Chicago

I headed out on Thursday for M/D weekend. Anna Leigh flew in from Raleigh. We left Waukee at 5:30 AM and was able to pick AL up from the airport. We ate lunch at a fun Mexican restaurant and started shopping on Michigan Ave right away. We packed alot in on our weekend getaway. We went to the beach, Sears Tower (now is called Willis Tower), Historical Water tour, Millennium Park and navy Pier. We walked A LOT!! It was a fun weekend. This is our 12th year of doing this. It is something I look forward to every year.

Cloud Gate at Millennium Park

real water coming out of this man's mouth

very hot walking around. Kayren is fanning the pregnant sister.

top of Sears Tower

glass ledge on Sears Tower

mom making a scary face!

we watched a storm roll in while at the top of Sears Tower. Was pretty neat to watch.

Okoboji

We headed up to Okoboji on Sunday the 18th and came home on Wednesday, 21st. Marcia, Adam & family and Geoff were along. It was a fun 3 days. We went tubing, swam, Arnold's Park and the girls did some fishing with Steve.

Here the girls & Eliott are blowing bubbles.

fishing with Steve. Haydn caught 2 fish and Hannah caught 1.

T.I.R.E.D

sitting with the monkeys are Arnold's Park

Hannah and I on the top of the tilt house









Adam, Eliott and Haydn on the train ride

Geoff and Hannah on the top of the tilt house

hanging with the monkeys












new boji t-shirts

Grandma and her grandkids
















sleeping on the way home

day 3

Today we took our time getting up and around. We actually had to wake the girls at 9:00 to get up and around. We all slept well at night after all the walking and sightseeing we did each day. There was a Dunkin' Donuts right by our hotel so we went there for breakfast. Our continental breakfast at the hotel was the same all 3 days so we opted for something different. Hannah thought her donut was good but she thinks Lynn's in Mt Ayr is better! We broke up the trip today and stopped in Davenport to see Eliott and Owen. We ate lunch with them and played for awhile. We had a great time in Chicago. We ran out of time, I would of liked to taken the girls to the Navy Pier and Sears Tower, I guess an excuse to go back.

day 2- 4th of July

On Sunday the 4th we went to a Chicago Cubs game. The cubs lost to the Cincinnati Reds but it was a fun experience to see Wrigley. We ended up watching fireworks from our hotel. After the game the girls were spent, well we went swimming once we got back from the game too! The fireworks were great. We actually could see six different shows from our hotel.

Hannah listening to the iPod and drinking some lemonade!

Chicago day 1

haydn not liking her 1st experience on the beach!

she did like playing in the sand eventually

this guy was real, just painted all silver, not sure how his paint was not sweating off of him!

this is an apartment building, the bottom half is a parking garage, not sure how easily it would be to park in a circular garage?!

The 4 of us headed to Chicago Friday afternoon for the weekend. We arrived in Waukegan (North of Chicago) around 8:00 PM. We ordered pizza for supper and then headed down to the pool for a swim! The girls did great on the drive over, we of course took movies with us and they had some activities to entertain them also.

Saturday morning we got up and around and headed to the train station to ride down to Chicago. We got to the station alittle early so drove down to Lake Michigan and saw a section of the beach so we tried out the water. Haydn wasn't impressed at first (what a city girl) but did warm up alittle to it. Hannah would of swam in it if she would of had a swimsuit on. We rode the metra down to the city both days. We bought a weekend pass for $14.00 for Wes and I, the girls were free (kids under 11 rode free) so it saved us alot of money and alot of headache of driving downtown! We met a lady on the train and she told us to ride the water ferry to and from places. So we did that, it was fun to see all the tall buildings and hear stories about them. We didn't tell the girls that we were going to the American Girl Doll store, we walked there once we got off the ferry. We ate lunch there also. The girls both bought some new outfits for their dolls. It was a fun first day! The taste of Chicago and a Navy Graduation was going on this weekend to add to the population.