We left EARLY Saturday morning to drop Henry off to my parents (thanks mom and dad!) and head to Michigan City to catch the commuter train. I was nervous about having a toddler on the train for an hour and a half - but not as nervous as I was to drive downtown chicago! :) Here is Kennedy excited about leaving:
Well, alright, maybe you cannot tell from the photo - but she was excited. She would say "Cago!" and "Fishies" (our original plan was to go to the aquarium - read on).
Also note the cuteness of her outfit! I had specifically picked it out for its cuteness factor, stopped at Carters the day before to find the perfect undershirt for it, and felt like a super mom because she was dressed appropriately for the weather forecast. Five minutes outside of Michigan city, Zach saw in the mirror that Kennedy was making "the face" - the one that says there is a poopy present coming your way. EEK! We couldn't smell anything foul - and I was disappointed because I was worried she was constipated. We pulled into the McDonalds in Michigan City (Kennedy cheered and clapped her hands) and as I pulled her out I realized that I was very wrong to be disappointed about her poopy progress. Instead... I was disgusted. There was Poo... everywhere. Up her back, down her legs, in her carseat. I was actually shocked it wasn't in her socks. Literally. It was the kind of nasty poo explosion that requires a hose and a bath tub. Only all I had was my ford focus front seat and a package of wipes. ick.
Moving on... we grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to the train station. Kennedy was excited but a little wary of the trains and the noise. We taught her that the train says "choo choo" and she liked that. She, however, did not like it when the train came barreling up and actually made the choo choo noise!
Here we are waiting for the train..
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| Outfit change :) |
Kennedy did very well on the train. Zach convinced me at the last minute to not bring the carseat - mostly because it smelled like poop. She sat in the seat, ate snacks, said choo choo, and danced. The couple next to us even noted that she was a very well behaved child. (haha! I will give you a minute to let that sink in!) ... Here is a little video clip of her on the train...
We arrived to Chicago and were able to walk to our hotel and check in early. It was about lunch time and we decided to walk over to the Aquarium. There was a huge line out of the museum and we asked some people there how long they had been waiting - they said over an hour. No thanks! Kennedy was already tired and fussy and we hadn't had lunch yet. We opted for walking along the water and eventually walked all the way to Navy Pier. Kennedy was content to munch on vanilla wafers and scream at the birds. As we got closer to Navy Pier, we noticed she was quiet - 
Notice the vanilla wafer still in her hand? LOL! She slept like this for probably 45 minutes through the noisy streets of Chicago and Navy Pier.
Zach and I grabbed a quick bite to eat at Navy Pier while Kennedy snoozed. Kennedy eventually woke up and we walked down to the end of the pier and watched boats for a bit ...
We made our way downtown but it was really busy and we were all feeling a little tired. We walked back to our hotel and ended up ordering in some pizza because Kennedy was in no mood to sit quietly in a restaurant! We took her to the hotel pool, gave her a quick bath and tucked her into her portable crib. She wasn't so sure she was ready to sleep - but a few minutes later she did actually pass out :)
She slept soundly all through the night and was up and ready to go at 5:30 the next morning! Hooray! There was a fairly large 8K race going on downtown Chicago that day and we walked over to Millennium Park and pretty much had the place to ourselves! Nice!
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| Family photo at the bean! |
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| Not bad for being taken with my cell phone camera! |
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| I told her to stand here so I could get her picture - she sat down like this. LOL Strange! |
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| So many runners! This went on for hours! |
Sunday it was pretty hot in the city and we were all feeling a bit tired. He ended up picking up the 12:00 train back. Kennedy didn't get a gold star for her behavior on the way back - I was hoping she would fall asleep but instead she was beyond tired and cranky. Zach and I did what we could to keep her entertained.
She liked listening to music with daddy. I tried to get a cute video of the two of them jamming out - but naturally she stopped once I started video taping ;-)
Once we got into our car - she passed out big time...
She slept like this all the way to grandma and grandpa's house - even drooled down her arm. Too cute!
All-in-all we had a lot of fun. Zach and I did remark that it was a lot different to take her than it used to be when just the two of us would go - but it was still so much fun seeing everything through her eyes. We want her to be comfortable traveling and show her many new places! She did well and all the little bumps in the road were nothing that could not be expected from an almost two year old!
On another note - kitchen camera is now dead. It must have gotten sand in the lens and now refuses to open. Bummer. I cannot say that I ever really loved that camera (hence why it lived in the kitchen!) but now, other than our cell phones, we are camera-less! Eek!
