A Day Trip to Chicago!

On Saturday we all got up bright and early to go into Chicago. It was such a good time! We saw some things that I hadn't seen before--at least not up close. We looked like tourists, thru & thru. Brendan & Olivia were in backpacks--PRAISE THE LORD for the backpack! Evan was in his stroller, and everyone else was toting all the necessary baggage pertaining thereto.


We started by taking the train into downtown. Olivia liked it. It was my first time ever on a train.




















Here's the old Union Station building.






Millennium Park...










Happy little family






A great place for a nap! Olivia did so well! Her dumb Mama poured all 3 bottles at Grammy's house at 8:30 a.m. DUH! I don't know why I thought they'd still be good by 4 or 5 p.m. Thankfully, I brought lots of jarred food and crackers.







At Millennium Park there were these great big structures with faces on them, and water continuously spilled over the sides. You can see all the people--kids, mostly--playing in it. (It wasn't even a nice day!)










Then, the face on the tower changed, and a big stream of water came pouring out of the "mouth." Strange...









I don't know the name of this thing, but it was pretty cool. Just a huge reflective dome.








Man on stilts...









The Library of the City of Chicago
















Shot of the street







Trolley car. Boy o boy, this is a story! After we got off the train, we took a trolley to a couple places. In Chicago, there are lots of different trolley lines, and they have different routes, so you have to make sure you're on the right one. WELL, we wanted to catch the 4:30 express train back to Union Station, so we hopped in this trolley. While we waited, there was some disagreement about whether this was the right one or not. (side note: in the building near the trolley station, there was a big display of "The Simpsons" inflatables, sitting at one of the windows. We thought that was comical.) Anyhow, we ended up on the trolley and took off. By this time, all 3 babies were quite hungry and tired, as were the rest of us. We rode & rode...& rode, and about 30 minutes later, the trolley stopped at one of its designated stops. We look out the side, and---you're kidding! We're across the street from THE SIMPSONS dolls. O brother. Are we on the right trolley? Kelly & I looked at each other and said, "Couldn't we have just walked across the street!??" O well. Press on. The trolley took off, and we cruised around the city. Meanwhile, the babies are really getting frustrated, Drew & Caela are sound asleep in the back of the trolley, and everyone is just so tired. Another 30-40 minutes later, and the trolley stops. We look.... and we're RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED. Wow. I wasn't even frustrated. I was just so, so sad. We looked at the map and discovered it was only 7 or 8 blocks to Union Station. So we just walked. Missed the 4:30 express and had to take the 6:30 train, which was longer. By the time we got home and ate, everyone was more than ready for bed! What an exciting, exhausting day!