I am home from a quick trip up to Chicago. Molly had a wedding to attend in Skokie, so I flew up there to help watch the kiddies while she participated in the festivities. When going back to Chicago, I always feel like there is so much I want to do and see, but I usually have only a short window of time to do it. This trip was no different, especially because we were staying about 10 miles north of the city. So though I only had about 16 hours to spend in my favorite town, I did my best to fill them full of seeing some of my favorite people and eating some of my favorite foods.
A lot of people were in Chicago this weekend! A few of my "Chicago" friends who have also moved away were in town, and Will's sister Cari and their Aunt Carol happened to be there as well. That worked out nicely for me. All my pals were working on Friday, so Cari, Carol, and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and did lots of touristy things.
We took an Architectural Boat Tour:
See? Chicago really is all Sunshine and Rainbows
We ate lunch at Portillo's.
We went to Navy Pier, where I had a nice surprise in store for Cari. She had no idea that Jimmy opened a Margaritaville there. She was very excited, to say the least. I was as excited to get my hands on some Garrett's popcorn- my souvenir from the weekend.
The rest of the weekend is not well-captured in pictures. I had my hands full with these two little cuties:
Wow, did I have my hands full. All weekend I kept thinking to myself, "I used to babysit 4 kids by myself?! Including an infant?!" Was it because I'm 10+ years older now? I won't lie- it was a tough gig, and I am exhausted from my weekend with Ella and Liam. Not that they aren't worth it- I mean, look at those faces, but I am tired. I have a lot more respect for my sister now. And really, anyone who single-handedly handles more than 2 children on their own. Ella said it best to Molly, "Having 2 kids is a lot of hard work, isn't it Mom?"
We had a fun Saturday together. Ella, Liam, and I drove down to the city to see a bunch of my pals for a quick catch-up session. We missed lunching with them, but it was nice to have at least a couple minutes to say hi to everyone. As great as it was to see everyone again, it was very evident that the times have changed. Some friends were hungover from the night before (OK, not that much has changed), one was extremely pregnant and due next month with her 2nd child, another had her 6 month old daughter with her, and then there was me. Naive enough to think carting 2 small children into the city by myself would be a piece of cake. And it really wasn't that bad! However, a lot of elements came together to make this particular outing successful. I drove. And lucked out by getting a spot on the street near the restaurant. And Ella was in a cheerful mood and happy to have a lot of attention from my friends. And Liam slept like a sweet little angel the whole time. And there was very little traffic.
Side story: Ella really enjoys singing. We sang sang lots of songs together in the car- Fins, Cheesburger in Paradise, and a few Mary Poppins songs. Here's how our duet sounded:
Me: ...But then one day I heard a word that saved me achin' nose, the biggest word you ever heard and this is how it goes...OH....
Ella: Supercalifragilistic- makes me aloe-tosis!!
She also really enjoys singing "Spoonfuls of sugar help the medicine go down."
My niece is also a budding songwriter, which will come in handy when she comes to live with me in Nashville. She let me know that when she's 25 years old and a "young adult" she wants move in with me and Will in Nash-vittal. (She also plans to pay us $35/day in rent money. She will be more than welcome to live with me at that rate.)
Her "song" (as best as I can remember it):
You don't have to be alone;
If your neighbor is outside, you can just ask your mom or dad if you can play with them.
And if they have new toys you can have fun or maybe have a sleepover.
There were a couple other versuses, but the moral of the story? You don't have to be alone.
Sounds like a country hit to me.
After my lightning-fast get together, we headed back up to Skokie as we had more people to see! One of my closest cousins, Katie, and her adorable 2 1/2 year old Aiden drove over from Iowa to spend the day with us! We had planned to take the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo, and debated whether to drive or take the train. Aiden loves trains so we decided we would brave the CTA. Again, terribly naive. I'm sure we were quite a sight- 2 adults, 3 children. 2 young tikes in strollers, 1 wee baby strapped into the Baby Bjorn.
Well as it turns out, Aiden is not such a big fan of riding on trains. Go figure. We realized that there was no way we would be able to get the kids down to Lincoln Park and then to the zoo with enough time to enjoy it, so we hopped off the train and let the 2 older kids play on a jungle gym while Liam happily hung out in the stroller and Katie and I had about 2.5 minutes to catch up. (Is carrying on an adult conversation always this hard with kids around?) Our conversation sounded like this:
Me: So, Katie how's it going?
Katie: Oh, things are going so we--Aiden!! Be careful!! --ll. James is good. We've got x, y, and z happening. We're getting ready to sta-- Yes, Aiden, Mommy will help you climb that. Hang on a sec, cuz...
5 minutes later
Me: Yeah, things are good for me, too. Nashville has been gre--Ella!! Don't walk up the slide backwards!! --at. I really like my job, Will and I are starting to lo--wait, did you just potty in your pants?! You have to go right now?! OK, let's go in that restaurant. Hurry! Katie, can you watch the baby while I run Ella to the bathroom?
Continue this for the remainder of the day. I got a first-hand look at the evolution how a melt-down progresses over the years. The 7 week old infant, upset because he was hungry. Then a 2 1/2 year old who didn't get a good nap in as he slept in the car and got to snack on sugary stuff, and who had no desire to hop back on the train to go home. And finally the 4 year old, who was super sweet all day, but also incredibly sensitive and got upset when I asked her to stop being a tattle-tale on her cousin. Oy Vey.
Although we spent 8 hours together yesterday, I know nothing more about what's new in Katie's life than I did before. We agreed that our next rendezvous will not involve children, as adorable as they may be.
Tantrums aside, I think they had fun at the park.
Post day bath in the hotel sink.
3 hours of sleep and an early morning flight later, it's only 11:30 AM and I'm already back home. I can't wait to Skype with Andy, Sandy, and see how much Abby has grown, and then take a nice long, long nap.
I: Ice cream from the Pied Pipery to put out the FIRE in my mouth from eating hot chicken 
