brought him in with us...that didn't solve it either. We probably would have been better off to just leave him where he was...I am too soon to forget that Hannah could sleep through a freight train rolling through her room (she does take naps every day at daycare with 11 other one and two year olds)! We had a great time, none the less...someday we'll catch up on our sleep. This weekend we just got to spend way more time with Caleb than we thought we would :).
Here's Caleb's first dip in the pool...he loved it and Hannah loved being thrown up in the air and jumping off the side into Daddy's arms.
Drying off...getting ready to go and see Mimi and Papa for the first time since Christmas...
Hannah enjoying her independence being able to play on the steps in the pool...
Saturday we had breakfast (LOTS of coffee) and headed downtown to take in the sights and do a little shopping. Of course the first stop was to American Girl. Hannah enjoying playing with all of their accessories and walked out with a new outfit for her bitty baby, Rose. If you have never been to an American Girl store...that place is the empire of all empires...makes my love of Cabbage Patch Kids back in the day not seem so impressive!!
Here's Caleb at the American Girl store thinking--you have GOT to be kidding me...I'm so glad to be a boy!
Mimi and Hannah doing what us girls do best...shopping!
At the WaterTower place, Hannah was a little scared of the glass elevator. I told her to cover her eyes and somehow that seemed to help...she's a nut for sure!
Daddy and Hannah in the big city...it was a little chilly, but the sun was wonderful and allowed us to walk several blocks to the Disney story and further still to the Nordstrom building.
Here's Woody at LegoLand...Hannah loves the Toy Story movies and she was excited to see him in 'real' life.
Unfortunately our visit with Mimi and Papa had to come to an end...we planned to make a quick trip to Shedd Aquarium on our way home and let the kids nap in the car. We parked in the parking garage at the football field and walked (in the cold, cold drizzle) to the entrance...upon getting closer we commented on how many people there were in line...of course we had to head to the stroller lane and upon asking the attendant how long with wait was to get in, he said an hour and a half. Since we had already paid our money for parking, we decided to wait it out...it wouldn't really take 90 minutes would it? No, he was wrong. It took more like two hours and 15 minutes. Lucky for me I got to go inside with Caleb to feed him and when I returned I was informed it was free admission day and that's why all of Chicago and the surrounding communities were there waiting in the rain to get in. I was able to go wait inside in the cafeteria area with Hannah and Caleb until Daddy was able to get into the door...after all of that, we were on the elevator right about nap time. Caleb slept most of the afternoon (since he hadn't slept at night) and Hannah was a real trooper watching all the fish and loving the penguins.
Hannah was so glad to find Nemo!!
We had a picnic lunch in the basement under the dolphin show. We were able to see them get ready to jump into the air and them swim towards the bottom. Hannah was amazed...and so was Daddy--this was his first trip there, too.
We did pay extra to watch the dolphin show and to get into some of the special areas. Craig and I were both very disappointed in the dolphin show, that it was more of an educational tutorial of how they train the dolphins than an actual dolphin trick show...but...when it was over and we were walking toward the stroller, Hannah said, "That was great!". At that moment, I didn't care how long we waited or how much money we spent...it was all worth it!!!
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