Chicago

October 18-22 - Our first family (of three) vacation!!!

Sunday, October 18:

We drove to Chicago to get away for a couple days.  We love this city and have been twice before together -- once when we got engaged in 2011, and a again for a friend's wedding in 2013.

See Jedi in the baby mirror?

We stopped a couple times on the way there.  Once just north of Cincinnati at a Sam's club for pizza.....

......and to burn off some energy.

And once at a Meijer in West Lafayette to ride the horsey.....

.....and then a Starbucks to see Barrett (our good friend & favorite musician) in W.L. as well.

After about 6 hours in the car, we arrived at our home for the week.  We were renting out the 2nd floor of this house.  We found it on VRBO.com and it was a great home base for our vacation!

Living Room

Dining Room

Dining/Kitchen

Bathroom

Our Bedroom

Jedi's Bedroom

We set up the pack-n-play half-way into the closet so that there was still room for our portable rocking chair.

A view out the front window

Also out the front window, you can see the elevated tracks near the center of the picture -- a close walk away to the train to be in downtown Chicago in minutes.

Monday, October 19:

Our first morning there, we all had a bit of trouble getting going.  Jedi sleepily (and cutely) ate his bananners. 

Our first stop was Navy Pier.

It was mostly shut down for the season, but it was still a great place to walk around and get great views of the city.

We stopped at a photo booth as well (it's become a tradition for us with Jedi)

Then we headed over to The Bean

Priztker Pavilion was next, where we had a snack and fed some birds.

Then on to Buckingham Fountain (too bad it was already off for the season).

By this time, poor Jedi had had enough site-seeing and fell asleep.  We walked him around the stroller for a bit and then decided we ought to head back to the house for a real nap.

He really enjoyed riding the trains.

That night for dinner, we had Giordano's.

Of course, by the time it had cooked (takes about 45 minutes), Jedi was done sitting at the restaurant, so we took it home and ate it instead while we watched baseball.

Tuesday, October 20:

The first stop this day was the Lincoln Park Farm-in-the-Zoo.  It's an annex of the Lincoln Park Zoo. 
 
We fed the cows....

.....pointed at some birds.....

....and saw some chicks (among other animals).

Then we headed over to the actual Zoo.

We stood like flamingos.....

.....were preyed upon by a bobcat.....

......roared at some lazy lions....

.....saw some zebra....

.....clapped spontaneously....

........and were completely and utterly......

.....mesmerized by the rhino.

Jedi also got to sit on a (fake) hippo.

We had a great, full day at the zoo before riding the bus back to our house for a nap.

That evening, we rode the train to see some friends.

We visited Shaun, Andreea and their new little guy, Baby E.  Isn't he a doll?

Wednesday, October 21:

We rode the train for one last visit to downtown.

We saw the Chicago sign and visited Merchandise Mart.

We thought seriously about buying tickets for the Cubs playoff game.  But when we learned we'd have to buy a ticket for Jedi too (playoff rules require tickets for everyone, even though regular season allows 2 and under free), we decided not to fork out the cash for a seat that wouldn't be used.  It was a good thing too, since the Cubs lost that night.

Then it was back to the house for an afternoon nap, but not before Daddy and Jedi had some fun wrestling.

After the nap, we decided to explore the area near the house where we stayed.  There is a really cool walking track just a couple blocks away.  It's called The 606.  It's an old train line that was converted into trails and green space.  Because it was a train line, it is elevated above the streets and runs uninterrupted through several neighborhoods.

We walked around a bit and explored some, then we decided to head back and get packed up so we could get an early start the next day.

Thursday, October 22:

Our vacation had come to an end.  We loaded up our car and started our journey home.

We passed U.S. Cellular Field (home of the White Sox) on the expressway on the way out of town.

We made a stop somewhere in Indiana at a Wal-mart to burn off some energy.

And Jedi was none too happy to be home.  He was DONE being in the car seat (and little did we know at the time but, the next day he would be sick with a stomach virus).