Catching up

There is so much to share!  First on the list is our family vacation. An almost perfect trip to Chicago for a whole week.  Prior to this trip, the longest vacation Steve and I had taken while married was six years ago...our honeymoon!

I felt ill prepared to pack for a whole week and the adventures that might insue.  Plus, Chicago is full of stylish people ( something I was excited and insecure about) "I want to look good but What if it rained? What if it's cold, what if It's hot." That "what if" phrase makes packing light impossible, which was another dellima, we only have one suitecase to share between two adults and a toddler.
The solution to all of this was layers, and multi functional pieces.  Start with tanks then cardigans, then jeans (skinny jeans look cute rolled up or can fit easily in a pair of boots)

Wardrobe aside, Chicago is a ton of fun especially if you get there by train. Traveling with a toddler is one of the most stressful things; between diapers, meals, naps, boredom, and just the need to move traveling with a toddler makes traveling a nightmare with something on It's face, but not so when riding the train. Long wait at the station? Nope. Comfortable and private seats? Oh yeah. Bathrooms on the train? Yep and sleeping areas for an extra price. What about food? They have a dining car or a snack and drink car. Okay, but what about the toddler's energy needs? We took walks up and down the train. There is a viewing car that is mostly windows (something N loved) and we walked there often. When walking was a bore we made up games in our seat. Running in place, jumping (yes there is enough leg room for jumping!), or just find the house, tree, or cow (we saw only a few cows...weird. oh, and when we saw a horse N would go, "moo", and it was hard to convince him otherwise). Yes, we did watch a movie...that we brought, but N and Steve both took naps on the train, and there was no arguing about time, getting lost or whether another bathroom brake is in order. Just picture it and make a sigh of relief.

Here are some more pictures from our trip (note: the Wednesday before we came back on Friday we broke our camera and my cell phone so I don't have as many pictures as I really wanted to share.)

N started posing by the latter part of the trip...still cute though.

Took N to one of the many beaches in Chicago, didn't think we would like the water...we were wrong.

N looking out our hotel window.

N face planted at the beach! He left the sand on till I took it off as we were leaving!

Yup, LOVED the beach and everything about it.

Stopped at a trader joes to pick up snacks and breakfast.  They had some little carts and N suddenly became a manic shopper.

Watched a game at Cellular Field.

Steve was soo stoked about going to a game, and bonus it was discount day so we were super close to the field!

Millennium Park.

N and I at the aquarium's Dolphin show

The man of my dreams in his studdly pose. :)

We walked or took public trans everywhere, this can be tiring on a toddler.

my dad called this my "mommy look."

We took a bike tour which was totally fun!

Every once in a while we would stop at the many play grounds around town to let N blow off some steam.  He loved it and now starts to shout, "slide" when we go by a playground.