Chicago 2011 Part 1

At the end of July we returned to Chicago for a family vacation. (Here are last year's posts about the trip - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 5, and Day 6.) This year we traveled with my mom, who is called Downtown Grandma (DTG). We also added Gwyn to the bunch as well! Traveling with her was about as easy as I predicted, but much more challenging than K2 predicted. I think she did great. She fell asleep about an hour later than normal at night, but did much better than her brothers who could not stop playing. She slept through the night.

Before I go through the activities, I want to list a few things about what we learned while on this trip.

1. Use caution when traveling with DTG. I am pretty sure she is no longer allowed to travel to the northeastern region of the US. She visited it twice in 2003. The first time there was a historic blackout, and the second time there was a devastating hurricane. This time, it was bed bugs. However, they were isolated to just her room. None of us got bit, luckily!

2. K2 is very comfortable to sleep on while riding a train.

3. The boys love chocolate chip muffins, courtesy of the hotel buffet breakfast.

4. Gwyn loves her daddy. (We already knew that, but it is very obvious when she won't stop crying, and then stops instantly when daddy picks her up. It was very helpful when on the train.)

5. No matter what train or bus we got on, there was always a kid crying. (Of course, it was always our own kids, but still worth mentioning.)

6. Gwyn sucks her thumb at night. All night. And loud enough to wake us up.

7. When tired, Colin will fall asleep anywhere, including the bus after a long day.


We left Thursday afternoon on an Amtrak train. This year we took an earlier train so we arrived at 8:00 pm, instead of 11:30 pm like last year. Of course the boys loved the ride. Gwyn didn't really care for it as much.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites, which was perfect since K2, Gwyn, and I all slept in the back bedroom (Gwyn had a crib), while the boys slept in the front room on the fold out. Also, we could talk and watch tv while they napped. The boys each got to pick out whatever toys they could fit in their duffel bags. Kevin picked the baby, and decided to keep her in the stroller. It was a tie between creepy and funny.

On Friday we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. Gwyn stayed at the hotel with DTG, which was appreciated. Here are some pictures.

At the train exhibit. (Kerrs, this one will make your KC trains exhibit look small!)

Kevin "climbing his way to success in business." Yes, that is the actual theme here. Hilarious.

We got to watch out toy get made at ToyMaker 300.

After naps we all walked to Pizzeria Due for dinner.



Saturday we all headed to Shedd Aquarium.

The girls.

Driving the submarine.

Gwyn and DTG at the show!

At the dolphin show. We do not recommend. They talked about training the dolphins for over 20 minutes, the dolphins did 6 jumps, and then it was over.

For dinner we all traveled to Elephant & Castle for dinner. It is the only thing K2 was determined to do while in Chicago. The boys liked it because they got dessert. K2 liked it because he got his bread pudding.

Tummy time!

Stay tuned for Part 2.....