Chicago II

One thing I must point out about our day is the picture perfect weather we experienced. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cool. It was probably high 70's or low 80's with a slight breeze.


We finished our meal at the Weber Grill and began walking back to Michigan Ave. Aliyah wanted to stop and take some pictures at the Watertower Square...

From there, we crossed the busy street (where a vehicle started to back up on us) and went to the Watertower Mall. Every time we go in there, I recall the scene of the movie "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson walking through there in the makeup section. Anyway, we found some stores and some stuff for Josh and I. Aliyah loved riding the glass elevators that go really fast from the top to the bottom and vice-versa. We had to ride them every time because there are 7 floors and Chicago is very strict on the no stroller policy on an escalator. In fact, the American Girl store has escalator watchers. They make sure nobody and I mean nobody takes the escalator with a stroller. Once we were finished shopping, we stopped and sat down for a little snack of Auntie Anne's pretzels. They were yummy and the break to put down the bags was nice.

We left and Aliyah decided she wanted another trip inside the AG store. The second trip was much better in that the people had cleared quite a bit and it was much easier to move about. Both girls really enjoyed the Bitty Twins and Bitty Baby section. Keirah pushed around a stroller forever and gave us definite birthday ideas for her birthday =). We got 2 more items on that trip--one of them was a feeding set for a Bitty Baby...it was a lifesaver on the train ride home. It kept Keirah entertained.

Since Ralph Lauren is right next door to AG and since RL designed the US Olympic clothing, we decided to go in and look around. We like his clothes. The store is really cool. You kind of feel like you are in a parlor in one portion. There is also a restaurant with a very cool outdoor area. Since it looked to be pretty business-like at least the times we walked by, we didn't go since we had both kids and a stroller in tow. Anyway, the Olympic stuff was very cool, although quite pricey. One of the Polo shirts was $125.00. I guess if you really wanted it, however the Olympics are over and done with in 2 weeks and then what do you do with it?? We looked into the room with the dress shirts...some of them were $470.00. There didn't appear to be anything overly special about the dress shirt, but apparently there was something that we didn't quite detect =).

We stepped outside the RL store to wait for a bus to take us back to the train station. We had quite a lot of stuff to carry along with the stroller and such. I snapped a few photos while we waited...

Following our rush-hour bus ride, we made it safely back to Union Station and had time to take some pictures of the very cool hall. The last time I was at Union Station a few months back, there was a wedding reception that they were getting ready for so I didn't get any pictures.

Aliyah was practically asleep before we even pulled out of Union Station, however Josh described Keirah like a caged animal. She was ready to walk all around. He took her through several train cars to get a drink at the snack car. Fortunately, her AG toys helped entertain her. I must mention that the conductor on the train was very nice and talked to us several times. Aliyah informed him of her birthday. He went on the speaker and made an announcement and wished her a happy birthday. She was sitting in the seat just smiling away shyly.

Our day in Chicago wore Aliyah out--us too. We got home late and it was time to get ready for bed. Oh yes, Josh's take on the AG store...he says that he thinks it is geared towards moms. I asked why and he said because all of the grandma's, aunts, and mothers take the little girls there for this experience and it is like reliving childhood for them. He observed that there aren't any commercials for AG--at least not that we've seen. He noted that you do things in the AG store like mothers do...hair do's, pictures with your little girl "doll", etc... Maybe that's why the store is like one big estrogen trip =). That said, we are ready to go back in a few weeks to shop for Kiki's b-day. Side note...Aliyah wanted to take a carriage ride, however there wasn't room to take our stroller with us. We will take one on the next visit though.
Happy 6th Birthday, Aliyah!!

Chicago

The past week has been overly busy. There was a trip to St. Louis, a trip to Chicago, 2 birthdays, work, a trip to the pool, landscaping, housecleaning, Olympics to watch etc... That explains my lack of posting for the week.



We awoke early Tuesday morning on Aliyah's birthday to get ready to leave for Chicago. Aliyah was super excited to ride the train first of all. It was Keirah's first train ride, although Aliyah has ridden the blue/red lines in Chicago before.

We were all excited to arrive and find a bus waiting to take us right to the American Girl store. It didn't take long, but wow--bus drivers just do whatever they please while driving in Chicago. It's funny to me that children have to be restrained only in cars, but not in buses, trains, or airplanes. I must mention that on the bus ride back, the bus started to go before Aliyah was even in a seat and she fell to the ground. No harm done, though. Once we arrived at AG, Aliyah wandered around in overwhelmed wonder.

There were so many dolls and accessories, Aliyah said that "her thoughts were a little mixed up"...meaning she couldn't decide.

She ended up with the doll she is looking at in the picture--Julie. She also got a Bitty Twins tea cart, and an AG mini. She only wanted one--we felt like we were let off cheap. Following the first trip to AG which was like an estrogen injection that no one needs, she wanted to go to the Hershey's store. Yes, we had dessert before eating lunch, but who cares when it's your 6 year old birthday.

We chose some delectable looking desserts...and yes they were every bit as yummy as they looked. Aliyah made Josh eat the frosting off hers, and then she savored every last bit of chocolate.

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Following dessert, we headed over to State street to the Weber Grill for a very yummy lunch. Aliyah loved it! She had grilled cheese, fries, lemonade, and fruit. The beer can chicken that Josh had was awesome!! Since we chose to eat on the covered patio streetside area... this little dude came to visit at the end of our meal. He was the only one. He enjoyed little bits of grilled cheese that he found under Kiki's seat.

Aliyah was proud of the coloring book that she colored at Weber Grill. She insisted that I take a picture of it.

Following lunch, we headed back to Michigan Avenue for more fun. Two items of note....

Pottery Barn is gone from Michigan Avenue. They left abruptly in June and the building which is next to Tiffany's was sold for $350 million. I was dissapointed because I really wanted to go to PB. The other item of note, AG is moving from it's Rush/Michigan location to Watertower mall in October I believe. I imagine the new location will be bigger and allow for more estrogen-filled days and $$ to just flow out of parent's pockets into their registers =).

More on the rest of our day in Chicago including Josh's take on the AG store in my next post.