Day Two

When we got into our Chicago hotel, we made sure everyone was feeling fine.  EG was good to go.  We grabbed our backpack and a towel (just in case) and set off to see Chicago.  The hotel bellman told us to take a cab but we decided to walk to the Sears Tower, which is now called the Willis Tower and was about 10 city blocks away.  We wanted to see all we could see.

It made me a little nervous trying to keep up with us all.  And making sure we got across the streets without getting crushed!  We were walking through the streets like a bunch of little ducks!  Constantly trying to keep Boop off the curb.

We were a little disappointed because there was NO SNOW.  And, normally, by this time of year, there is a ton.  And cold.  But, it was actually pleasant by northern standards the afternoon we were walking around.  The kids saw a couple little mounds of snow and stuck their hands right in it.  They were so excited!

A bridge over the Chicago River.  They dye it green for St. Patrick's Day!

Picture of the Sears Tower from the ground.  It is actually now called the Willis Tower because the group who bought the majority of the building had in the contract to be able to change its name.  I, will continue to call it the Sears Tower. ;)

We were totally not prepared for our wait to get to the Skydeck.  We had to wait in line for almost 2 hours!  But, they had a movie and a lot of information about the tower and other tall buildings in the world, so, I guess it was time well spent.  We also met a really nice family from the area.  They also had four children so the kids played together (at least the littles did.)

It was worth the wait though.  They had a big glass cube that stuck out of the actually building about 3 feet.  You can step out into it and look down 103 floors!  I was a little sketch about going on to it, but finally did.  Boop really did not want to go out but he finally did for a photo op.  The girls LOVED it and hubby took a bunch of pictures of them on it.  

The girls lying on the floor of the cube.  

We went up into the building when it was still daylight but didn't get up to the 103rd floor until the sun set.  It was a spectacular view!  During the day you can see into at least three states!  Paul and I enjoyed watching all of the traffic coming in and out of the city.  It was constant headlights!

We asked the family we were "hanging" with to recommend a place to eat and they gave us a great Chicago pizza place which just happened to be right around the corner.  The place was packed and smelled great!  It probably wasn't the greatest thing for EG to eat but we decided to take a chance.  We tried to talk the kids into getting a traditional Chicago pizza, stuffed with sauce on the top.  But, they didn't want to try it.  But, the regular pizza was great.  And the kids ate a ton!

We still had to walk about 10 blocks back to the hotel.  It was dark and windy and much colder.  But, we were full, warm and adventuresome.  I wanted to be able to experience as much as we could.  And walking back to the hotel was part of it!  EG fell asleep in the backpack and when we got back to the hotel, we took her out of the backpack and laid her on the couch.  She never, ever woke up.  We changed her into PJs and she was out for the night.

We all were exhausted and headed for bed.  I made a call to my cousin who lives in Chicago and made plans to meet her, with her two girls at the American Girl store in the morning.  I had not seen her in almost 15 years.  And had never met her girls.  

We were all excited to do more site seeing in the morning . . . .