Surprised in Chicago

On the spur of the moment, we decided to take advantage of having Good Friday off by heading to Chicago.

Friday was reserved for exploring the city. This is a gigantic bean at the Millennium park:
Can you see us?

Gabby and Alex were big fans of the bean.

Then it was off to see Lake Michigan--which is quite big I might add.

Then there was the token melt downs because the kids had to walk so much.

Again, Lake Michigan:

More of the city...

And then Gabby discovered the American Girl Place. Suddenly she became very excited about the TWO American Girl dolls sitting in her closet at home (which she has NEVER played with).

After prying Gabby away from the doll store, we let her hold the largest Hershey's Candy bar. All the while I was sending my little brother in Utah pictures of us to make him jealous. Somewhere near the Sears Tower (which is no longer called the Sears Tower by the way but I can't remember the new name so I'm sticking with tradition), my mom got wind from my brother that we were in Chicago. She called my phone.

"Are you in Chicago?"

"Why yes we are Mom," I replied.

"BRUCE [my step-dad] IS IN CHICAGO!!!"

"Seriously???"

So I called my s-dad and asked him nonchalantly where he was. He confirmed that he was in fact in Chicago for a Shakespeare conference. "Well that's only four hours away from our house." I said. "If we drive out there will you pay for dinner?" I added jokingly.

"Sure!"

"What hotel are you staying at?" I asked.

"The Regency Hyatt, why?"

"NO WAY!"

"WE'RE STAYING AT THE REGENCY HYATT TOO!!!"

So we got free dinner...at Giordano's which is apparently a big deal. AND we got to see family, which is an even bigger deal.

that is cheese folks:

Following dinner, we took "Grandpa Bruce" to see the big bean.

Then it was back to the hotel where Nadia, the receptionist had sent the kids night time snacks and drinks.

They were overjoyed. Now Gabby has informed me that she will only stay in Hyatts' from here on out.

Cheers!

Saturday we said our goodbyes to Grandpa and we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry (Gabby is fascinated with science-particularly with weather phenomena and they had a 40 foot tornado so we HAD to go). Some how I forgot to take a picture of Gabby with the tornado, but here are some other highlights:

Static electricity at work:
Ship deck:

Train set:

Bubbles:

Oliver was thrilled to find a river full of balls and an air pipe to shoot the balls up. He was bound and determined to get every ball up the pipe and was simply devastated when our time in that particular exhibit was over.

When first discovering the air pipe, and letting his first ball go, Noah made the mistake of telling Oliver to say "bye bye to the ball." Immediately, Oliver burst into tears until Noah showed him that he could just grab another ball.

Squirt gun for Alex:

That pretty much sums up one of the very best weekend trips we've ever had.