New Years Weekend in Chicago

What were we thinking? Taking a trip to Chicago in January of all times. How miserable - cold, windy, snowy ... oh, wait, that was what it was like in Kansas City, too! By all means, hop a plane - it was actually warmer in Chicago (by at least 5 degrees)!

We caught the plane Friday morning and had a direct flight to Midway. Steven did great. He sat by the window but insisted that the shade be pulled down. I think that once we were above the clouds the sun was in his eyes. The best part of the flight for him was snack time and the flight attendant even filled his sippy cup with half water half juice!

This was Lyla's first flight and I was a little nervous because she had a bit of a runny nose and cough. I was worried that the pressure would hurt her ears and that she'd scream the entire time. No, she slept. What a great baby!

When we arrived we hopped the train in to the city. Steven loved it; Thomas Thomas Thomas! Once downtown we got a room at our hotel on Michigan Ave (we got a deal, normally there'd be no way we'd get to stay there) and Tommy decided that we should head out to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Mind you, it was about 20 degrees outside. He is on a mission to see as many zoos in America as he can. We didn't bring car seats with us to minimize the luggage struggle so we planned to hop a bus or two. Don't trust the internet schedule even though we eventually got there.

We saw the big cats, chimps, gorillas and small mammals even a little bit of their zoo lights show. Kids were tired, we were hungry and headed back to the hotel. But stopped for fancy ice cream on the way home ... yum. I had sea salt caramel hot chocolate. I was a little apprehensive about the salt but in the end, wow! Try it sometime!

Saturday we went to the Shedd Aquarium to see the fish and the show Fantasea. The show was a little hokey. My thoughts were that I hope they paid the marine biologists big bucks to dress up in those costumes. It was neat to see the beluga whales as it brought back memories of visiting the belugas at the Minnesota Zoo when I was younger.

The highlight of the aquarium for Steven ...

Saturday night we had dinner with Tommy's friend from Harlaxton (study abroad), Laura. She's a hoot! Sunday we laid low because Lyla was getting sicker. In the middle of the night she spiked a fever and Tommy had to use the hotel's internet in the lobby to look up dosage of children's motrin. The front desk staff gave him a pretty strange look when they saw him stumble through the lobby at 3am! She was better in the morning and did great on the flight home.

What a fun start to the New Year! Welcome, 2010!