Chicago Weekend

We came home from school on Friday afternoon and were thinking..

I wish we had something planned this weekend!

That's when Steve checked the Tampa Bays schedule!

It turned out that cousin Matt was the STARTING pitcher

vs. the Chicago White Sox on Sunday - PERFECT!

We decided to make it a go Friday night around 8:00

and made reservations and a plan and left on Saturday morning at 8:00 a.m.

We were thankful we are at this stage in life where we could

just make spur of the moment plans and take the girls with us!

Saturday morning off and running!

We made a potty stop right on the IA/IL border

to get some wiggles out at this rest stop/park.

overlooking the mighty Mississippi 

Our quick plans decided to take us to Schlaumburg, IL

(about 30 miles from downtown Chicago)

and our first stop was the Rainforest Cafe for a later lunch!

The girls were SO FASCINATED and loved it

(after they got over the fact that all the aniamls were not real!).

thumbs up all around

The restaurant has a scavenger hunt to go and find the animals

on their list - one of the workers took us on a little tour

and offered to take our family pic! 

We even ordered dessert - "Lava Mud" - pudding with oreo and gummy worms.

Next stop... Legoland Discovery Center

right across the street from the Rainforest cafe,

The whole city of Chicago in legos - "Miniland" - so cool! 

The girls were SUPER excited to see a "Lego Friends" area!

Lots of little places to build your own creations, too. 

Checking out the rainforest of legos. 

Oh no...a hippo! 

There was a little class that did a step-by-step

to make a lego fish! Avery did great 

(even though you were supposed to be 4, she snuck in :))

Finished product of their fish!

Avery wasn't tall enough for this ride

so Mom and Aubrey got to do it - weeee! 

Making lego race-cars to test on the track.

Can you spot the girls inside it's mouth?

4D movie - there were 4 diffferent 15 minute shows - we got to see two!

After a busy day we made it to our hotel around 8:00!

Day 2 - DOWNTOWN CHICAGO!

The girls were so intrigued by the city and it was fun to see it through their eyes! 

We parked for free near the Lincoln Park Zoo and walked to the waterfront!

Lake Michigan may have been the biggest body of water

that the girls remember seeing - SO FUN!

It felt nice to put our feet in the water after a warm walk!

Avery loved to watch the waves (and get wet).

Aubrey had fun collecting shells...aka rocks. 

We then walked over to the FREE Lincoln Park Zoo!

A lot of the big animals weren't out so that was a bit of a bummer,

we still get to see quite a bit in the short hour we were there!

Off the the Chicago White Sox game!

We got there early to see Matt warm up!

Steve grew up a White Sox fan so he loves the stadium, too.

Avery waiting for cousin Matt to warm up in the bull pen.

There he is!

We told him "HI" and right away went to get us a ball!

We were thinking and brought a sharpie for him to sign it, too!

All the other kids wanting a ball were quite jealous :)

We got CHEAP tickets and were on the first baseline (just quite high).

Matt pitched for 5 innings and then some MI cousins

who were also there said there were some seats right behind the Rays dugout

so we sat down there for 2 innings! 

We left right before the last inning and got home at 9:30!

Oh, Chicago, thanks for the spur of the moment fun!

What a view!