Our trip to Chicago

So Blake got a surprise week off.  He started intern year early and I just thought he would go straight into residency, but instead he got a break in between.  We took advantage of the break and went up to Chicago to visit my brother and his family.  

I love this picture where James is saying "chzzz" and Hannah and Isaac are intent on the book.

Hannah and Isaac played together very well and were instant buddies.  Last time they got together a year ago they clashed and fought over everything.  

We took the kids to a Children's museum that is associated with the Magic House, where we have a membership, so we got in free.  It was a really fun one with lots of train things, a really awesome music room, and do-it-yourself face painting.  Blake got a tiny football. 

I didn't want to take my camera to the beach, but we also went to the beach one morning, which was beautiful and tons of fun.  

We took the kids on the "El" downtown.  They loved the train ride.  James said "choo choo" like nonstop.  We went to Millennium Park first. 

Ok, is this not the cutest boy ever?

How can you resist him? 

The bean fascinated, as always.

This day was so exhausting.  The kids did really well to walk a little bit, but we carried them on our shoulders a lot.  I think we probably did 4+ miles this day.  

The kids loved splashing in this fountain.

I love how James is mimicking Blake, who's taking the picture.

We walked and walked and walked and finally reached Navy Pier to meet up with my sister Anne and sister-in-law Megan.   We rode the Ferris Wheel and the carousel and walked down the pier.  

I love this picture of Blake and how he looks like such a proud daddy.

Honestly, James doesn't love rides.  He was trying really hard to get out of the Ferris Wheel, making me really nervous, and wanted to get off the carousel before it even began.  Actually, once it got going, though, he did enjoy it for a little bit and yelled "neigh, neigh!", even though he was riding a frog. 

We were squished back onto the train with about a million Cubs fans on their way to a game, which made for a pretty miserable 15 minutes.  But we made it back to home base fine and James took a super long nap.    We took it easy the rest of the day.  The next day we drove up to the Wisconsin Dells!