My Kind of Town

The annual excursion to Chicago commenced on July 21.  We left at 6:15 AM and arrived about 10:30 PM.  We made a few stops along the way for food and gas and took an extended break at the St. Louis Zoo to stretch our legs.  The kids did relatively well with the exception of Maisey's 30 minute tantrum that ended with her throwing up from crying so hard.  You see, all she wanted was for me (the driver of the car) to put a diaper on her baby doll.  She was not happy with Kyle offering to do it, even though he was conveniently seated in the back seat. Once I managed to diaper a baby doll while driving down the interstate at 75 mph, she was happy.

Our first night in town, we took the crew to see the Kane County Cougars baseball game.  They are a minor league team that plays in the suburbs.  I don't think the twins are ready for the "big league" yet.  At their age we did take Malloy to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.  One child with 4 adults was do-able.  Three kids with 4 adults just sounds more challenging.

For this game, we actually had 6 adult chaperones (my parents, Uncle Kerry, our friend Lenny, Kyle and I) and 3 kids.  The 2:1 adult child ratio is what made the game somewhat enjoyable for all - we only had to be responsible for a kid half the time!



Gardner and Grandma


Sweet Maisey


Gary have fun with Uncle Kerry


Loving the popcorn


After the game, the kids got to run the bases.

Maisey clearly did not obey the "Please Keep Off Grass" signs.  She took a short cut through the infield.

Gardner and Daddy stepping on Home Plate.

Gardner got to participate in one of his favorite activities - yard work.  Papa gave rides on the lawn mower and let Gardner operate the leaf blower.

Our annual American Girl trip started out with lunch at our favorite spot - Chickfila.  The CFA is located near the American Girl store and even has the A.G. doll high chairs to use while you are dining.  Malloy brought her newest doll, Saige, along for the trip.

Maisey brought a naked Bitty Twin who she sometimes calls "Catchy".  We did buy some PJs for the Bitty Twins so they they would no longer have to be naked.

The real life twins are checking out another set of Bitty Twins at the A.G. store.

I just had to get a picture of Malloy in the giant hot air balloon.  We have one that is almost as big at our house due to a little shopping mix up on her trip to the AG store in Dallas with Dearie.


The Lego store is right next door, so we stopped in there to look around.  Everything in the window is made of Legos.  Impressive!

Malloy is a fan of the new Lego Friends kits which are designed for girls.


After shopping, we played in a park located behind Water Tower Place and there was a neat fire station right next door.  The fireman made Gardner's day by letting him "drive" the truck and turn the lights on and off.


Then we headed over to Navy Pier to ride the carousel and some rides.



Malloy and Papa tested out the flying swings.

Maisey and Gardner were just barely tall enough for this ride.

The lack of a nap resulted in a major meltdown for Maisey as we left Navy Pier and headed back to our car.  She did not want to ride in the stroller, hold hands with an adult as she walked, or be carried.  This was okay for a while, but when we got to the major road she had to choose one of those options.  She did not and therefore, was forcibly strapped into the stroller.  She kicked and screamed all the way to the car like a maniac and then proceeded to roll around on the floor of the parking garage when we arrived at our car.  Once in the car (again, forcibly strapped into her seat) she screamed and kicked the back of the driver's seat until the passed out from exhaustion.  Ahhh, fun times.

On Thursday, we left the twins with Grandma and Papa and took Malloy to the Museum of Science and Industry.  We could have stayed there all day, but we had to cut our visit short in order to make it to the White Sox game.

Malloy can add another team to her list of MLB stadium visits.  US Cellular Field makes #7.  The others are Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Texas Rangers (I don't know the names of the stadiums, so I'll just list the teams instead).


Daddy-Daughter fun



After the game, we headed to The Loop and Kyle did a little shopping.

Then we walked to Frontera Grill for dinner and one of my sorority sisters from Georgia was standing outside waiting for a table too.  What are the odds?  She now lives in Chicago and has a 6 year old son, Jacob.  Malloy was more excited to meet him than she looks in this photo.

I was hoping to reenact the "watering the flowers in pigtails" photo that I vividly remembered from Malloy's visit to my parents house at age 2.  Maisey wanted no part of the flower watering.  But here she is in the same dress...

And here's Malloy in the dress 4 years ago.

Grandma wanted to make sure Gardner and Maisey had an opportunity to try some midwestern corn on the cob.  Gardner liked it, Maisey was indifferent.

Uncle Matt was busy all week with play rehearsals, but we were glad to catch up with him on Friday night.

Aunt Jill, pre-school teacher extraordinaire, entertained the kids with toys and books from her classroom.


It was a good trip and a nice break from the heat.  The ride home went more smoothly than the ride up to Chicago.  We left around 11:30 AM and made one stop in Missouri at...you guessed it, Chickfila.  We only stopped for gas one other time and we made it home around 2 AM.