The Day of Plan B's

The plan was for the four of us and my mom to head down to Chicago to have a little city fun and meet up with Sean's brother and family as they drove down from Michigan back to their Indiana home via Chicago (i.e. traveling an extra couple hours just to see us, the sweethearts). That goal was achieved but all the details ended up a little differently than expected.

The Plan: Travel on train down to the city. The boys would get a kick out of being on a train plus they aren't confined to car seats the whole way. And no one would have the burden of being the driver.
What Actually Happened: After leaving the house a teensy bit later than planned (the boys woke up grumpy so everything took longer) and having to TURN AROUND to go back for my forgotten camera, we opted to not chance going to the train station only to miss it. Mom drove us the whole way down.

Luckily, mom's van has these gigantic windows and low seat headrests, so the boys got great views.

All those semi trucks on the highway made for a generally whine-free trip, yay!

The Plan: For our pre-nap activity we wanted to wander around the Shedd Aquarium. I love that place and haven't been in ages.
What Actually Happened: We arrived at the Shedd and the line was running out the door. Apparently half the population of the state had the same idea as we had. We waited in the cold a bit then someone in line just ahead of us learned that we were about an hour from purchasing tickets. Excuse me? An hour? It's cold! So Sean and Liam went to check on the lines for the nearby Field Museum. He called me to report the line was a bit shorter and all inside, so we made the switch. It did end up being longer than we expected and we probably would have gotten into the Shedd at the same time as the Field but c'est la vie.

The boys loved it just the same. The minute we walked into that great hall, Liam and Dash were pointing at everything. The Elephants were the first to catch their eye.

But then, my oh my, they were drawn like a Winnie the Pooh to honey toward the feature attraction.

Oh how they loved it so. What was it?

Sue. Sue the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Be still my little boys' hearts!

Those are some fierce jaws. Keep your distance around those puppies.

We visited some dioramas and some more dinosaur bones. Like you'd expect, the kids went hog wild over all the animals. Especially if their displays had buttons.

Here's Dash tweeting like all the birds in the case.

The Plan: After leisurely perusing the museum, find a place for lunch. Then have the boys fall asleep in the stroller for their nap. Not something we EVER do but there really wasn't much option. Meet Kyle and fam at 3pm.
What Actually Happened: Because the entry line took so much time, we very hurriedly looked through a tiny bit of the Field, then discovered that the one restaurant in the place had a horrifyingly long line. We thought there was another place but it was just a little room with tables to eat your own lunch. I had brought a couple fruit items for the boys and luckily my mom had brought a little bit too. So the kids enjoyed a lunch of bananas, blueberries, and oranges. We adults didn't have much of a lunch at all.

By this time, we were nicely past naptime and it was showing. Oh, also, we discovered that the planned 3pm meeting time was Eastern time, really 2pm. Thanks for making that connection, mom. SOOO we scuttled off to the Sears Tower and the boys promptly fell asleep in the car. Trying to gently move them to the stroller worked for Dash but Liam was up again at the first touch. So he got about 10 minutes of sleep. Dash woke up 20 minutes later. Awesome, eh?

But we DID meet the Indiana Bradleys! Yay! Look at that sweet little girl. Oh those boys love their Avery Baby cousin.

The Plan: Enjoy an exciting trip up the Sears Tower (okay, Willis Tower, whatever) and then venture to Millennium Park. Who wouldn't want to see the Bean?
What Actually Happened: Apparently the other half of the state that didn't go to the museums went to the Sears Tower. There was a lot of line waiting. So much so that Millennium Park was off the table.

They jam packed those elevators. Also, I did not know my face looked like this when I took pictures. That's bothersome.

They break up the lines a bit so it doesn't seem so long. There's a line, then an elevator ride, then a line and a security check, then a few interactive games, a movie, and a line, and then another elevator ride.

Here's Liam in one of the moments he wasn't rolling around on the ground whining. Lack of sleep does unhappy things to my children. Leaving such a good impression on our extended family.

It was great, though, that we got to spend all that time with Kyle, Lindsay, and Avery.

And we finally made it to the top! Dash and Liam zipped straight to the railings, hopped right over and onto the venting units, and pressed their foreheads up against the glass.

It was quite a view

Sean admitted he'd been wanting to go to the top of the Sears Tower since we started dating. That's 2003, people. That's a long time to wait!

Katie, the girl from Chicagoland, finally makes it up to the top of the skyscraper. Now I can finally say I belong. Except I now live in Texas. Dang.

Avery took a moment to pose for the picture...

Then had to get back to sightseeing.

Mom, who has a bit of acrophobia, was doing surprisingly well looking out of those big, high windows.

Did I mention that my kids loved those windows? They loved it.

They are shaping up to be just like their daddy (just what I was hoping!).

We got up there as it was starting to get dark. The street lights came on but you could still see the city fine- it was perfect.

A perfect place for a little contemplation.

And then... and then there were these things:

Big glass boxes that jut out of the wall and hang over the city. Yes, glass bottom and everything.

And my brave (brave?) boys just walked on out like it was nothing.

I bet they were wishing we had windows like these. That's the way to do it!

We made our way out too. That first step is so... weird. You have to override your brain to make your leg work. But override I did. It's quite similar, I'd imagine, to Indiana Jones taking that first step onto the camouflaged bridge in The Last Crusade. Then sitting down to take this picture made me feel like I was about to lose my delicate balance and gravity would win. But it was SUPER awesome, no matter how weird  it was. Really, BECAUSE it was so weird.

Mom, MY MOM, even went out! She closed her eyes for most of it but peeked for a tiny bit, so it totally counts. It was so crowded to get into these boxes that I couldn't manage a better picture than this. Proud of you, mom!

We took one last look around the city before it was time to say goodbye.

Dash and Liam will never be the same.

Goodbye, Sears Tower, the lines were worth it. And goodbye Bradleys, it was a marvelous few hours with you! Hope you had fun!

And so, the Day of Plan B's worked out just fine. Especially once the kids got in the car and slept all the way home.