Summer Trip

A few weeks ago, Mark was speaking at an Internet Retail conference in Chicago. We were able to tag along with him.  The kids and I would hang out during the day while Mark was at the conference and then when he was finished, we would all go do something fun in the evening. I LOVE Chicago, but we had never taken the kids.

The first day, the kids and I went to Buckingham Fountain and they just ran around. 

 Then, we found a cool park by the harbor.  The kids were able to play and then we walked around looking at all the boats.

We had a picnic lunch and then went to the "beach". 

After Mark got back, we went to American Girl.  Kate has gotten some gift cards from Gran and Nanny, and once we knew we were going to Chicago, she decided to save them for that trip.  That American Girl store is amazing!! She was in heaven. 

She had to make some tough decisions about what to buy.  She went in there thinking she was going to get another doll.  When she realized that was all she was going to be able to get, she decided to get outfits and accessories for the doll she has now.

She had all kinds of stuff picked out, and then happened upon the salon caddy she has had her eye on for months (and it was sold out the last time she went to spend some gift cards at our American Girl store). Once she saw that, she really had to make some tough decisions because if she wanted it, she had to put a couple things back.  It was so fun watching her make all of her choices and rationalize them.

She ended up with a cheerleading outfit, a soccer outfit, a tote bag that you can strap your doll into, a pair of shoes, and the salon caddy.  All of that added up to the exact amount of her gift cards.  She had brought some extra money from home and in the end, I told her to just buy all that stuff and I would split the tax with her.  Tax was about $20 and she proudly pulled out ten one-dollar bills from her wallet to pair with my $10.  It was precious.  

It worked out perfectly because there was a Lego store right by the second level of the American Girl store. Jack was one happy camper!

He could literally do this ALL day long. 

After all of that, we went to Giordano's, where we waited over an hour for a table.  Well worth the wait.  As good as I remembered.

The kids weren't so happy about waiting, and also didn't feel that the pizza was worth the wait. Ha! Actually, Jack fell asleep at the table after only a few bites.

 Onto the next day. It was yucky and rainy and we had planned a zoo day. After navigating our way around downtown in the rain trying to figure out what to do, I finally figured we would just go to the zoo and the rain would probably subside.

The kids were dressed in shorts and it was barely 60 degrees outside.  I was not quite prepared for these colder temps.  Luckily, at the last minute while packing, I threw in a pair of jeans and a hoodie for each kid. So, we all changed in the van in the zoo parking lot.  It was a tad crazy.

Be prepared... you will see these hoodies in almost every picture for the rest of our trip.  Haha! All I had was a jean jacket and I literally wore it every day.  It was COLD!

Yeah, I was wrong about the rain.  It settled in for the WHOLE day.  We toured the zoo with an umbrella.  It really was so fun, though.

This kid joined Kate and Jack in the tornado chamber.

There was a farm inside the zoo.  There were lots of farm animals and then this fun indoor play area, which helped with the rain factor.

That night, it was STILL raining.  We took a cab to the Rainforest Cafe.  The kids thought the cab was so cool.

I just knew they would love the Rainforest Cafe.  I thought Jack would, especially.  Nope.  I was SO wrong. Kate loved it.  Jack was terrified the.whole.time.

Every time one of the (fake) animals would move, he would freak out.  When the (fake) thunderstorm would happen, he would bite his nails.  He said, "I so scared" approximately 54 times over the course of our dinner.

Oh well, there's always next time!

So, the next day, Mark was only going to be gone for a short amount of time, so we just had a "hotel day". We stayed in the room and watched some TV, and then went swimming.

Sidenote about the hotel: This was the lounge on our floor.  So, when the elevator doors opened when we first checked in and were headed to our room, Jack thought THIS was our room.  He said, WOW! It's big. Where's our bed?" Ha!

This is why the Roskowske's don't frequent The Hilton very often. :) 

 When Mark got back, we went to Millennium Park to see The Bean and took a ridiculous amount of pictures.

We walked to dinner and then headed to The Navy Pier. They are doing some construction there, so it really wasn't that busy.  

Kate rode the giant swings (I was terrified for her!) and Jack had a little ride all to himself. 

There were fireworks that night, so we stayed for those.  

This is Kate showing me how she was going to get us a cab back to the hotel. Haha!

The next day was our last day in Chicago.  We spent the afternoon at Shedd Aquarium.

After a full afternoon of the aquarium, we headed to Saugatuck, Michigan for a few days.  Let me tell you, Michigan is GORGEOUS!! I will save those pictures for another post soon.  Stay tuned...