Chicago and all 6 of us...

Kyle and I planned a quick weekend trip to Chicago for us and all four of our (Brady Bunch) kids.  We left on a Friday, around 4:30, and headed for Chi town.  We borrowed Gramma Lucy's van so I had the joy of driving a swagger wagon around for a couple of days.  I won't admit this to many people but I liked "the van"....yeah I said it, I liked it.  There was SO much room for the kids, so much room for me to move around in. It was nice, I won't be buying one tomorrow....or ever....but it was really nice.

So we got to Chicago around 7:00 and got checked into our room.  Aiden thought the room was AMAZING. It's funny how kids think hotel rooms are awesome.  It's also funny how adults think hotel rooms are awesome.  Here is what I see:

• a place that I don't have to clean.
• a place where I don't have to make the bed.
• a place where I don't have to wash the towels or the bedding.

As soon as we got there we got unloaded then went on the hunt for dinner.  Considering it was Friday at 7:30, you can imagine how crowded places were.  We found a place without a wait...California Pizza Kitchen.  It was good.  My kids ate.  Kyle's girls ate.  We ate.  We headed out on the town for a little bit before we got back to the hotel for the night.

The next day we got up, did breakfast then headed out for our PLANNED day.  Plan was:

1. museum of science and industry
2. ghirardelli chocolate factory
3. lincoln park zoo
4. outside concert (for the lights festival)
5. shopping
6. watch the lights festival parade

Here is what we did:

 

1. Stopped at Millennium Park to check out 'the bean'

 

2. Stopped for some photo opps

 

3. Headed to The Field Museum and Walked along Navy Pier

 

4. Went to the Field Museum (view from the front of that joint)

  

5. Checked out all the awesome stuff in the museum.  It was so interesting and all the kids really enjoyed it. Aiden loved the bones and dinosaurs.  Once we LEFT I learned about a HUGE children's area that we didn't find.  That place was endless.....
6. After the museum we ate hotdogs from a street vendor...so delicious (even when you're sober).
7. We walked back to Magnificent Mile and Bailey did a little shopping.  Kailyn, my kids, and I went back to the location of the outdoor concert.  This was a BRILLIANT idea until we got there. Somehow every other person in Chicago thought it would be a great idea to go to the same concert.  Once we fought through the crowd, we took a few back-roads  to a little less crowded area.
8. We met back up with Kyle and Bailey and headed to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop.

9. After all this business we worked our way back to the hotel and headed back to Indiana.

We learned a lot from the trip...like let's not go when it is the lights festival weekend.  But overall Kyle and I were really happy to be able to hang out with our kids and enjoy something that was new.  We didn't quite get to all the things on our itinerary, yet we had a great time.  I know that I am really looking forward to our next 'getaway'....hopefully KB feels the same way :)