Chicago!

I'm behind again....here we go - catch up time!

A couple months ago, we went on a quick trip to the windy city -- and had a blast!  We decided this would be a fun way to celebrate my new job, Lonnie's promotion, and do a bunch of fun kids stuff with Jude in the big city.  We left for Chicago after work on a Friday, and Jude did surprisingly well on the 5 hour trip.  He napped, played with his musical toys, and then was completely passed out for the last two hours.  We arrived at 10pm, and once we got the car parked and checked in at the hotel, Jude was a maniac!  We were in a huge room, with these great windows that Jude would stand at and look at all the cars.  He ran around the room, doing his forward rolls, playing on the bed, and just being silly.  It was so cute to see.  But, it really messed with his nightime routine.  We all didn't go to sleep until 12:30am (1:30am our time!).  The one negative thing about our room, was that we couldn't figure out how to get it warmer in there.  So, we used the excuse that it was too cold for Jude to sleep in his pack-n-play, and needed to sleep in the big bed with us :)

Relaxing the first night in Chicago.

Running around the halls of the hotel in our pj's.

Since we went to bed so late, I was a little excited thinking we would all sleep in the next morning...wrong.  Jude woke us up at 6:45a.m. - he doesn't even wake up that early when he goes to bed at 9.  That's okay, it was vacation...we adjust.  We got going and had a quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, then went to Millenium Park. 

One of our few family pics from this trip.

Hanging out with my man on this gorgeous day.

It didn't take long for Jude's lack of shut eye to catch up with him.  We walked a couple miles to the Children's Museum, and then hung out around Navy Pier until he woke up from his afternoon siesta.

And then the fun really began!  The Children's Museum of Chicago was so cool.  Way cooler than our Louisville Science Center, because the whole place was for little ones. 

We started out in the jungle gym room (or at least that's what I'll call it).

Then off to the fire station/fire safety room.  Where Jude and Lonnie learned to get low in case of a fire.

Driving the fire truck.

Then off to the big splash area.

Next up...excavation!

And then, probably his favorite part of this museum...a slide!  He went down it probably 20 times.

And then some area where Jude threw balls...I don't really remember the theme of this room.

And last up, Jude drove a bulldozer.  There were so many other cool rooms there, but this little guy was a wild man, and it made picture taking very difficult.

Hanging out with Daddy after the museum.



We then strolled along Michigan Avenue and ate a delicious late lunch.  But, we could tell this guy was wiped out.  We thought we'd head back to the hotel, let Jude take a nap, and then go get some dinner.  I'm slowly learning, that you can't plan everything with a toddler.  Jude was wired when we got back and wanted to play in the hotel room some.  I took a quick shower while Daddy and Jude were doing who knows what, but this is what I walked out to.  Oh Jude, the things your daddy does to you.

He finally crashed at 5:30pm, and I thought he'd wake up after an hour or two of napping, but that did not happen.  We ordered some Chicago pizza and ate in.  We tried to wake up Jude to eat some, but he wasn't having it.  He passed out for the night and didn't get up until 7:30am.

The next morning, I was so excited because we were heading to the Lincoln Park Zoo!!!  I love Zoos, probably just as much as Jude.  I think it is so fascinating to have all these creatures in one little place. 

We did need to eat some grub first, and headed to a great breakfast place right around the corner.  Here's Jude doing his new thing.  He loves to eat just the condiments.  He's dipping something (bread?) into the ketchup, and just licking off the ketchup, not eating whatever the ketchup is on.  He does this a lot, especially with his fries and chicken, and K Pa tells me he really likes Chick-fil-A's BBQ sauce the best.

And here we are -- the Zoo!  

First stop, the carousel.

Then to the cool cats exhibit.  I think lions are Jude's favorite cats -- when asked what they say, he says, "roooooaaaar."



Checking out the cats in the comfort of Daddy's arms.  They were so close!

I didn't get a picture -- but, the monkey/gorilla/chimpanzee exhibit was so cool.  A chimpanzee actually walked up to Jude and smacked the glass right where he was standing.  That was pretty cool. 

On our way to see the farm animals.  Photo op.

Don't mind the snotty nose :)

I had to get a picture of this.  I was very concerned that this camel was about to just walk out of the exhibit - look at him! Umm, anyone else think this looks like a potential problem?

Taking a break.

What are you looking at?

Ah, I see - du's.

They also had the neatest bears exhibit -- I guess because of their football team, but I've never seen so many species of them.  Here's a black bear, but they also a couple bears that grow to only be 150 pounds.

After spending a few hours at the Zoo, it was time for our little family to head home.  Jude did great on the way home too, but we did have a poo poo fiasco about 60 miles from home.  FIASCO!  Jude poo'd while driving (a massive amount) and when we stopped to change him, it was pouring out the bottom of his pants leg and onto his shoes.  It was so disgusting.  Poor kid kept saying "uh oh."  That's right honey - major uh oh.  Other than that, our trip was fabulous.  We had such an enjoyable time spending time with each other and experiencing new things together.  We'll be back, I'm sure!