Chicago

I know it's been many moons since I have posted.  Time certainly flies.
Taking advantage of the time I have off, Raju, Samara and I decided to take a long weekend and go to Chicago.  It was our first time there and we very much enjoyed it.

Thursday July 26
We flew Porter so it was a quick cab ride to the airport for our 9:35a.m. flight.  The lounge area was packed as many flights to New York were cancelled due to stormy weather.  Raju bumped into several people he knew and also an old primary school/high-school friend of mine.  Our flight was delayed about 1/2 an hour.  Samara was a bit fussy at this point as she had a bad cold and it was also her nap time.  I managed to get her to sleep by doing several rounds of the lounge, however as soon as we got on the plane she woke up.  Nursing manged to keep her occupied and then she fell asleep again so she was manageable.
We arrived in Chicago to nice weather and caught a cab to our hotel (Millenium Knickerbocker).  Unfortunately our room was not ready, but that was to be expected as we got there before check-in.  So we went to the hotel restaurant for lunch.  It was ok, but not the best food I've ever had.  I had the crab cake sandwich and Raju had a burger.  By this point Samara was fussy again, so I nursed and walked her around and she fell asleep.  We checked again for our room but no luck.  We decided that we would do a quick walk around the neighbourhood to acquaint ourselves with our surroundings.  After a quick walk down Magnificent Mile (very similar to Yorkville), we went back and got our room.  There we were able to unpack and Samara was able to crawl around on the ground after being cooped up for so long.
After we unpacked we decided to take it easy as Samara was pretty fussy.  I bathed her and put her in her sleeper and then in the carrier and we thought we would get some take out.  She fell asleep pretty much as soon as we headed out so we tried our luck at eating at a restaurant.  We found a place called Jake Melnick that boasted having pretty good wings (award winning).  They had wings on the menu PB&J which we didn't try, but Raju tried some other ones that he quite enjoyed.  I opted for the steak sandwich which was tasty as well.  Raju was curious about the name, so the waiter told us the story.  Apparently he is the owner's driver and won a bet, so he got a restaurant named after him.  Towards the end of our meal, Samara woke up and then it was back to the hotel to put her down and stay in for the night.

Friday July 27
This morning we leisurely got up, Raju had to deal with some work stuff and then we headed out.  Samara fell asleep for her morning nap, so we found a nice restaurant (Tempo) and were able to eat brunch in peace.  I had waffles with fruit on the side.  Samara woke up so I decided to feed her some fruit.  The strawberries were ok, but she has decided she does not like bananas.
After breakfast we headed back to the hotel and got ourselves ready for our day.  After packing up the stroller we headed out to Millenium Park.  Raju wanted to see the big bean.  It was pretty neat.  We also took in a little bit of an orchestra concert happening and found a family fun pavillion.
After this we headed to Navy Pier,  we walked around for a while and then ate lunch at Bubba Gump's.  Afterwards we took a ride on the ferris wheel and then back to the hotel.  After our evening ritual of getting Samara ready we headed out again.  This time we just went to a foodcourt nearby and got something quick to eat.  Raju tried a deep dish pizza while I had a regular slice of pizza.

Saturday July 28
We got up and got going this morning.  We had breakfast at The Pancake House.  Of course I had pancakes which I shared with Samara.  She sat in a high chair here and made friends with everyone on the patio.  After breakfast we walked down to the river where I nursed Samara and she fell asleep for her morning nap.   We decided to take a lake/river tour.  It was interesting.  Chicago has some beautiful architecture.  Afterwards we walked back and found a restaurant for lunch.  We had hoped that Samara would sleep through our meal, but she woke up.  That was ok, back in a high chair for her and we finished our meal.  We also decided to do some shopping today.  I got an outfit for Samara and Raju got some shirts at H&M.  We also went to The Disney Store where I picked up a Belle doll for Samara.
Back at the hotel I started packing and got some help from Samara. We really decided to stay in as Samara was tuckered out and fell asleep quite quickly, so we ordered room service.  I hate doing that as it is always so expensive and such a rip off.

Sunday July 29
We were leaving today but had some time.  We headed in the other direction up to Lincoln Park.  We had a quick breakfast of McDonald's and ate it in the park.  We then continued to the zoo.  It's free so I thought it would just be a petting zoo, but no it was a full zoo, with tigers,lions, bears, kangaroos etc.  It was beautiful.  The walkways were lined with trees.  Samara slept through our time there but Raju and I really enjoyed it and plan to go the to Toronto Zoo soon (I did get a membership so need to get my money's worth).
Back at the hotel we finished packing checked out and headed to the airport.
As we got there early we ate lunch (McDonald's).  Samara made friends with a little boy (Charles) while we waited to board and again fell asleep just before boarding.  Again she woke up as we got on board.  Nursing her worked for a bit but then she wanted to look around and make friends with everyone on board.  She was relatively good though and we made it back all in one piece.

It was a lovely mini-vacation and a lovely city.  Would definitely go back.

For pictures click on this link or look at my album on facebook:
Chicago Pictures