Chicago VI

Following our time at the Oprah show, it was definitely time for lunch. We were all well past starving. We headed over to Chili's (our old-faithful restaurant). It was as yummy as could be. All along the way, we were talking about how we couldn't believe we got to experience Oprah and see all of those Olympians. On that note, I found a pic of the men's gymnastics team being silly.
Our plans after lunch were to go to all of the rest of the stores that we still wanted to visit. Josh wanted to go to the newly-opened Crocs store on State St. We left and began walking. We walked and walked and walked and eventually made it to the Crocs store. We found Keirah a cute pair of shoes and then headed back up towards our hotel. We stopped at Caribou Coffee since we had a coupon from our Oprah trip earlier in the day. We had some yummy drinks there. We also visited the mall on Michigan to pick up a few things. Aliyah enjoyed the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store. The Lego store was fun as well.

We went back to our hotel and sat for a couple of minutes--it was more like we all visited the restroom, re-arranged all of the bags and went to claim our baggage from the bellman. They suggested a cab to Union Station. They whistled and there it was. It was a quick cab ride and a nice driver. We can say that we have taken every mode of public transportation in Chicago--train, water taxi, regular taxi, trolley, and bus. We had some time to wait in the train station. We saw everything from full-fledged Amish to some very hippy-earth loving folks.

It was our best trip ever--that's saying a lot. It magically beat out Florida. I think that was because it had everything that we like as a family all in one place. It had the beach and sand that looks like the ocean and plenty of things to do when you aren't swimming or chillin! There are many hours in a day and there was never a shortage of evening activities in Chicago. The hotel was wonderful and a super Hotwire deal. Some of the best things that we did were free--how is that possible?? We didn't pay a penny to have the Oprah experience. We had some great shopping experiences--when else do you get to shop by yourself at AG or Coach or the nice stores of Michigan?? The restaurant choices are endless and great!! You could eat at a different place for every meal every day for months and still not try all of the places Chicago has to offer. I will post a montage of pictures from the trip that I haven't posted before.
I thought this garden was gorgeous. Maybe if I have a garden like this--I will win next year's garden contest hands down! This is at Navy Pier.









The above pictues are a shot of Buckingham Fountains and the Chicago Theatre on State St.

The following pictures are Oprah's digs--it is almost right next to the Drake Hotel. She lives in the Gold Coast area--Chicago's $$ district. Also, you will see some of the shops along Oak Street (Chicago's version of LA's Rodeo Drive).

Well, that concludes my pictures and stories thus far from this trip to Chicago. I will be posting more pictures on Facebook so, if you are my friend on FB, check them out there. I have so many more that I just didn't have room to post here. Time for Shutterfly!

Oh My!

Short & sweet as we have just arrived home. I have probably 1 month's worth of posts that I could write about after our trip, but let's just say...it was awesome and I had an OLYMPIC EXPERIENCE today. You all know if you have read my blog that I LOVE THE OLYMPICS and miss them greatly still--well do I have stories to tell!! However, you will have to wait and see until I get around to writing them and hopefully I get it written before Monday Sept. 8th, 2008 b/c that's when OPRAH's OLYMPIC show is on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's all I will say for now. OLYMPICS, OLYMPICS, OLYMPICS!!!

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!!