To celebrate Hannah's birthday, we decided to forego a big birthday party in favor of a long weekend in Chicago, one of our favorite cities. Believe it or not, this weekend was our first getaway with just our family--no relatives to meet, no friends' weddings to attend, no work events. We were very excited!
On Saturday morning, we packed and left in time for Hannah's nap at around noon. She slept well all the way to Merrillville, where we stopped briefly before heading into Chicago. Moira pretended like we were on an adventure (similar to Dora): We had to go through the windmill farm, over Wolf Lake, and over the big bridge before we arrived at the hotel in the heart of Chicago.
The weather was beautiful (in our minds) for the majority of the weekend. Beautiful means not too hot, not too cold--jeans and jacket weather! We had thought it might rain for the entirety of the weekend, but we were very fortunate as it didn't rain at all.
After settling into the hotel and refueling on the many snacks we brought, we embarked on our first afternoon of adventure--going on a water taxi ride along the Chicago River to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). Alan and I have wonderful memories of going to Chicago with his family over a decade ago before we were married, and one of the highlights was the architectural tour we took. We thought the water taxi ride was a good substitute for our 2-year-old and 4-year-old.
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| Waiting for the water taxi |
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| Looking at all of the tall buildings |
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| Hannah fully intrigued by the boat |
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| Alan and Moira together |
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| The girls and I |
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| Hannah was fascinated by the sound of the water against the boat |
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| Towering buildings on the water |
Once we arrived at Willis Tower, the girls were already starting to get a little bit tired from the big day of traveling. Moira had her first meltdown as we were going through security because she didn't want to get out of the stroller. But we all survived the mayhem of waiting in line. I was very grateful it wasn't a long line to get to the elevators. Somehow, we managed to avoid the crowds everywhere we went.
The ride to the top (103 floors, I believe) took only a minute (I couldn't help thinking of how long it takes elevators at my job to go two floors)! Once we were at the top, the girls were pretty mesmerized by all of the buildings, and so was I.
We waited in line to go out on the glass structure that extends over the edge of the building so you can look straight down. It was pretty amazing. Both Moira and Hannah laid down on the structure on looked down. Moira said "The cars look like ants." It was hard to get a picture of them because at this point both of them were exhausted. In fact, right after this photo, Hannah threw a monumental temper tantrum because she didn't want to wait in line for the elevators, nor did she want to get into her stroller. Because having a screaming two-year-old in an enclosed space like an elevator seemed less than ideal, we let her cry it out in a corner at the top of the Willis Tower. I will never forget it. Yes, we were "those parents."
After a pretzel and something to drink, the girls were both willing to get back in the stroller and head out for a walk around Chicago. We walked over to Millenium Park. The day was coming to a close rapidly at this point, but again, the weather was perfect, so we seized the moment and hoped the girls wouldn't melt down again (they didn't).
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| Alan called this the robot sculpture |
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| Millenium park |
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| Moira took this photo of her dad. A bit blurry but not bad! |
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| Spring in Chicago |
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| A view under the bean--can you see us? |
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| Family photo as reflected at the bean |
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| Chicago and the bean |
Alan called the bean a spaceship to stimulate Moira's imagination (not that it takes much), so when we got back to the hotel, you can imagine her delight when she saw the "spaceship" as decoration on the wall in our room! After eating a few pieces of pizza we grabbed on the way home, we all went to bed. It was a great first day in Chicago.
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