Life in the Slow Lane: Fun in Chicago

Of course the big event of the summer, and the reason we were having our family vacation in Chicago this year, was Abby and Neil's wedding!! Since the time before and after the wedding was going to be our only chance for getting the whole family together, I started looking for a place to rent for a week or so, rather than spending all that time in a hotel. After some searching on VRBO we ended up renting a duplex that was close to Abby's old apartment, to Abby and Neil's new apartment, and also to the church. It worked out really well for us---3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, cable TV (when it worked), wireless internet, air conditioning, and kitchen (not set up for a lot of cooking, and the freezer barely kept popsicles frozen, but we managed.) The cable situation was a bit frustrating at times, especially since it was World Cup time. But, we survived that, too. Oh, and one other thing---we were VERY close to the EL tracks. I think that by the end of our time there most of us were sleeping through the night in spite of the train. But if you were outside when a train came by, it pretty much made conversation impossible. And Evan would drop whatever he was holding so that he could cover his ears until the train was gone. They do go by quite frequently---especially during early morning and late afternoon hours.

We checked into our place on Monday afternoon and got settled. We met Abby and Neil at Chipotle for dinner, and the Wissinks arrived just as we were getting back from dinner. Matt and Cheryl's family arrived Tuesday, around noon I think. As I think back on our time there, I have trouble remembering just what we did each day. So I'll just post the pictures I have, and maybe it will come back to me when I post them. There was a nice playground just a few blocks from our place, and we took advantage of that quite often.

I think it was Wednesday morning that we went to a different playground in Lincoln Park. This one had a splash area which was great.....but our time there was cut short because of a storm that sent us dashing (a few blocks) to our cars. I only got one picture there.

Wednesday seemed to be our day for getting caught in the rain. We met Abby and her friends Lauren and Ashly for dinner at Art of Chicken. We had asked Abby to suggest restaurants that were kid-friendly and within walking distance. (Yeah, the whole parking thing in Chicago is a pain!) So, it was definitely kid-friendly and the chicken was great. And it was not very far to walk, but it was pouring rain when we had to walk home.

On Thursday we decided to take a ride on that noisy train that ran right by our place, so we took the EL downtown and went to Millennium Park. Of course we had to get some pictures by the Bean.

Evan is so strong!!

We just happened upon an orchestra rehearsal going on, so we sat down to enjoy that for a while and also had some snacks.

The music inspired Josie to do some dancing.

And the boys even joined in.

This is one of my favorite shots!

Buckingham fountain

Friday morning started out with Dad's pancakes. That is usually a Sunday thing, but the bride had put in a special request to have them on Friday. So he obliged, in spite of having very little in the way of kitchen equipment. There wasn't even a spatula---he had to flip the pancakes with a fork! But the pancakes were as good as ever.