Birthday Trip to Chicago

So, my wonderful husband surprised me (or at least tried to) for my 30th birthday last week with a weekend trip to Chicago. My mom, Miss Sharon, and his sister all chipped in to help take care of our kiddies so we could enjoy our weekend away worry free. It was so much fun!! We ate at some really great restaurants - The Custom House and Keefer's. We did lots of shopping (yay) - Toby even shopped with me a little bit! We also went to the Hancock Tower (2nd tallest building there I think) as well as went on an architectural tour and to a Cubs game. Quite a bit for a 2 day trip! I can't wait to go back. It is like a really clean New York. There was much more shopping to be done, as well as great museums to see, the Navy Pier, Millennium Park, etc. Hopefully we'll get to go again soon!

What better place is there to play than an empty suitcase?

Once a year Chicago has the largest free air and water show. We happened to be there for the fun! There were planes flying around pretty much all weekend. They were really loud and fast. They would do nose dives, fly between buildings, fly together 5&6 at a time. It was really neat.

We went on an architectural boat tour while we were there. It was very informative and we got to see a lot of really beautiful buildings. There is so much great history there. I didn't even know that there was a huge fire that destroyed most of the city in the 1870s, but apparently there was! My only complaint about the boat tour is that I WAY under dressed in my shorts and T-shirt. It was in the 60s while we toured and a little rainy! I was unprepared for Chicago weather and ended up buying a sweatshirt in a gift shop for the day! It's hard to imagine weather that cool until you're in it, especially when it has been over 100 here consistently! The tall building in the picture is the Sears Tower. It has 110 floors I think!!

Toby and I posing at the Cubs game. We had great seats right on the front row of the left field line. It was so much fun! Oh - and the Cubs won...

Toby posing with a Leggo man. There is a huge Leggo store there, and, as you can see, they have all of this neat stuff built out of Leggos. I also have a picture of me with Darth Vader (sp?) if anyone just can't live without seeing that one! (Ha!)

This is a miniature Leggo Chicago. Isn't it neato?

A Few More Beach Pictures...

Here are a few more beach pictures. There are even more that have yet to be unloaded from the camera. I know...that is ridiculous... Most of these are from the evening we arrived. We took a quick stroll down to the beach. Beau went nuts - crawling and running into the water. Abby made sure to bring her ziploc bag down with her to put her seashells in.

Beach Trip 2007

Abby posing at the beach

Taking a ride on the train with Aunt Jody

Riding the carousel with Daddy and Aunt Jody

Beau trying to escape from his parents and go ride some rides on his own...

The huge sand kingdom built by (mostly) Mee-Mee, Abby, Papaw, Erica and Nicole.

Abby and Mommy taking a break in the sun

Mee-Mee and Beau on a walk

Abby and Mommy on a bike ride

Abby and Daddy on a bike ride together

Beau at the pool - completely fearless of water I might add...

Mommy and the kids at the beach. Beau is trying to make Abby share her beach chair.

Abby on this wild jumpy thing - she looks so little to me in this picture...

We had a great time at the beach last week. I have had a lot of trouble getting these pictures to upload for some reason or another so I will keep this short and sweet. I will say that both of the kids LOVED the beach and the water. We all had a wonderful time spending time with family. Hopefully we will repeat this trip next year and add even more family and friends! We have more pictures that I might try to post later (from the good camera), but I am tired of wrestling with this thing. Beau is getting in 4 or 5 teeth and keeps waking up a lot at night so I'm going to bed!!