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!!

Chicago - Day 1

Dear Abigail,

My goodness, what a fantastic trip we had!!! On Thursday, Mommy, Mimi and you set off to the great windy city, Chicago, for a little girls getaway, and boy, was it a blast! And oh how everything just seemed to work out - I love those kind of vacations!!

Thursday morning, Daddy dropped the three of us off at the airport, along with all 5 of our bags, a stroller, a car seat and 3 carry on bags! Yes, we took a lot of bags, but in our defense, we knew we'd be coming home with a lot more, so we had to have lots of extra room!! Mommy was a little nervous about the whole plane flying thing with you and went back and forth on whether to take the car seat on the plane, but finally after much analysis (and an article from the FAA), I decided to take it on the plane and let you sit in that. When we got to the airport, we had a quick lunch and then you finally saw your first airplane! You had been so excited about flying on an airplane and told us numerous times "It won't hurt you" to which we assured that yes, indeed, it will not hurt you. So when you saw the plane up close and personal, boy did the excitement level accelerate!! Once lunch was over, Mimi took you for a quick diaper change just to be on the safe side and Mommy decided to head to the gate to double check if there was anything else I needed to do since this was my first time traveling with a toddler and all. Well thank goodness I asked!! The lady at the desk informed me, very nicely nonetheless, that your car seat needed to be FAA approved, otherwise it was not allowed on the plane. Hmmm, I do not recall that piece of information in that article aforementioned... SO, after a quick look over, we discovered your car seat was indeed NOT FAA approved. Oh bummer... At this point I got a little nervous, and a bit perturbed but I wasn't going to let it get this trip started on a bad foot. So, after checking the car seat, we headed down to board the plane. Well, as you may know, the airline is kind enough to take your stroller right when you are boarding the plane. I think that's a perfect idea, however, you were VERY concerned about your stroller. I'm pretty sure you asked "Where my stroller go?" at least 2 dozen times and that was just until we actually got to our seat. After we got to our seat, Mimi told you it was outside, being loaded, which didn't help matters because then you wanted to see it, which we couldn't make happen. To say the least, you asked over and over again about your poor stroller and all I could do was pray that stroller did not get lost or damaged between Nashville and Chicago!!!

So now we're on the plane, you are buckled up just like a big girl and so happy to be on a plane! It kind of made Mommy sad seeing you sit all by yourself, but at the same time, so proud. I was getting a little concerned about the whole ear popping thing and kept insisting you drink from your sippy cup as we were taking off, but you had no interest in that and just wanted to keep looking out the window at the clouds!! You did perfectly, not a single tear and I even heard a 'WEEEEE" a couple of times! As soon as they turned the seat belt sign off, we let you out of your seat in hopes of maybe taking a nap in Mimi's lap. Jokes on me! No way were you taking a nap on a plane! You were having a blast looking out the window, showing Lovey the clouds, and even playing peek-a-boo with the boy in the seat behind you. You kept saying "See, see little boy, see!" and pointing to the clouds or plane wing! When we were landing, Mimi had to even trade seats with you so you could sit by the window! Overall, you first solo flight (you flew when you were 9 months old in Mommy's lap) was a total success!

Well, we arrived in Chicago, and new we had to find some help with all those bags. Guess what - those sky cap guys that are ALWAYS right at your side when you don't need them, well, they were all in a meeting. All of them. I asked multiple people. SO, somehow, we lugged all those bags to the taxi line, along with you in the stroller, to which you fell immediately to sleep. You continued to sleep the whole ride to the hotel, but as soon as we pulled up, you were up and at them, and so happy to be in Ti-tago!

Once we got things situated in the hotel, and you jumped from one bed to the other about 2 dozen times, we decided we'd head straight to the store which rallied this trip in the first place - American Girl Store!!! Of course, we had to take in the big city life of the grand Magnificent Mile and got suckered in to the Disney store first!! One Ariel later, and we were back on the streets. Finally we made it to the store, and oh my, what a store it was!!! We were all in heaven, I'm positive on that. I couldn't tell who was more excited, you or Mimi! After asking the lady that works there 'Where do we even start' (yes, we totally asked!), we decided to look in 'your' section first - that's code for the Bitty Baby section. And look is what we did! While you were busy playing with the babies they had on display, Mommy and Mimi studied every last one of those babies and all their outfits and accessories, and even took a few notes!!

Of course, we walked all around that store, and there is no doubt in my mind we will be making multiple trips to Chicago in years to come for one reason and one reason alone, although I am sure I can come up with other excuses if your Daddy insist!!

