Touring Chicago and Cubs Game

Wednesday, the 30th, we all got packed up to head back to the train station to finish out the reunion in Chicago.  We made sure to go down Snake Alley (right near the train station in Burlington, IA) which was once named "the crookedest street in the world."  Now San Francisco's Lombard Street beats it by several turns.  My mom got out to take this.  And there are our three lovely 15-passenger vans ;)

We made it over to return our vans, only to find out the train was delayed 3 hours!!  So we hung out at a ghetto little mall and had some lunch.  Target was across the street, so we did a little shopping as well ;)  Then we all congregated back near the train stop (you can see all of our luggage in the background).  

The sweetest little lady let us all sit in her yard.  She even brought a whole bunch of cold water out for us.  So nice!

Janie girl just making her rounds with Daddy.

We were feeling pretty pooped when we made it into Chicago.  We got checked into the InterContinental Hotel and were thinking we may just call it a night.

The kiddos lounging on our bed.

Then we got a call from my famjam saying they had walked across the street to grab some dinner at Nordstrom Cafe and my cousin Andrew (from my dad's side of the family) was meeting them there. Andrew is in Chicago with his cute little family this summer interning for United.  We hurried to get over there.  After we ate, my mom offered to stay behind with the kids while Andrew took us back to his place and showed us some of Chicago :)

I took some shots as we walked to his place.

They shoot off fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night (?) down at the Navy Pier and we could see them from Andrew's balcony.

Meg tagged along with us as well (she had just flown in a few hours earlier).

Andrew's wife and little girl were still off at his family's beach week, but he had to ditch out early :/  Lucky him, we came to town ;)

Trent took a random shot of Meg ;)

It was so fun to see Drew, even if it was brief.

The next morning, the 31st, we got up and got all ready to head out on a double decker tour bus.  We were able to rent one for just our family.

The whole family on top :)

The Art Institute of Chicago.  My mom couldn't wait to check it out :)

Lollapalooza was in town.

Chicago skyline along Lake Michigan.

Christensen's.

The whole beautiful family ;)

The tour bus dropped us off at Wrigley Field for the Chicago Cubs game.

We had some time before the game so we all grabbed a famous hot dog for lunch.

We also got Aiden his very own Cubs cap and ball ;)

Oh he's cute!!

The Cubs were playing the Colorado Rockies.

Aiden got sick of wearing his cap so Trent tried it out ;)

Janie girl wasn't too interested in the game ;)

We headed out with the kids around the sixth inning.  There was a fire station right across the street and they let Aiden check out their fire truck!

Cutest dad!

Oh I love him!  So cute!

That evening we all got some fun money to do whatever we wanted. My family all headed to see the Blue Man Group.  We would have loved to have gone with them, but it really wasn't feasible with the kids and we certainly weren't going to ask someone to watch them.  I wasn't too crushed though because I'd seen the Blue Man Group before (gotta love HS Orchestra trips - the only good thing about orchestra..haha).

We had a fun night out though, just our little family ;)  We got ready and just started walking.  We knew we wanted to eat first, so we had our eyes open for restaurants.  We wanted to eat somewhere we hadn't tried before, so when I spotted Giordano's and there was a crowd waiting, we knew it must be good.  They are famous for their Chicago stuffed pizza.  It was really nice out so the wait didn't seem too bad.  And we actually could place our order while we were waiting so that it would already be going when we were seated.

Aiden loved the fountain outside.  He was running around like crazy.

We realized while we were eating that it was our first time eating out at a sit-down restaurant with both kids.  I should've documented  it ;) Luckily Janie slept through the whole thing.

We finished eating and then just continued walking.  We knew we'd stumble upon something.

We made it to Millennium Park and had just missed the free concert for the night.  Darn, our wait at Giordano's was just a little too long!

The pavilion has 4,000 fixed seats and then the Great Lawn can seat another 7,000!

I don't think Aiden realized it was over ;)

We continued walking and just happened upon "the Bean"!  I was so excited!

I'm in this shot with the kids - I feel like I kind of blend in..haha.

Had to try the touristy shot ;)

Walking underneath.

We learned that "the Bean" is formally known as the Cloud Gate sculpture.

Next up was the Crown Fountain.

They are glass brick towers with water cascading down.

There were digital videos going with faces and every few minutes the face would pucker its mouth and water would come spouting out (as seen below).

Aiden loved running around in the water.  It was almost like a splash pad.

Then we made our way back toward the hotel, but enjoyed taking the whole city in.

This used to be the public library.

We made it back...

...and in the meantime Jill was dragged up to the stage by the Blue Men!!  Out of the whole audience..haha.  I couldn't believe it!!  And apparently she had intentionally sat in the middle of the row at the beginning because she didn't want to get chosen!  So, so funny!  I was bummed to have missed it.  Tiersha snuck this picture..haha.