Chicago Temple

We love to see the temple...wherever we can

Love Livvies' blonde stripe growing longer and longer

Bicycle Built for 10

Navy Pier

(how perfect to have a sailor in the foreground?)

These 3 were super giddy and ready to bike

And so we did!
We rode off the Pier before we picked up Krista and Anders.
Apparently the bike company doesn't approve of infants in slings on these rides...but we had to try anyway, right?

These girls kind of stole the show and I bet at least 10 different tourists photographed them as they saw us approaching

Taking a little break.
As we rode along the bike path we had the towering city on one side of us and the beautiful blue lake on the other. We lucked out with a perfectly sunny day too.

Livvies and the Lake

All 10 of us

The kids loved this thing! Bentley was so sad we only had 4 sets of pedals because he was dying to help move us along.
The best part of the ride was watching Joseph and Johnny in the front seats. Johnny's steering wheel actually directed the bike while Joseph's was just there for fun. They kept directing us toward a big group of people and then Joseph would frantically spin his steering wheel like he was trying to turn but couldn't--and then Johnny would steer us out of the way at the last minute. Maybe you had to be there (Krista and I were dying with laughter) but it was pretty funny. The onlookers terrified faces were just too fun.

All that riding wore this sweetie right out. Luckily we had her new pink penguin from Shedd to prop her head up :)

Later that day we had our family pictures taken at Lighthouse Beach...more on those later...

5 PJ cousins
They gathered like this every night to watch a little show before bed--we needed a little downtime after busy, busy days.

Night Out

After dinner on Friday night and putting Olivia to bed, Joseph and I went back to the city for a quick night out. We hung out with Bob and Brooke and soaked up the architecture and energy of the city as we walked over to and along Michigan Avenue. I will always have a special love for that mile of the city--so many great stores! I had my heart set on H&M (shocker, right?) because they have a big childrens section at that store. And they were open until 9:30 so that's where we ended up (and found good stuff too :)

Along the riverwalk with the Wrigley Building in the background

Nothing wrong with a little (or big) treat at 10:00 pm

Fun Lego sculptures along Michigan Ave.

John and Krista--thanks again for watching our kiddos so we could enjoy a night on the town!

Shedd Aquarium

On the south side of the Shedd--too sunny for these 3 but such a pretty view :)

Another adventure--this time downtown to Shedd Aquarium. Joseph and I went there 10 years ago and thought it was really cool, but it was so much more fun returning with our kids. They explored every little thing and looked at each sea creature with total fascination and awe. I think their favorite things were the penguins (Livs), sea stars (Cares) and sharks in the wild reef (Bentley). I think my favorite part was wandering around the beluga whale pools with the huge glass windows and views of Lake Michigan all around. It's such a smart idea to have an aquarium built right on the water's edge.

Bentley and Cares petting sea stars. Cares stayed at this exhibit for a good 15 minutes just totally absorbed by the animal's texture.

Bentley and Kaiser enjoying the Polar Play Zone submarine

Watching the penguins

and then playing penguin dress-ups

the beautiful and mesmerizing jelly-fish

watching the bright white beluga's with Brooke, Bob's lovely girlfriend

Livs and Bob waiting for the dolphin show to begin
(See that binkie handle sticking up under Livs' nose? It's her new funny habit--to tuck it right up so it stays put like that. Cracks me up every time...)

Fortunately, it was another free day for us thanks to Krista's family pass (well--Joseph got in for about $8 on Bob's corporate pass but that is quite a steal for the Shedd.)

Unfortunately, it happened to be Family Corporate Day for some local companies and it was very busy. We lost each kid at least once (and Kai maybe 2 or 3 times :) and we even had 5 adults in our group! It was a little hectic but still a great outing.

**Side note: Bentley had a school field trip to the local grocery store yesterday since his class is learning about the food pyramid and healthy diets. For his homework last night he had to answer questions about the field trip: what he liked the most, what was something new he learned and so on. The last question asked "Where would you like to go on our next class field trip?" He answered "Brookfield Zoo or Shedd Aquarium." But of course :)

Brookfield Zoo

Our first adventure while teamed up with John and Krista was the Brookfield Zoo (not to be confused with the Lincoln Park Zoo--Brookfield far outdoes it). It's such a pretty place with tons of open spaces and beautiful landscaping for the visitors and animals to enjoy. My kids really enjoyed themselves there. Tiny Livvies decided she was obsessed with animals and loved pointing to the giraffes, tapirs, bears, buffalo, tigers and especially the monkeys. The monkey habitat is amazing there (and huge) and Livs was in heaven.

Did I mention we visited on a free day? I love how big cities do cool things like that and wonder when anything around here is ever free...

Also, thank goodness Krista has a great camera with sweet lenses and the eye for capturing so many lovely shots. Any good pictures from the rest of our trip are courtesy of her Nikon...

We sat near this tree while eating lunch and I just had to have a picture with it.

Livs thoroughly enjoying the monkeys

Baby Anders all snuggled up (he was such a quiet and cuddly little adventurer)

The zoo had some fun Halloween decor around. The tombstones were quite silly and the puns on them reminded me so much of my mom and Bob--both would get a great kick out of them :)

First Night

We arrived in Chicago in the late afternoon, gathered our bags and rental car, and we were off. The trickiest part of the day was entertaining Olivia while we drove into the city--traffic and tired toddlers do not mix well, especially if they have just sweetly endured a 3 hour flight...there is only so much sweetness an 18 month old can muster up...

Once we were downtown we drove east toward the lake and through the bustling city streets where we happened upon the very sculpture Bentley was hoping to see--The Flamingo (he'd just learned about Alexander Calder in school and that work in particular). Thanks iPhone GPS--we owe you one for that. We ended up at Bob's parking garage (where we parked for free every time we came into the city--didn't realize how awesome that would be until we saw the $20 parking rates...), met up with Bob just as he was walking home from work, hit the playground to decompress for a bit, and then went for a short walk to find Millennium Park.

We loved this little park nestled in between all the high rises. I guess that's how people do it if they live downtown with small children. Makes me curious about how I'd handle that kind of lifestyle--part of me yearns for it and part of me thinks it could be somewhat of a nightmare...

Our Bean at the Bean

Bean reflection

And just across the street from the park we found a favorite of ours. Gotta have some deep dish when in Chicago

Yummy.

Loving the City

We made it to Chicago and are enjoying our visit so much. Livs has been such an angel baby when her nap everyday has been in her stroller or car seat while we are out and about making the most of our time here.

Johnny and Krista are amazing hosts and Sisi and Kai are making this trip like heaven for my kids--Bentley soooo wants his own little brother and Kaiser is filling that role perfectly. Sisi and Cares sleep snuggled up in the same bed each night. They're such cute friends.

More (much more) to come later but here we are--all 5 of us!--on our first night in the city: