Chicago Vacation

Our Travel Bin 

We took Kaylie to Chicago this last weekend. We were going to Zach's Cousin Morgan's wedding so we decided to make it into a family vacation.

Lincoln Park Zoo

We started out on Friday morning around 6 a.m.; Zach, Kaylie & I were in our car and Zach's parents & sister were in another car. We grabbed breakfast and headed on our way. Kaylie was great in the car, probably because we were very prepared. I took some advice from Pinterest and made a travel bin. I got things from the clearance and $1 bins at Target. I got a notebook & crayons, a beach ball, pool toys, a Duplo set, ColorWonder Markers & pad, Mickey books, and we made sensory bottles. I then wrapped a few of them so that she had something to open up. She loved this and she has gotten good and unwrapping presents...she will be ready for Christmas I am sure. Zach also got our tablet set up with Mickey & some Disney movies. She loved this!

Napping with Daddy

We ate lunch in Elgin, IL around 11 a.m. and headed on our way. We got to the hotel about noon and got checked in. Once we were checked in we headed downtown Chicago. We decided to start our trip out at the Lincoln Park Zoo. It is a free zoo so we thought it would be fun to check it out. At first, all the animals were hiding, but we finally got to see them. Kaylie loved the animals even though she was very tired because she only got a 45 minute nap.

The Everman Family

Mickey!

After the zoo, we decided down to Navy Pier. It was an interesting experience since it was rush hour on Friday night in downtown Chicago. We parked down at the Pier and walked down the Pier for a little bit. Bubba Gump's was our choice for dinner that night. It was good, Kaylie feel asleep on me so I had a hard time eating. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went to bed pretty earlier. Kaylie slept the whole night in the hotel without waking up...first time ever.

Dancing at the wedding

Saturday morning, we woke up and ate at the hotel. We then decided to take Kaylie swimming for a little bit. After that Zach, Ashley, Kaylie & I went to the mall that was just down the street. We went to the Disney Store and got Kaylie a Minnie Doll & little Princesses. Kaylie didn't seem to be feeling well so we got her back to take a nap, which she ended up taking on daddy. We got ready and headed to the wedding. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor wedding. We had a great meal and got to dance a little. Kaylie had a blast even though she seemed to have a stomach bug.

The Bean!

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early and ate at the hotel. We packed up and then headed back into town again. We decided that Willis Tower was the first stop so we parked down by the tower and headed there. It was quite fun and Kaylie was fearless of course. She sat out on the sky deck and didn't want to leave. I was happy that Zach finally got to see the city from the Tower. We then headed to Millennium Park and saw the bean. Kaylie loved this because she kept seeing the baby in it. It was lunch time so we ate at the cafe there at the park. It was pretty good and Kaylie finally was feeling better and ate all of her hot dog.

Zach & I at the Fountain

 After lunch, we headed to the Buckingham Fountain which was on the way to the Shedd Aquarium.We were all starting to get tired so we didn't stay very long; we continued on  to the Shedd. We walked along the Lake which was beautiful. We got to the Shedd and there was a huge line because was a little scary. Luckily, we had a stroller so we got to skip the line. The Shedd Aquarium was an amazing place and Kaylie loved it. She loved the Aquatic Show the best, which was my favorite too because there were Dolphins. They are my favorite! We then headed back to our car, Kaylie finally feel asleep on the way to the car. We then headed on our way, it took us about 45 minutes to get out of Chicago because we ran into traffic. Kaylie did great on the trip back again, she played with her toys and watched movies. I turned the tablet off right around 8 p.m. and she feel asleep shortly after and slept all the way home.

At the Aquarium with Papa!

Willis Tower...our fearless child!

We had a great trip and it went much better than we thought it would have. It was harder to take a trip with a 1 year, but it was a lot of fun too.