Off to Chicago!

Sept 15th thru the 19th Corey, Maddox and I headed to Chicago to join my parents for a much needed vacation. My mom was there for the Nursing Management Congress Convention. Since Maddox is so young, we decided to take the Amtrak. It was great because we had our own sleeping car where Maddox could move around all he wanted. The scenery was just beautiful! Meals were included and it took about 8 hours to get there. It was much nicer than driving and I'm sure much shorter. With an 11 month old I think we would have been stopping every hour or two with a lot of screaming in between. Here's Maddox and I getting ready to enjoy our breakfast.
Maddox was fascinated with the half and half containers. Saturday night we stayed at the Allerton Hotel right on Michigan Avenue. It was a gorgeous 4 star hotel with a great room and great service. Maddox even got his own crib! That night we went out for Chicago-style pizza. Delicious! The next 3 nights we stayed at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, also a beautiful hotel, with Grandma & Grandpa. Sunday we headed to the Museum Campus. On our way we were able to see Soldier Field right before the Bears game. It was crazy busy there at 11am for a 3:15pm game! Dedicated fans!
The Field Museum was the first stop.

Maddox apparently found this one boring, so he slept right through everything.
Dad, Corey & I enjoyed many areas of the museum.
I think Dad's favorite was Sue, the dinosaur pictured above.
The Shedd Aquarium was our next stop and it was great! Maddox was awake by then and enjoyed seeing all the fish and making fishy faces.

On the Museum Campus there were tons of Globes each dedicated to a "save the earth" topic. Maddox loved them and constantly pointed saying, "Ball". So cute!
Family Picture! We don't get these often since one of us is usually behind the camera.
Chicago at it's finest!
We had to take a picture of this pontoon because my dad wanted it so bad. Double-decker with a slide. How perfect is that!

Dinner at the China Grill. We definitely didn't starve on this trip. All of our meals were SO delicious!

Maddox and Daddy all dressed up.
Grandma Michelle & Maddox Bumpa & Maddox - during this trip Maddox really started to say "Bumpa" constantly and was clinging on Grandpa Rob more than ever. They've always been quite the buds, but now he can't get enough of his Bumpa!
Yes, they do look sleepy. That's because it's about 3am in the above picture. Monday night Maddox was having a hard time nursing and sleeping. He just didn't want to nurse and couldn't stay asleep. He also had a low-grade temp. Teething for sure! At 3am Corey headed to a 24 hour Walgreens to get Tylenol while the rest of us tried to entertain Maddox. Then, when Corey got back we tried to give Maddox Tylenol (he's never had it before). He started to gag and threw up all over Grandpa. After that we tried again, but this time in the bathroom. He gagged and threw up again! Finally, we put Maddox in the bathtub (he needed a bath after that!) and were able to get a dose in him. We all got back to bed around 4:45!

We all slept in until 9:30, so that was nice. Maddox woke us all up standing in his pack 'n' play calling for "Bumpa!" Navy Pier

Museum of Science and Industry

Here's Maddox and I as train conductors.

You can't really see what's in the background, but Dad & Corey are standing in front of a submarine that they went on a tour through. It was a real German sub that the US recovered during the war! They thought it was the greatest thing ever.
Public transportation - Maddox loved the bus.
John Hancock Observatory

The view was breath-taking!

Maddox liked it too.
Can you imagine being a window washer on some of those buildings. Scary!
It was a great vacation and came to an end way too quickly. Boy, Chicago can wear a kid out!

Home Sweet Home!