After a tour of the hair salon and the hospital and the vet hospital and the snack shop and ALL the dolls and their stuff, we decided we'd better get something in our bellies. Well, there's one place you HAVE to eat at when in Chicago, and that's Gino's Pizza, and there is ONE thing you have to eat - Chicago style pizza. Thankfully we had perfect timing, and walked in right when a line was starting to form to be seated. We were lucky enough to not have to wait, and thank goodness because the second we sat down our waitress informed us that the pizza takes a full 45 minutes to cook! And she wasn't lying, at all. Thankfully Mimi was there to help pass the time because you and me both got a little inpatient (and hungry)...

But, at the end of the day, it was worth the wait! And I'm pretty sure you'd agree!

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and you just soaked up all the city-ness, loving every minute of it. Back at the hotel, I was a little concerned how it would work out with you going to sleep because, although I was pretty exhausted, I wasn't exactly ready to turn out the lights at 7:30. Of course you got to sleep with Mimi, and Mimi did a good job of acting like she was sleeping, while Mommy sat in the dark counting the seconds between each time you'd sing a song, hoping it was the last time. That's right missy, you are a singer. You sang a TON of songs, then did a little "One arm up. Two arms up. One arm down." routines and then you did it with lovey, but finally you put yourself to sleep and Mommy got to turn the TV on. I learned 2 lessons that day: 1) always ensure your car seat is FAA approved before lugging it around an airport. and 2) always get a suite!!!

So far, a perfect start to a girls weekend baby love!!! And it only gets better!!!!...

A Heck of a Busy Saturday

Dear Abigail,

Yowzers, did we have a busy Saturday. First, we had your last ZooBabes class, to which you met a screeching owl and a rat - okay, fine, it wasn't a rat, it just looked like a rat, but I can't remember what it was - some kind of mammal looking rat... Anyway, you were happy to meet both of them and had a good time wrapping up your zoo session.

After the zoo, we headed straight home to freshen up and head to Cole's birthday party! Mommy and Daddy liked this birthday party because it incorporated our interests as well. It was a UT birthday party - including 2 tv's, one inside, one outside, with the football game on! And you loved it - okay, not so much the game, but you loved playing with Chloe and her sandbox/treehouse/playground! You immediately saw that sand and threw your shoes off including socks and climbed right in. Thankfully the game occupied Mommy's attention enough to not get too concerned with how messy you were getting. You played and played, and I got you to eat a little, but then it was straight to playing again! Eventually, it was clear a nap was in our best interest, and the game was going south very quickly, and well, frankly I wasn't sure how Daddy was going to hold up, so for the sake of all of us, we headed home at half time. Oh, and PS - not a single picture. I took the camera, just left it in the car...

After a fairly short nap (you are SOOO not taking long naps any more, but, even the quick 45 minute to an hour ones help...), we got you bathed and prettied up again just to head back out! We were headed to a fish fry! One of Daddy's friends, Mr. Chuck, has an annual fish fry; however, this was the first year we were finally able to make it and what yummy fish it was! Or I should say what yummy 'fried' it was! Everything was fried - french fries, hush puppies, fish - all of it was so yummy, but you seemed to steer more towards the veggies!! (not really, i just caught you eating some brocolli! You love you some french fries!!!)

Mommy was a little worried about how you would do at the fry because I had been warned that there were lots of fryers everywhere, which means danger with a capital D! But, thankfully there were other kiddos there, older ones, who were very helpful in watching over you. So I loosened up a bit and let you walk around with them. The little boy, who's name I cannot remember, Austin maybe... anyway, the little boy was particularly fond of you and taught you to blow bubbles and how to ride your bee and even went on a walk with you (and me, of course). When we were leaving he ran up to you and said "I'm going to miss you Abigail!!!". So sweet, stealing those little boys hearts already...

You ended up getting to bed a little later than usual, considering the long day we had, but when you finally hit the sack, so did your momma!!!! We were all just exhausted from our busy busy Saturday, and when Sunday came around, we decided to just chill. Okay, not for long, but we did head to the park where we ended up playing for a long long time! We even went for a walk, and discovered a little trail to go on next time. After a bit of time relaxing at home after the park, we headed to Uncle Jaybe's to watch the Titans game and you go to play with Ellie and Papa!! You girls did so good playing in "Tent City" while we watched the game. We had to take a little break at half time to play outside, but overall, you girls can really entertain yourselves! Finally, Sunday night was here, and our busy weekend came to an end. Love you baby girl - business and all!!!!

7 Layers of Pure Goodness Cookies

Dear Abigail,

No words are necessary here - only pics...

YUMMY IN MY TUMMY!!!!!! You are an excellent cook - excellent!