22 Great Photos From Chicago

This January, I took the kids to Chicago for a quick visit with family. The original plan was for us to travel the week between Christmas and New Year's, because not only did Sean not have any extra time off work, he in fact had to work more than usual. So we all thought that would be a good time to go. Except Mother Nature didn't think the same thing, and we got slammed with a blizzard and our trip was canceled. But we rescheduled and made it there in January. Click here to see the whole album.

I love watching Thora and Auric play with classic toys! Here, they play with a Barrel of Monkeys.

Thora shows off her accomplishment while Auric mugs for the camera.

And I have to take this moment to flashback to the moment 2.25 years ago, when Thora was just a bit older than Auric is now. I love this photo of Thora and Baba.

Moving on, more mugging. This boy... what can I even say about him?

On our first full day, we worked our way over to the Lake Bluff's Park District, for a little sledding. We'd had success there the year before (see video here), and had quite a bit of success this winter in Cambridge. But I guess this sledding was a bit too intense for her. I mean, personally, I thought it was pretty awesome: it's easy to climb; it has a long ride down (so you get a thrill that's worth the relentless climbing); and in its current incarnation, it was really, really fast due to the melting and then re-freezing snow. But as you can see, either Thora was just in a foul, and therefore less-than-daring mood, or she was sincerely frightened, or both. Here's her second and final trip down the hill. And I'm holding back the link, just for one more sentence, because I have to say that her brother was tossed off the sled (out of my arms) and his body did a kind of little ninja-throwing-star move... face down! And he was fine. So again, I think she was in a foul mood. So here's the link--note the sobbing and running away at the end. And my "oh goodness..." comment.

Anyway, on with the visit.

On our first day with Grandma Jane, we made a visit to the Rainforest Cafe ("Rain Corest Cafe" as Thora says it) which has become a much-anticipated tradition.

As are the coin-operated vehicles kiosk that occupies some mall real estate between the Rainforest Cafe and the closest exit.

We spent much of Friday and Saturday watching the kids bounce around inside jumping castles and big inflated obstacle courses. On Friday afternoon, after a highly entertaining trip to the Rainforest Cafe, we hit My Jump Place near my mom's place. It's not flashy, but it's got the bases covered. Thora loves this place and bounces, climbs, and flops around until thoroughly exhausted. Which is what we're aiming for.

The following day, Grandma Jane and Aunt Natalie accompanied us to Monkey Joe's, a jumping castle paradise. This place--a midwest chain, I think--was very well-run and we managed to eek out about 2 hours there, feeding the kids in the middle, (which actually kind of had me worried... I mean do you really want kids full on pizza and juice to be bouncing around?) But we were puke-free and exhausted when we left.

Here's Auric "driving" a race car video game.

And when I say "we" went home exhausted, I do mean "we," since Auric and Thora love it when we do these activities with them. Natalie is always tireless when she's with her niece and nephew.

After some lunch and some outlet shopping, we headed back to Grandma Jane and Grandpa Terry's house, where we were treated with some sledding and frozen-creek playing. Below, Thora and Auric are loving the ride to the creek in the big sled.

Here's the workhorse, Grandpa Terry!

He kindly shoveled a path across the frozen creek. We loved walking around on the frozen water and throwing the frisbee for their puppy, Abby. And despite Thora's earlier protest that would never sled again, ever, here she is eating her words.

Here we are, later, warmed up, having eaten Grandma Jane's home-cooked Chicken and Dumplings (one of my favorite meals from childhood), and having watched Shrek (Thora's first time). Since then, she's comically referred to Shrek as "the Yoger." "The yogurt? Why does the Yogurt run into the church? The Yogurt?!? Oh... the ogre!"

Then, on our last full day, we headed to the Botanic Gardens, where we thoroughly (THOROUGHLY) enjoyed the tropical and desert greenhouses.

Below, Natalie helps Thora with a Botanic Gardens bingo game where you hunt for various sights within the garden. Here, I think they're checking off the banana tree square on her bingo sheet.

Here's NuNu and Thora, I think maybe identifying an orchid.

And here, the boy enjoys a new toy from Aunt Sue (Cathy's sister), a perfect fit for his interest in sorting, stacking, and just generally fitting things onto/into other things. He's happy. But really, when is he not?

And then we found a baby mermaid statue and we tried for next year's Christmas Card photo. We kind of got it. And it wasn't for not trying.

And then, while every other Chicagoan was watching the Bears' playoff game with the Green Bay Packers, we were allowing Thora to expel the afternoon's worth of cooped-up winter energy at the LB Park District's open gym. Here she plays with/forces her brother down the slide. Again, I mean what else can I say about this boy?!?

And then, I couldn't resist ending on a sweet note.