Train Trip to Chicago

A couple of weekends ago, Josh, Jake and I took the train up to Chicago with our friends, Jeff and Erica, and their kids, Ryan and Julia. [Quick side note: We were going to take Andrew with us but the week before he developed a pretty bad case of croup so he spent the weekend with Momo and Papa (needless to say, that was probably the best decision for everyone involved--I can't even imagine how Mr. Squirm Worm Andrew would have been on the 10 hour roundtrip--yikes!). Thankfully, Andrew was feeling much better as the weekend approached so we didn't have to leave Momo and Papa with a sick and fussy little boy.]

We had a really fun, relaxing trip--the kids were great the train ride up and back. They colored, watched movies, played Simon Says, played with cars, and ate lots of snacks. While we were in Chicago we did a little shopping (Lego Store, American Girl), took a water taxi from Navy Pier to Shedd Aquarium, ate hot dogs in front of the Natural History Museum, let the kids run up and down the grassy hills by the museums and did lots and lots and lots of walking--thanks goodness for strollers, right Erica? I think Jake's favorite part of the trip, besides riding on the train, was being able to ride in a taxi without having to sit in a carseat--how exciting!!

Chicago, here we come! Julia and Jake on the train--of course, we picked the window that had some huge, nasty splatter of who knows what on it!

Julia, Ryan and Jake are all smiles at American Girl.

Josh and Jake check out the huge robot made entirely from Legos--pretty cool.

Jake watching the taxis go by.

The kids waiting for the water taxi--notice how Jake and Julia are holding hands, what a cute little couple!!

Ryan and Jake loved all the escalators--Josh escorted them on several trips up and down while we were shopping.

Erica, Julia and Jeff taking in the sights from the water taxi.