Swinging in the big city or Look mom no grass!
Am I cute or what?
Snoozing in the afternoon sun
Story time excellent!
Chicago! The lights! The sounds! The people! The smells- good and bad! What a trip we had! My very first vacation was so much fun. We took the train to Chicago on Friday morning. It amused me to see all the people and I loved the fancy curtains. I played with them a lot. The trip was 7 hours long, but luckily mom and dad were able to walk me around, up and down and up and down the aisle some more. We finally arrived after several snacks, naps, and minor flare-ups. The luggage arrived, but they couldn’t get it off the train so we went to eat and had to come back. It was rush hour anyway by the time we got to Chicago, so it was better that we waited to get on the El train to our hotel. I was pretty well spent by the time we got to the restaurant. Fussy, crabby, unhappy baby was I. So much stimulation in one day was just a bit overwhelming for me. Happily, we finally got to our hotel and I played on the huge king-sized bed, took a bath with dad and went right to sleep. The next day we walked around, went to a city park (boy, for a big city they sure do have small parks and no grass!), stopped by a farmer’s market, and went back to the hotel for a little rest. Then we headed out to the Lincoln Park Zoo. After checking out the botanical gardens and a little snooze in the park we met our Van Tol cousins Krissy, Caiden, and Emory and saw a bunch of really cool animals. I loved the monkeys, bears, and turtles. On Sunday, we went to the aquarium. The highlight of the trip was watching a little boy crawl up on the fountain, pull his pants down to his ankles, put his hands on his hips, and pee right in the water. People laughed or were shocked. Daddy says someday maybe I will do that. Mommy says no I won’t. I got really crabby while standing in line to get in and then fell asleep, but I woke up in time to see the big sharks and tropical fish. So bright and fast. Later we did a little shopping, ate some pizza, and headed back to the hotel. On our last day, we went to a really fun kid’s bookstore in a neighborhood full of kids. I didn’t see many little people like me in the city all weekend (besides the zoo and aquarium of course), but they came out of the woodwork on Southport Avenue that Monday morning for sure. Mommies, nannies, and babies galore. Mine was the only daddy out that day I guess. I loved all the cool things and bright colors in the store and was very attentive during story time. I got to take home a jack-in-the-box. It made me laugh and kept me entertained on the train ride to Winona for a whole 5 minutes. The train ride back was a little difficult for me. I really wasn’t happy just hanging around in my seat unless I was sleeping. I had to keep moving. There was a cute little boy only 2 months older than me right across the aisle. He was on the train from Savannah going all the way to Spokane. He was very calm and just played nice on his mom’s lap and took naps. Mom said something about me hanging out and learning from him. I’m just happy that wasn’t me- that would be just too many days too long on the train. I love the city, but am very happy to be home.
My New Toy
