Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Hello Chicago!

After managing to get our luggage (and ourselves) into and out of the taxi, we arrived at our temporary home for the week. It was a third floor brownstone apartment off of Rush street. Rush street is a trendy little street with nice shops and restaurants. We were also within easy walking distance to the "Magnificent Mile", Chicago's famous shopping destination located on Michigan Avenue!


The one disadvantage that we had not really thought about, but noticed very quickly, was that there was no elevator...only a winding stairway leading to our third floor apartment. Normally not such a big deal, but remember the 13 pieces of stuff?!?!

That part was NOT fun!

After recovering from the cardio workout that we had not counted on, we headed out to see some sights. This was the sidewalk in front of our apartment. It was such a neat street, with lots of character.

First stop, a Chicago style pizzeria. Although I am not such a big fan of Chicago style pizza, Corey and the kids really wanted to try the authentic, real deal, so here we are!

Corey and I had decided that we would give the big kids some spending money early in the week, so that they could make their own choices about what souvenirs, extra snacks, etc., to purchase, and when. We sent them to the bathroom for a minute, and when they returned, we had hidden some money for each of them underneath their plates.

They were surprised with what they discovered when we told them to take a peek!

After getting fueled up, we headed over to visit the Sky Deck at the Sears Tower (although it no longer goes by that name). We were all looking forward to walking out into one of the new "glass boxes" that have only been open for a short time.

It was probably about a one hour wait, but along the way, there were interesting facts printed on the walls about the construction of the tower, interactive digital guessing games mounted on the walls (teaching more facts), as well as a short film to watch. The time passed pretty quickly, and when we finally got into the elevator to ride to the top, we felt like we had a reasonable grasp on the history of the building.

The view from the top was absolutely AMAZING! A must-see when in Chicago!


To be honest, I didn't think that the "glass box" experience would be scary at all, but when we got up there, the kids had to literally pull me out onto it...and I didn't stay long!

Here are Caylie and Christian sitting down in the corner of the box. They were not afraid at all!

Christian wanted me to take a picture of him laying down in the box. I like how it turned out!

Next, as we were walking down the sidewalk, we stopped for a photo op in front of the Peninsula Hotel. It is one of the nicer hotels in Chicago. The doorman offered to take a picture of our family so that we could all be in it.

Around the corner, we discovered a Ghirardelli ice cream cafe...too good to pass up!





Last, but not least, we took a horse and carriage ride through the area of the city that we were staying in. Here I am with my two handsome men during the ride! Notice Carson's jacket? It was actually pretty chilly! We were all covered up with blankets by the time the ride was over...in JULY!

Corey and Caylie taking in the pretty sights...

Carson enjoyed getting to pet the horse after we arrived back, and got out of the carriage...

We managed to squeeze a lot of fun into our first day in the Windy City!

It was time to get back to our little apartment, and get rested up for the next day of fun!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

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