Got back last night from our trip to Chicago and this morning AJ slept until a quarter after 9! I guess we must 
have worn him out these last 4 days.
Starting out on Tuesday, the weatherman was making it look like that might be the only dry day all week, so we got up and drove straight to the biggest skyscraper we could find — Willis Tower (Sears Tower still seems to roll off the tongue a bit easier, but whatever) (As a side note, Kari and I hadn’t been up there since our first date, nearly 14 years ago!) They’ve now installed “The Ledge” – a glass box that you can walk out into. It wasn’t 
quite as scary as I thought it might be, but it was still pretty cool. AJ was the funniest. He went cruising out toward the glass floor and then came to an abrupt halt, right at the edge and wouldn’t budge as he stared 103 floors straight down to the street below. After a bit of prodding from his fearless siblings he inched his way cautiously out onto the glass. Once he was out there he must have thought it was pretty neat though, because he screamed bloody murder when we picked him up to let somebody else have a turn. 
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From there we walked over to Millennium Park to let the kids splash around in the water and then off to our friends, the Ostema’s, for some good barbeque that night. (Thanks again, “O”!)
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Wednesday morning we got up and it looked like rain, but figured the heavy stuff wasn’t going to come down for quite a while so we headed off for the Lincoln Park Zoo as planned. Just as we pulled in the skies opened up with thunder and lightning – yikes. 
Luckily, the storm lasted just long enough to scare all the fair weather crowds away and we ended up having a lovely, if a bit overcast, day at the zoo and beach. We were able to hook up with our friends Glenn and Tiffany and their daughter to give us the grand tour and take this nice looking family picture for us.
After the zoo we walked over to North Avenue Beach to let 
the kids splash around a bit. It was almost a disaster because we somehow forgot to bring along Emma’s swimsuit, but she was a good sport about it and just jumped in with her clothes on. Having never been to the ocean, the girls thought the Lake Michigan waves were awesome and could have stayed there all day playing around in the surf. Thomas thought the waves were cool as long as they didn’t go up over his knees, and spent his time playing in the sand. AJ spent most of his time annoyed that he couldn’t get his hands clean and wishing he had gotten a better nap. I guess you can’t please everybody. In the end, the weather held out and Emma has a funny memory 
about wearing nothing but her dad’s button up shirt on the car ride back to the hotel because her clothes were all wet. Pretty good day, all in all.
Thursday the crummy weather forecast was right on so we spent the day inside at the Shedd Aquarium watching the dolphin show, the 4-D “Happy Feet” movie and lots and lots of fish. (This is actually a picture of a friendly polar bear from the day before, not a fish, in case you wondering. Pretty good picture though, right?) We gladly took up our friends, the Johnson’s, on their offer to cook us supper that night out in the suburbs. Thanks again, Jen and Rob!
Friday morning we got up and let the kids take one more dip in the hotel pool before heading up to drive by our old homes in Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. Met up with Kari’s former co-worker, Becca, for lunch at McDonald’s and then off to the track in Arlington Heights to see the ponies run. The kids enjoyed the excitement of the races and seeing the horses and their jockeys parade around beforehand. We bet $2 on a 
horse to win in each of the 4 races we stayed for and, believe it or not, we ended up $4.20 ahead, thanks to Gail’s Jewel in the 3rd. (That was the one with the pretty brown coat wearing pink. Good call, kids!)
We were just gone a few nights but the kids all agree it’s nice to be home.
