Downtown Day

Monday was planned to be another BIG day (so ready yourself for a BIG post!).  We were excited to spend the whole day in our favorite city showing the girls some things they haven't seen in Chicago yet, and things we haven't seen in years.

We got into the city via train and then took a water taxi to our first stop on Michigan Ave.  Though these modes of transportation are truly the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to see the city, they are also very exciting to experience.  I love watching the city skyline get closer as the train pulls into Union Station and I love sailing under each of those famous streets as the taxi makes its way down the Chicago River.

We walked about a mile down the Magnificent Mile to get to our first destination at Water Tower Place-- the American Girl Place.  This particular American Girl store is the flagship and it is sprawling.  As you can image, the girls were in heaven.

To come here was actually Auntie Karen's idea.  She wanted to treat the girls to some special experience with their beloved dolls.  They decided to get their picture taken for the cover of a magazine.  It was so cute watching Ella, Delia, Kaya and McKenna have a little photo shoot.  And we thought it was fun to see the studio's new screensaver when we went back to pick up the magazine.

Ella was also excited to get McKenna's ears pierced at the American Girl Doll salon.  Now they match.

As we finished up at Water Tower and headed to our next stop, we passed the Blackhawks Store.  See Ella modeling in the window?  We explained to the girls that this was "Daddy's American Girl Doll Store" and it was his turn to be in retail heaven. :)

A quick stop at The Bean in Millennium Park preceded our visit to the Art Institute of Chicago.  Dad used an amazing work connection to get all our tickets into the world class art museum for free!

Though the Art Institute is full of famous works by Picasso, Monet, O'Keeffe, Dali, van Gogh, Pollock, Matisse and more, the exhibit we were most excited to see was a temporary one celebrating the children's book artists who've won the esteemed Caldecott Medal.  Weeks before our trip, we checked all the books from the exhibit out of the library to get acquainted with them.  It was SO COOL to see the original work from the pages we've been reading and falling in love with.  Ella aspires to be an author/illustrator some day, Delia loves a good, funny story and I am crazy about children's lit.  This exhibit was tailor-made for us and we LOVED it!

The rest of the Art Institute was incredible too, of course.  It was fun to see again and introduce art-loving Ella to classics like American Gothic or Seurat's Sunday Afternoon at the Park.

Ella's favorite ended up being Chagall's wall of stained glass windows.

After the Art Institute, we met up with Chris and our nephews, who were just ending their day of school.  Another amazing work connection allowed Chris to score us all free tickets to the Skydeck of the Willis Tower.  Two major (and expensive!) Chicago landmarks for free for us on this day!  It was great.

The top of the Willis/Sears Tower is the highest point in the city.  It's 103 floors up.  Ella has a fear of heights and does not love elevators.  She was pretty sure she was NOT going to be a part of this outing.  But, with tears and while clinging to Dave, she bravely decided to give it a try to be with the rest of the family.  

The views were fantastic!  But, even better than the view of the city was the sight of Ella's fear slowly melting away.  She went from clinging, to independently standing at a window to actually walking out on The Ledge voluntarily and multiple times!  The Ledge is an all glass cube that hangs off the edge of the 103rd floor.  I don't have a problem with heights, but "floating" above this city in this glass box for a just quick picture made me feel weak in the knees.

  

I have no idea how these crazy kids were doing this!  Especially Ella, who a half hour before was freaking out about even going in the building!

Special and unexpected memories were sprinkled throughout this trip.  Seeing Ella completely conquer this fear and then describe the top of the Willis Tower as the best part of her downtown day was another bright spot on our vacation. 

Each part of this day was so neat, unlike Ella, I can't even say what was my favorite!

All Together at Cantigny

This day was Dad's idea.  He said the one thing he wanted for Father's Day was for his whole family to get together and enjoy an afternoon at Cantigny.  Cantigny is a special park dedicated to remembering and educating visitors about soldiers who've fought for our freedoms.  

This day was Sunday and it followed a morning at church.  We all met up at the playground for a picnic and some play.  Unfortunately, this was probably our yuckiest day weather wise.  We got rained on and covered in mud, but it was actually still a really nice day.

Cantigny is probably most known for its huge collection of real tanks.  They are scattered all around the park and are super fun to climb and play on.  I totally remember doing this as a kid myself.

