Chicago Trip-May 2013

So, with the baby coming in August, I figured we would do our Chicago trip in the early summer (I was sad not to miss out on more of the Houston heat) and we had a great time.  We came in just in time to see my brother graduate from High School.  Can't believe my little Drakey-Bakey is going to college.  My mom had lots more pictures from that day that I forgot to get, but I got one of the graduating class. He is up in the front. 

 Then we had a fun party for him, during and after which, just about everyone in my family got this horrible stomach flu that started with Raegan days before.  She got over it so fast, I thought she ate something bad, but then 2 days later, my dad got it, Harrison got it, I got it, my mom and the rest went down like flies...it was fast and horrible, but the house felt like the movie Contagion for a few days.  Once we all started feeling better, we could actually get out and enjoy some stuff.

We went to the Lego Discovery Center.

 We found a mall playground-Looney Tunes themed.

 We got a tour of the police station from Grandpa and Harrison got to sit in the car with the lights and sirens on.

 Raegan wasn't as excited about all the noise.

 We also found grandpa's retired star.

 We walked to a police station close to my parents house as they were pulling out and they did lights and sirens on the truck for us as they left.

 Harrison had a wipe out on the walk so Raegan lost her seat in the stroller and we pushed Harrison home.  She enjoyed the swinging with Aunt Dillan and Uncle Tyler though.

 Another day we went to the Shedd Aquarium.  It was a really fun trip for the kids and I hope we can go back again soon.  There was a place to pet sting rays and you can see my kids are wet in the next picture.  You are supposed to reach down and pet the top and that worked for everyone  But when I reached Raegan down, the one we were going to pet, came to the top and slapped its flipper thing and soaked us.  Raegan was not happy at all (it was salt water too!) and Harrison thought it was pretty funny.

She liked the penguins much better.

 Penguin suits.

 Watching dolphins.

 Checking out the jellies.

 We ended with a show.  Luckily it was only 30 minutes.  The kids loved it, but I don't think they had it in them to sit much longer.  They loved the whales and dolphins jumping though.

 My favorite city...

 Another day I got brave (or crazy) and me and the kids rode the train into the city.  It is about an hour in and it was rough.  Harrison loved it for the first 30 minutes and Raegan was happy for about 5 minutes, but we made it. 

 We stopped at the river and Willis Tower.

 We had lunch in the train station and headed back.

 And I bought extra snacks for the ride home.  Nothing like M&Ms and gummy bears to pass the hour ride home.

All in all it was a great trip!  We loved seeing family and spending time doing new things.  Next time I take on Chicago, I will have 3 kids and that is still crazy for me to wrap my head around!