The Not-so Windy City - Vacation Day 5

Let me start by saying that the second day in Chicago was much better than the first. (Not hard to do, though!) The boys slept through the night, and I actually got up before they did and had a shower - all by myself! (A true vacation!)

We had breakfast at a really great place called the Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop. I loved it for three reasons:

1. Great food - cajun/creole type fare. I had a jambalaya omelet with cajun potatoes, cheese grits, and toast. YUMMY!
2. Great atmosphere - the inside was almost Disneyland-esque in that it looked like something out of New Orleans with lots of old fashioned signs, knick knacks, and other southern paraphernalia all over.
3. Plastic alligators - they gave the boys plastic alligators with their meals. You know a place is good when you get free alligator toys!

With a good night's sleep, a great breakfast, and a plastic alligator, Spencer was happy! Cheerful even! (Perhaps all of my threats from the day before worked?) We checked out of the hotel and drove down to Navy Pier. There was supposed to be free kite flying, but ironically enough there was no wind to be found in the Windy City that morning. We walked around the pier and decided that it was pretty boring in the morning.


So we started to walk to Millennium Park. It wasn't that far, but with the heat it seemed like it. But I didn't mind too much because I love walking around downtown Chicago; plus, we got to see a bit of Michigan Avenue, which is always fun for window shopping.

(Side note: I have always wanted to live downtown in a big city. Live in an apartment, walk to work, the whole works. I think it would be so fun! But not with kids; they'd kinda ruin it. So whenever I'm downtown I daydream about being a childless, rich, city-dweller. Of course I am fabulously dressed and Lance and I get to go to all sorts of cool city-type things. Dreamy dream dream...)

Anywho, we got to the park and watched a few jugglers perform. Kevin got to join in on the act. I think it's hilarious that he's not really that much shorter than the guy on stilts! (He's 6'5" - Kevin, not the stilt guy.) p.s. to the lady who walked in front of my camera - 您做一個更好的門比窗口! (I think she was Chinese.)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We then stopped at the big silver bean (a.k.a. Cloud Gate Sculpture; but whatever. If it's supposed to be a cloud, then it's a cloud shaped like a Jelly Belly!). Everyone had fun looking at their reflections and enjoying the shade. I copied Ashley and took a reflection photo of myself, to prove that I was there! (Side note dos: For some reason, who's name starts with an 'S' and ends with a 'pencer', I didn't take many photos on this trip. I don't think I even got any of Dad and Susie. I'm kinda kicking myself for it.)

After a refreshing Jamba Juice lunch, we played in the fountain at the park. The fountain there is really clever - it's made up of two 50 foot glass block towers that have lots of LED screens in them. They project people's faces, and then every once in a while the faces "spit" water. The boys LOVED it, and we all really enjoyed cooling off. (It was the kind of hot and sticky where you just sit and sweat even though you don't do anything. You know, typical Midwest summer weather.) I could hardly get Spencer to hold still long enough to take a picture. We stayed long enough so that Spencer didn't even pitch fit when we left.

We decided to hit one more Chicago sight - the Sears Tower. Kevin really wanted to go because he had only been to the Hancock Building, and it had cleared up enough to make it worth it. So we tromped down to the tower, another bit of a walk.

(Side note the third: Did I mention that Kevin served his mission in Chicago? Yep, Chicago North Mission. He's been back for just under 2 years, and had lots of fun showing off some of his old haunts. My hope is that he loves Chicago enough to return there for law school. No pressure, Kevin!)

We really hyped up the fact that we were going to the 'tippy top' of a really high building to Spencer. He was getting a bit tired and thus a bit grumpy/hyper/annoying/3-year-oldish. We watched a movie about the building of the Sears tower at the beginning of the tour. (Spencer was more interested in the projector, but must have watched some of the movie because that's all he talks about now!) What do you say about the Sears Tower? The elevator ride was long and the building was tall. You could see pretty far, although it was a bit hazy. I was a mean mom and wouldn't pay for a telescope. I'm not sure Spencer really understood how high we were, but he seemed to enjoy himself.

We decided to take the free trolley home - we were all worn out! Spencer fell asleep in my arms while we waited and stayed asleep for the entire ride. Which is a shame, because he would have loved it. He woke up once we got to the parking garage and had a freak-out session about not having his blankie right then. I was in the bathroom a ways away and I could hear his crying as clear as day. I seriously considered sneaking out and running away! (Maybe I could realize my dream of living downtown!)

Weary and sunburned, we made it back to the car around 5:30pm, leaving town just in time for the height of rush hour. Because you can't really experience Chicago unless you get stuck in traffic for a while... we experienced the traffic, and then some.