Cantigny also has this great museum that teaches its visitors about the modern wars our country has fought in by recreating scenes from them.  We walked through the trenches, Normandy Beach, the jungle of Vietnam and the desert of Iraq, seeing sights and hearing sounds that gave us a tiny idea of what it may have been like to be in these places.  It sounds sort of intense, but our younger kids were distracted by a scavenger hunt activity that the museum provided.

Hopefully I can speak for everyone when I say that the opportunity to get together as a whole group was another highlight of the trip-- even though crummy weather tried to thwart our outdoor plans.

Gone Fishin'

While Auntie Kris took Delia to paint pottery and Auntie Karen took Ella to an art class, Dave and I took our five favorite boys to the nearby pond to go fishing.  Apparently this pond is stocked with large mouth bass and not really known to many people, making the fishing the best we've ever experienced.  In just a little over an hour we caught 27 big fish (according to Calvin's tally, at least)!  Each boy caught at least 2 fish. We  outnumbered adults were kept hopping baiting hooks, removing fish, helping cast, snapping pictures and keeping kids from getting tangled in line.

  

Miles. Love him.  Smartest and most articulate 3 year old I know.

Cole.  Probably our most enthusiastic fisherman.

Calvin.  Winner of the "Most Fish Caught" and our numbers and statistics man.

Aidan.  Impossible to be around this charming guy without smiling.

Theoren.  Official "Sunfish Catcher" while everyone else was reeling in bass.  Also caught a tree at the end of the morning! :)

The cousins had such an excellent time playing hard together for most of this trip.  I barely saw my own girls for 9 days!  This morning was a wonderful way to get the kids in smaller groups with a focused activity, allowing us to enjoy some quality time with them and get to know them better.  This crazy fishing outing was one of my favorite parts of our trip!

Dates with Aunties

We have the best aunties.  Seriously.  This particular Saturday morning of our trip shows just one of the many, many ways our aunties love on our girls.

Auntie Kris invited her namesake out for a morning of smoothies and pottery painting.  I think they had a great time together.  I know that the two dogs they painted are now prominently displayed on Delia's dresser so that she can "look at them while I fall asleep every single night."

  

Auntie Karen took her namesake on a date that couldn't have been more perfect for her.  They went to this cool studio/art gallery place where artists help students create a masterpiece with step by step instructions.  Ella came home proudly displaying her framed canvas and describing how fun it was to be a real artist for the morning with Auntie Karen.

  

For desiring quality time with the girls, for knowing what kind of dates would absolutely be hits, for making plans long before we arrived, for your generosity in treating the girls to these special experiences and for just being awesome...we thank you, Aunties!! 

Happy 8th Birthday, Ella!

After 5 days in Michigan, we drove back to Chicago for the rest of our vacation.  We arrived just in time to celebrate Ella's 8th birthday.  This day was full of big plans for a big girl!

I had to wait until I was 10 to get my ears pierced, but when Ella started asking about it this year, Dave and I decided she was mature enough to handle it and agreed to let her get it done on her 8th birthday.  This was her big gift from us and the thing she was most looking forward to in our travels.

We kicked off this birthday morning with the highly-anticipated ear piercing as soon as the mall opened.  Ella had both her parents and sister, both her aunties, her grandma and two cousins along for moral support.  As she sat in the chair waiting, with all eight of us surrounding her, another customer interested in ear piercing walked up and said, "How many of you are waiting for this?!"

Ella was nervous, but more excited.  After the first ear, there were some tears, but they quickly faded when she got her first glimpse of her new earlobes.  Grandma let her pick out a bunch of new pairs to take home too, which she can try out in 6 weeks.

We intentionally planned to be back in Chicago on this day because we thought it would be cool if Ella could have her ears pierced at the same place I got mine done.

With fancy new ears, we next went out for a fun lunch together.  The servers stuck a candle in the dessert nachos Grandma ordered, then sang, and Ella felt even more celebrated.

  

The last part of Ella's Big Day was a trip to the spa for the girls' first mani/pedis, a gift from their aunties.  I was cracking up watching Delia try to enjoy both the foot bath and the massage chair at the same time.  These girls were all smiles the whole time they were being pampered!  I loved that this was an experience Mom, Kris, Karen, Ella, Delia and I could all enjoy together.

Each day we spent in MI/IL was so great.  When we talked about our favorite things on the way home, it was really difficult to pick.  This day full of girly fun and new grown-up experiences for Ella definitely ranked high on the list, though!