Chicago - Day 2

Dear Abigail,

Our fabulous trip continued by waking up on Friday and heading straight to the Shedd Aquarium. We were planning on taking the train, but the hotel guy insisted that a cab was by far the easiest and quickest, so, you took your first cab ride, awake that is. And what a big girl you were. You, of course, requested the driver for "Baby, baby" to which he looked at me confused, and you really liked looking out the window! So first cab ride = success. I will go ahead and say, 2nd and 3rd, not so much, but we'll explain why later...

You had never been to an aquarium, but I felt confident you would enjoy it and boy, was I right! You loved looking at all the fishes and turtles and sea lions and sharks and dolphins - that's right DOLPHINS! We started the visit off with a real live dolphin show! But first, before the dolphins, they had whales come out!! Beluga whales to be exact. Of course, the best quote of the day was from Mimi when she asked "Why does the announcer keep calling them whales?" She thought they were all dolphins!! It made me laugh all day, but don't tell her I was laughing at her all day!!! We saw the dolphins jump and wave and splash and twirl up in the air and everything. It was pretty exciting, and we all enjoyed it!

The whales were swimming around and the dolphins were in the back practicing their jumps!
You decided to dance for everyone right before the show started. I have to admit, you looked pretty stinkin' cute out there...

After the dolphin show, we wondered all through the aquarium and saw all sorts of different species. I think your faves were Mr. Ray, in the big tank in the middle, and the big old crab!! Here are some highlights from the aquarium visit...

You can't see it, but this was a sea lion that you just loved to watch swim back and forth and back and forth...
Here's you and Mimi watching the Beluga whales...

And there was a big o' tank you could watch all the dolphins swim around and around and around...

Look behind us - it's Mr. Ray!!!! You were super excited every time Mr. Ray swam by!

surprise face!!!
and your sweet face!!!!

and that big old crab!!!

Many hours later, we decided it would be best to head on back to the hotel, but first we had to make a pit stop in the gift shop. You were as wound up as they come, but we convinced you to get in the stroller by letting Mrs. Ray to sit with you, and of course you had to try on some sunglasss!

And then literally 2 minutes later...

Now, the predicament - do we let you sleep or do we wake you up getting back in the cab to head home... Decisions decisions. Thankfully your Mimi is not real good about decisions, at least in aquarium gift shops, so we lingered in that shop for a pretty long time, and then decided to get a cab to head back to the hotel. Here's where cab ride #2 turns out, well, bad... See when you wake up (or are woken up) before it truly is time for you to wake up from your nap, you tend to be, well, a little crabby. Okay, a lot crabby. And so you cried the whole ride home. Asking for things that I had no control of helping, telling us to stop touching you, to saying "NO!!!!!!" to everything we asked, until finally FINALLY I remembered I had M&Ms in the diaper bag!!! At first, you weren't too thrilled, but then within seconds it's like your whole mood was uplifted and pushed out that cab window! Now, for the record, I am not a fan of giving you M&Ms to calm you down, but at this point, I was out of options!! Of course, Mimi just encouraged it by suggesting maybe you get 2 this time instead of your usual 1. That Mimi... So, 2 M&Ms later and you were as happy as can be, and we were back at the hotel. Thankfully I had an apple that I'd brought back from breakfast, so I let you eat that to make me feel better for feeding you those candies!!! (as you can see, some of the M&Ms stayed on your face, maybe saving them for later???)

After getting you cleaned up a little, we got ready for our big spending spree back at The AG Store. Of course, you played the whole time while we shopped, shopped and shopped!

Here's you putting the babies to sleep, all 3 of them, and then you decided to lay down with them. You are going to be an awesome Mommy, no doubt!

Finally we were done shopping, and guess what, you walked away with a precious baby, to which you later named Kate, thanks to a little help from Daddy. So Baby Kate and Mommy were tickled pink to have each other!!!

Once we left the shop emptied handed (we got everything shipped back to us! Lesson 3 learned - no need to pack extra suitcases if you plan to buy at The AG store, as they will ship, free of charge!!!). So, as I said, we left the shop emptied handed, well, except you with your new Baby Kate, and headed where else, but to the Hershey store!!! I tell you what, I'm not sure which was more exciting to Mimi, the AG store or the Hershey store, and Mommy wasn't too far behind her!!!! You, of course, just begged and begged for a bite of our brownies, and Mimi taught you to say "Yummy in my tummy" no matter whether you liked it or not!!!

You only took a couple bites, which was probably a good thing because it was VERY chocolatey and we weren't too far from eating dinner - of course, that didn't stop Mommy or Mimi!!! We walked along the streets of Chicago, hoping to wear off some of that Hershey, and finally made it to dinner where you did so good, yet again! After a very delicious meal, and a quick walk back to the hotel, we were, again, all ready for bed, you and Mimi a little more eager...

Don't worry, Mommy wasn't too far behind! Another great day in Chicago! Oh, did I mention the weather was absolutely FABULOUS?!!! I even asked the hotel guy who said this was WAY out of the ordinary. We didn't have to wear jackets and the breeze was so pleasant!!! Beautiful days, and it even got better the next day... LOVES to you big girl traveler!!