Windy City

Sean, Fiona, and I drove up to Chicago this weekend to see my sister, and my mom, Leo, and Tracy who drove in from Minnesota.  We all crashed at Donna's and Margaret's for the weekend.  Leo, Tracy, and Mom got there Thursday night so they spent Friday doing touristy things, like going on an architectural cruise (it's amazing what those architects can construct).  We got there late Friday, but Fiona and I still got up pretty early on Saturday.  After we ate some breakfast Donna had a surprise for Fiona, a new shopping cart toy, which she tried out while I dropped Sean off at a friend's place (I visited for awhile too).  When I got back the whole family decided to visit a local playground.

Checking out all the groceries.  I always stack all my groceries on top of my babies too.

The playground had a play train and cars so we got to be Fiona's passengers.

They also had a digger that both Leo and Fiona enjoyed.

Leo played elevator for Fiona, so she could go on the big slides, and twirler of the merry-go-round.

After the playground we headed to Marcello's for a delicious late lunch.  Fiona fell asleep on the way there so she mostly slept through lunch and snacked later.  The plan was to go to the Shedd Aquarium after lunch, but by time we got there it was almost 3 PM with a line that ended by the sign stating "Your wait from this point is 60 minutes," and the aquarium closes at 6 PM, so we didn't feel like waiting in line for an hour to pay full price to spend a couple of hours inside.  So instead we opted to walk around the museum campus for about an hour, look at the boats, stopping frequently to cool down and drink water since it was very hot out.  We walked up to Soldier Field also, but the gates were closed so we couldn't really see anything.  Then we went back to Donna's, with a detour at the grocery store for ice cream on the way, for a tasty taco dinner.

On Sunday, Fiona and I got up early again, but so did Donna, Margaret, and Grandma Rose.  Donna and Margaret prepared a feast of bacon and french toast with fresh strawberries and blueberries for breakfast.  After breakfast we gave my mom her birthday gift (which was a big hit) and then decided to go back to the playground again for more swinging, sliding, and climbing fun.  Fiona fell asleep on the way back, and didn't wake up until after Leo, Tracy, and Mom had left.  Once she woke up and got some food, we decided to check out the carnival at the local festival.  Fiona went on a few rides by herself and the carousel (her favorite) twice with Auntie Donna.  We stopped at a different playground on the way back and then waited for Sean to get back so we could all go to dinner.  We checked out a Thai place recommended by Donna and Margaret that served family style (so we could try a bunch of different dishes!) and weren't disappointed (it was very good).

She let me braid her hair (and take a picture of it).  It lasted a couple of hours and then came out when her hair started to dry.

Mom opening her gift, closely supervised by Fiona.

Not sure why she's hanging on for dear life.  I think she would have gone on this one 20 times, if we'd let her.

They had cars that went up in the air.

 More playing in the sand.