Chicago!

Last week, we headed to Indiana to visit DJ's mom and family. We haven't been able to see his family in several years, so it was wonderful getting to head up there to see everyone! His grandfather turned 80 this summer, and we had a surprise birthday party for him while we were there! You can check out my previous recaps from our visit here.

Monday morning, we loaded up the kids and headed to Chicago. But first, we gave hugs and kisses to his grandparents and said our good-byes. 

 The girls took to their great-grandparents instantly. Within 10 minutes of us arriving on the first day, Adalyn was in her great-grandpa's lap! Unfortunately, Megan and Adalyn had never met their great-grandparents before. We moved from Indiana just weeks after Megan was born and we hadn't had a chance to get back up there until now. 

They hadn't seen Gretchen since she was 3!

I'm so glad we were able to snap a family picture before we left!

A few hours later, we were in Chicago and on a trolley heading to the American Girl Store!

We decided the American Girl doll store would be the perfect place to celebrate Adalyn's 2nd birthday! Since we went to Disney World in March, we decided to keep birthdays small this year. We had a little party for Megan, but we didn't have parties for the other girls.

Addy hung out in the Ergo on our trolley ride.

If you're in Chicago, you can park at Navy Pier, and ride a free trolley to Michigan Avenue. We had to walk about 6 blocks to the American Girl store and along the way I taught the big girls the fabulousness of the Magnificent Mile.

The big girls were so excited to have arrived. Addy just wanted to run. Capturing a good picture of all three of the girls is impossible at their ages!

Gretchen was so excited to see Grace. They had watched the movie several times on our drive.

Megan got in the picture too, and I have no idea about the face she is making!

We explored the store a bit more. The girls loved the interactive pieces they had!

Meggie was determined to keep Addy still!

She is TWO Fabulous!

We headed over to the Bitty Baby section, and Addy kept saying "baby, baby, baby". She was overwhelmed with all the babies there! 

 She found a stroller with a baby and pushed it all over the place!

 Megan found a stroller too! The girls love to push their babies in their strollers at home! They have fights over them all the time!

I think she was too thrilled to have babies everywhere!

After picking out Adalyn's first bitty baby and letting the big girls choose a new outfit for their dolls, we went upstairs for our lunch. 

We were ready to celebrate the birthday girl!

 We let each of our girls bring one of their American Girl dolls and they were given a high chair for their dolls. 

Each doll was given a cup and saucer, but Adalyn preferred to keep her baby's cup for herself. 

Our first course was mini cinnamon rolls. 

Our birthday girl was ready to celebrate!

 Our next course was a family style platter of pretzel baguettes with cheese dipping sauce, broccoli, carrots, and grapes. 

We each ordered our food. I chose a pasta, while DJ had a Blue Cheese Burger. Megan chose pizza, and Gretchen and Adalyn both had the grilled ham and cheese, french fries, and salad skewer. 

The food was adorable and super yummy. 

After our meals, we were brought dessert. We had a flower pot full of chocolate mouse and a cupcake. 

We sang Happy Birthday to Adalyn and she blew out her candle. 

The American Girl restaurant has a birthday party option, but Adalyn was not old enough. Thankfully our server brought Addy a little candle and all was well. 

Gretchen decided the flowers made cute hair accessories.

She enjoyed her dessert!

After lunch, we went back to the car and headed toward our hotel. A 30 mile drive took an hour and a half! Once we got settled, we left the girls with their nana and headed back into Chicago on the train. We caught the L and finally made it to the Cubs game.

We had bleacher seats, which were perfect since we could see the entire field. 

DJ and I have been to 6 Cubs games togethers. He's a huge fan!

We let his sister, brother in law, and their friend tag along too even though they're Cardinals fans. 

Unfortunately, it started to rain and there was a chance of really bad storms coming in. We ended up leaving around the 8th inning. 

Our day in Chicago was memorable, fun, and a bit crazy! 

Join me back tomorrow as I'll be sharing a bit about my new oily journey!

Chicago: The Magnificent Mile & American Girl Store

I'm finally getting around to sharing our last pictures from Chicago last weekend!

After we left the pier, we rode the trolley to Michigan Avenue. The Magnificent Mile is a must stop for anyone going to Chicago! I was in awe the first time I went, and I'm still in awe each and every time I go. I don't think Gretchen quite understands the fuss of her being here, but we had to document this occassion!

This is probably my favorite picture. The tulips were beautiful! We were on Michigan Avenue, and every girls dream of Tiffany's was behind us!

And, here we are befreo heading into American Girl at the Watertower.

We took some time and browsed through the store. It brought back many childhood memories for me, as these were some of my most favorite books. I'm excited that it's still around and popular enough that I can share these with Gretchen as she gets older.
And, we of course, had to buy Gretchen her very first AG doll~ her bitty baby! Daddy even let us buy an outfit for the doll. Thankfully, grandparents will always have gift ideas for the next few years! (wink, wink!)

Chicago: Navy Pier

After we enjoyed the aquarium, we decided to walk, yes, I said walk, to Navy Pier. If anyone has ever done this, they'd know it's almost a 2 mile walk, but Gretchen was sleeping in the stroller, so it was easier to walk than to take a cab and risk waking her up. The weather was still windy and frigid, but we made do. Gretchen woke up right before we had to cross over the river, so we stopped to take a picture of her and daddy. The ferris wheel and the pier are in the background.

And after what seemed like forever of walking, we made it to the pier!

I wanted to eat at Bubba Gump shrimp (although I wouldn't have ordered shrimp after the yuckiness at Rainforest Cafe) but it was a 45 minute wait to eat inside, and it was way too cold to eat outside. So, we went to Harry Carey's. If you're not a Cubs fan, then you probably don't know that he was the announcer for the Cubs and sang the 7th inning stretch, Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Which is why, they now have celebrities or guests sing the song.

There are tons of celebs with their pictures around Harry Carey's bust, so we had to take DJ's picture too.

Then, we walked the length of the pier, which was thankfully, all in doors. We did go outdoors just to get a picture at the end.

It was so cold, that I wrapped my scarf around Gretchen, even though she had on a long sleeve, tank, and her coat.

Thankfully, they have trolley's at the end of the pier that take you back up the pier and onto the train station. So, we rode the trolley to Michigan Avenue!

Chicago: Shedd's Aquarium

Saturday was a busy day for us in Chicago. We started out the day riding the train into downtown and going to Shedd's Aquarium. If you haven't ever been, and you're planning a trip to Chicago, I would go, but I would buy my tickets in advance! Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long in line, but it was a really long line!

When we finally did get inside, I took Gretchen over to the gift shop to "play" while DJ stood in line to purchase our tickets. I don't know what I'm going to do when she turns 3 and we actually have to buy her tickets for events!

The museum is broken into pieces (the rainforest, ocean, lakes, and Africa). We found this wierd snake type fish in the Rainforest. This just reaffirms that I do not ever want to go there!

I don't know why this picture is sideways, when it was taken the right way, but just turn your head to the side :). We purchased tickets to see the 4-D shortened version of Happy Feet.

Gretchen really liked the glasses (and the movie!)

After seeing the movie, we made our way downstairs to the penguin play area. I promise she had more fun that what it looks like!

We then, headed over to the water table play area.

And, Gretchen got to touch a real starfish! She really wanted to pick it up though!

We headed downstairs to the ocean area, and Gretchen got to watch waves simulated in this tank.

There were even aquariums above our head.

We also got to see sharks and then we made our way back upstairs to visit the fish in the lakes and Africa area.

My one complaint about the museum is that it was really crowded! Again, buy your tickets in advance, and go during the week!