Chicago "vacation": phone pic edition

So, Steve and I had this idea that a family vacation would be fun (you know, you get delusional when you're perpetually sleep deprived and surrounded by whining minis) and as we'd neither been to Chicago and it sounded an appealing place, we took off for a 6 day stay. The weather could not have been more perfect, our dear friends live nearish and spent most of the time with us (hey, baby Reid!), it was the 4th so lots of festivities going on, there is this amazing beach right in the city....BUT it is NOT a child friendly city. And our kids were decidedly not friendly-behaving either, so it was all in all a recipe for disaster. Or at least a recipe to have me sobbing hysterically in the shower on just day 1 as I counted the hours until we could get home. Getting up at 3am to catch the cheapest flights might have had something to do with that as well.....Anyway, don't go to Chicago if you like coffee (seriously, the only place you can find a cup is down in the financial district), have kids younger than 10ish (there are no green spaces or playgrounds for them to burn energy and the typical wait for seating at any restaurant no matter how early is at least an hour), or are in any way disabled (the city is built on two levels and the only way to access them is through staircases unless you want to go miles out of your way). If this does not apply, by all means GO! It really was a gorgeous place, and maybe this is just because I'm used to Boston drivers, but it's super easy to navigate and people are friendly! (as in, they don't run you down in the crosswalk. The number of shootings the weekend we were there might be a bit off-putting to some), and of course the pizza was delicious :)
And though we attempted to "take lots of pictures", most of our time was spent dealing with continuous melt downs, carrying kids, and oohing and awwing before moving on and realizing at the end of the day all we'd done was take selfies to entertain the kids. Sorry. Here are lots of pictures of us:

Waiting to board. Dino (?zebra?dragon) was a constant companion on this trip. First hysteria was when she went through security. Thanks Jen for the heads-up from your FL trip with Sophia a few years ago, I knew this was a distinct possibility. Quick recovery this time

Hen's actually a great traveler as far as the travel part goes. Fortunately Hud slept from take off until the final 20 minutes, at which point he got pretty squirrelly.

What's missing? That's right, the car seat. Steve took the shuttle back to airport to find it while the kids and I hung out at car rental. 

First stop was the zoo. Poor Hud ended up in the stroller most of the trip. There was just no where to put him down and let him crawl, everything was cement. And the rug in our room gave him a major rash. It was rough.

Hen spent most of the time on Steve's shoulders. He was safe to eat whatever he wanted this vacation as he easily worked it all off

Sadly, Hudson is not that big of a fan of the carrier unless Mom is carrying him AND he's about to fall asleep. Neither applied here. 

 By noon of the first day the true colors were starting to show....

Just so cooperative and cheerful

Hotel room. Yes, I do have beautiful children. No, I do not dye my son's hair. 

The Molitor and the peanut!

See? A beach right in the city. Crazy

Excuse the utter ghetto-ness of this. The Walgreens didn't have any buckets, so we made do with Starbucks cups, straws, and plastic spoons. Kids didn't seem to care :)

The view from our 26th floor room

The Bean! We went back twice we thought it looked so cool (I know, true tourists, but it was really neat!)

This just made us laugh, a huge outdoor yoga class with live drumming

This doesn't do the scale of this fountain justice, it was massive

Checking out Big and Littles. We went twice the fish tacos were sooooo good 

We finally found a park for the kids! Had to drive to it, they got to burn some energy

94 floors up on the Hancock Tower. Henri's favorite part was that the ceilings were mirrored so she could watch herself

Park next to the hotel where we ate most of our meals. 

Another thrill for Henri, a water bottle. 

Our last day we went to the Federal Reserve Bank Museum. It was a hit with everyone. We had our picture taken with 1million$ and got to take home a bag of shredded currency. Very fun. 

He's not a walker by any means, but Hudson took his first independent step while there. He's done it a few times since, generally when distracted by objects in his hands. 

Can you see the brand? There was a Trader Joe's 0.5miles from our hotel! We went almost every day and I've recommitted to using them pretty much exclusively for my groceries. I loooooove that place!

Hudson "helping" me to repack

He's hit a major clingy phase, only his "Mem" will do. Flattered but exhausted.

More views from the hotel

Hen understands how to relax

Checking out the gym 

This is my son at 2:30am...

...and this is my daughter. 

It's good to be home.