Chicago

We made it into Chicago on Wednesday for lunch.  Buddy and I spent our anniversary in Chicago 7 years ago with an infant Bohdin and loved Frontera Grill so we came back again.  It was our second time sitting down in a restaurant during the trip.  Cora is not good at sitting.  She doesn't sit well in restaurants, shows, a car, a shopping basket, etc.  We were a little rushed during our meal because Cora has so little patience for sitting.  It was nice but would have been nicer if Cora could sit still instead of moving around so much.

After lunch we tried to Priceline a hotel but had difficulty.  I had looked up rates before our trip but Chicago had a huge influx of visitors and there were hardly any hotel rooms.  While Cora was sleeping and we were sorting out that problem I dropped off Buddy, Bohdin, and Nyla at the planetarium.  They saw a show and wandered the museum.  I stayed in the car with a sleeping Cora until she woke up.  We joined everybody else but once we got past the fun kid stuff her patience wore thin and she cried to leave.

After leaving the planetarium we were finally able to find an available room in the city but it was out by Midway airport. We decided to stay in town longer before checking in to the hotel.  We phoned in a carryout order for deep dish pizza from Gino's East and headed in rush hour traffic toward the restaurant.  We thought we might also see the Cirque show at Navy Pier.  We parked in the middle and I went to pick up the pizza while Buddy took the kids to get tickets.  The pizza took longer to make than they anticipated so I was a few minutes late to the show and we missed the first part.  Cora liked the show for about 4 minutes then became bored.  She was restless and I finally had to nurse her to keep her somewhat still.  The show was good and luckily it was shorter than their usual shows.

Navy Pier had a fireworks show shortly after but Nyla and I missed most of it because she needed to go to the bathroom four minutes before it began.  We saw some of it as we made our way back to everybody else.  Immediately after the show it began raining.  The rain wasn't coming down too hard but it was really windy.  We had to walk through that to our car many blocks away.  At first Nyla didn't like it but I told her it was an adventure and she would always remember our rainy night in Chicago.  The kids were able to change into dry clothes in the car and they all fell asleep on the way to the hotel.


Cora having a Marilyn Monroe moment over the air vent.



Nyla with one of the Cirque performers.


The next day we were supposed to spend a couple of hours in the Field Museum before leaving Chicago but it was so big with so much to see we stayed over three hours. Cora fell asleep just as we were about to leave.  Buddy had her in the carrier because neither she nor Bohdin are very good at staying close.  We tried it earlier in the Egypt exhibit and it was bad. I caught up to the kids going down a narrow spiral staircase a good distance from Buddy and I.  Bohdin's favorite part was the gem room.  Nyla was really excited about the dinosaurs until she saw the dinosaur area.  Maybe she liked the kid area the best.  Buddy and I enjoyed the Genghis Khan exhibit.


Nyla and Cora looking down at the mummy.

Cora slept for about two hours in the car.  Once she woke up she was miserable.  It took us a long time to get home with all of the stops.  If she wasn't the one making noise then it was Bohdin and Nyla playing/fighting.  It was so bad I stopped the car and rearranged car seats so they were no longer next to each other.  Neither of them like the new setup but it is quieter.  We eventually made it home after 9:30.  It was good to be home.