Big Boy, Big City

The day after Asher's birthday was Friday and we decided to take the day off to spend the day celebrating with our boys.  Since we have yet to take them to a big city and have one close by, we decided to go down to Chicago for the day.  As an added bonus, Eric's parents were already down there for a concert that they attended at Wrigley, so they were able to join us for the day as well.  It was a wonderful family day together seeing the sites and sharing the experiences with our littles.  We left the house at around 9:30, hoping to get down there quickly, but with traffic and frequent bathroom stops for a certain little 4 year old, it took us longer than expected.  Eventually we did make it down there though and once we found a parking spot in the Millennium garage, we were on our way.  We met up with Eric's parents at one of the many nearby Starbucks and then made our first stop together at the Bean.

Asher laughing at Gramps who is teasing him in the mirror.

Avery, not quite sure what he is looking at.

Family Photo <3

From the Bean, we left Millennium Park and headed up Michigan Avenue to the Hancock Building, with a stop to play with some hula hoops along the way.

We thought that Asher would be amazed by the tall buildings, but didn't think Avery would take much notice.  The opposite was true.  Asher really didn't seem to care much, but Avery was in awe of everything going on around us.  He happily made grunts and other noises while pointing out everything he saw.

We stopped to watch a one-man-band.

After our walk up the Magnificent Mile, we arrived at the Hancock Building, where we had lunch up on the 96th floor at the Signature Lounge.  It was some great food (albeit pricey...but worth it considering we could have spent $84 to go to the observatory and get NO food) with a great view. 

Asher looking up at the Hancock Building

Eric and the boys checking out the view from the 96th floor!

Asher, Me, Avery and Eric's parents waiting for our lunch to arrive.

Asher drinking from a "Fancy" glass...which resulted in some water spills.

"Grammy, I'm Four!"

Yum!  Cheeseburger Sliders!

Me and my Big Guy.

The women's room at the Signature Lounge has the best restroom view I've ever seen!

When our lunch was over we headed out of the Hancock and into the Water Tower next door where we visited the Lego Store, checked out the Lego sculptures, played with the toys they had out and then headed over to the Dr. Seuss exhibit to look at the drawings and sculptures.

Asher touching the water in the pool at the bottom of the Hancock.  We got in trouble.

A remake of "The Son of Man, 1946" by Rene Magritte (done entirely out of Tootsie Pop wrappers.)

The lego sign/sculpture is actually a bunch of little lego men with hats on.  You just see the very top of them.

Avery showing Grammy the Legos...or maybe the other way around.

Love the detail on top of the Tribune Tower.

Eric and Asher having a Light Saber duel with the Lego salesman.

Yes, they let our little boys play with the Lego Light Sabers.

No, the Lego Light Sabers were NOT glued together.

Yes, the Lego Light Sabers DO break!  (they just put them back together again).

Asher and Gramps checking out the Storm Trooper Sculpture.

Avery playing Duplos with Grammy.

Hop on Pop
I loved looking at the original sketches from the well-known Dr. Seuss books!

Asher with Green Eggs & Ham
When I realized how much everything was worth though, I started to panic that Asher was with me.  The LAST thing I needed was for him to break something and have to purchase a $7,000 Dr. Seuss sculpture!

Horton Hears a Who

Avery enjoying the fountains at the Water Tower

From the Water Tower, we headed across the street to one of my favorites places in Chicago: Ghirardelli.  Asher, Avery and I shared a birthday treat: a monstrous Hot Fudge Sundae with Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and a fresh waffle bowl dipped in Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate...It.Was.Awesome!

The before picture of me and the birthday boy...he could barely wait to eat that cherry!

The waffle bowl was definitely worth the extra $1.  It may have been my favorite part (Soooo Good!).

Gramps finishing off what we couldn't eat.

Next, we headed back down to Millennium Park.  Eric stopped at Room & Board quickly while the rest of us continued on.  As we walked, I noticed that Avery's head was started to bob and then I saw it slowly resting down on the stroller tray.  Then, as I was paying more attention to him than what was in front of me, I hit a bump in the sidewalk which made his head bounce up and then smack back down on the tray.  Oops.  At that point I reclined the back of the stroller and we gave him a gentle push back and he immediately gave in to nap time.  Eric's parents, Asher, sleeping Avery and I continued on and accidentally detoured to the street below the main street level.  Since Avery was asleep, Eric's dad and I had to carry the stroller up a large flight of stairs to the main street level to get back to Michigan Avenue.  Then, we finally made it back to the park, where we met back up with Eric.

Grammy and Asher enjoying some mind games with Mommy (they were pretending they couldn't hear me and then pretending to scream to talk to me).  Asher thought it was hilarious.

Big brother giving Gramps a break and pushing his baby bro.

Back at Millennium Park.

Before we left the park, we decided to head East to the new Maggie Daley Park playground that a friend of ours suggested.  It was incredible!  I have never seen a playground like that before.  There were so many things to do and different areas designed for different age groups.  It was really awesome.  What wasn't awesome though was that there were TONS of people there and it was hard to keep an eye on Asher as he ran around and tried everything.  I couldn't understand how so many parents just parked in a spot and played on their phones while their kids played with no worries that their child would get lost or taken.  I followed Asher all over, letting him play but when he wanted to go up on the tallest slide, I could not find a way to get up there that I would fit (at least without being a Yoga pro first).  I told him to head up and I would wait for him.  After he went up, I found a ladder on the other side.  I climbed up to meet him knowing that he hadn't made it down yet but when I got up there he was not there!  Panic mode set in and I don't know if there was ever a time I was more scared.  I tried to get down quickly but with all the kids coming up I couldn't get down as quickly as I wanted to.  I saw Eric and Avery at the bottom and asked if he could see Asher.  The answer was no.  Tears welled up in my eyes and I quickly made it back down to the bottom looking for my little boy.  Thankfully a minute or two later, Eric found him.  He had decided to come back down and find me while I had gone up to find him.  Lesson learned, for now on keep eyes on him at all times or at a minimum stay at the meeting location.  I hugged him tightly and then took Avery while Eric went up to the slide with him.  We weren't going to let him out of our sight again.

Asher coming down the big slide.

Avery & I race Asher.

After climbing on the bridges and riding all the slides, we found the splash park and the boys had a blast getting completely soaked!

<3  Love this picture! <3

Avery reminds me of the boy from Where the Wild Things Are in this picture.

Swallowed by a whale.

Two tired boys.

Finally, our fun-filled family day in Chicago was over.  We got the boys dried up, found our van and then headed home.  It was a great day together with fun memories made!