Chicago

We went to Chicago for an ophthalmology conference in October. It was my first time in Chicago which is a little embarrassing since it is only 4 hours away. Since moving to Ann Arbor, I've been to Italy twice and never Chicago?! Something is wrong here. Anyway, it was a fun trip even though Andrew could only be with us intermittently. Sometimes I look forward to these things and don't even think for a minute about how difficult it will be to manage with three kids on my own in a big city. This lack of foresight must be a blessing in some way. But there were moments when I definitely felt the stares from masses of single people around me wondering why in the world I would bring three small children to Chicago by myself. Ha! I tried to make it look like I had complete control.

i spy...

Balcony of our apartment. We rented an apartment on vrbo instead of getting a hotel room. Such a better option for our family.

I loved the location of our place. It was so close to everything and I could pretty much walk anywhere I wanted to go except church.

Cam gave some great faces this trip. He is always the happiest when Dad is around.

Next time I hope we can go on an architecture tour. It is a beautiful city.

Wow...we were not expecting to like Chicago-style pizza...it being the complete opposite of a real Italian pizza. But this won us over. It was fantastic.

My boys might have a slight pigeon addiction after their many pigeon-chasing experiences in Italy. We spent a lot of time at Seneca Playlot Park during the day when Andrew was away.

The Aquarium! So much fun. The boys loved it.

Give a kid a penguin costume and they will have more fun than actually watching the live penguins 10 feet away. No joke, a solid 25 minutes was spent pretending to be a penguin.

We watched them train the dolphins. Amazing.

There are a lot of things I don't have pictures of, especially the times when I was alone with the kids. I took them to the Children's Museum which was also amazing. It was a little bit further of a walk than I anticipated. On the way home, we walked along the lake a little and I tried to take pictures of the kids with my phone. But they were really bothering me by that point. I can't even remember why. Esme was not cooperating at all. I had her in the baby carrier and she kept pinching my face, poking me in the eye, or arching her back because she hates the baby carrier. The kids were really tired and not listening. Everyone wanted to sit or stand on the stroller and I felt a little like a pack mule. Someone saw me taking a few pictures of the kids with my phone and asked me if they could take a picture for me so I could be in it. Without really thinking I said, "no thanks" because I thought I would never want to remember that moment and what I looked/felt like in that moment. Five minutes later I totally regretted it. I should always just take the picture, even if my kids are driving me crazy and I feel like my annoyance is written all over my face. I'm sure it would have been a funny memory. After that I tried to change my attitude a little and lighten up. I'm still mad at myself for being so lame.

Anyway, I'm so glad we had a chance to go and it was a nice wake up call to what I might be in for next year. Yikes!