Downtown

            Yesterday we finally took our family train trip downtown.  We were planning on going sometime this summer, but our busy schedule got the best of us.  The kids have been talking about Millennium Park, the park that doesn’t have a playground since the beginning of the summer.  Caleb had a 5 day weekend and the weather was gorgeous so we could not pass up the opportunity to go. Everyone was excited as we waited at the station for the train.  

The train was much more crowded than we had expected so we had to walk through several cars to find open seats.  Much easier said than done with 3 kids, a huge double stroller, 5 large water bottles and a diaper bag.  We had to walk though 2 cars before finding seats.  Thankfully they were on the top, where the kids wanted to sit.  Maneuvering the stroller up the narrow stairs and balancing it on a seat was interesting.   Caleb and Lucy loved that the seats could switch direction and switched between facing each other and facing Mom and Dad.  

Toby walked back and forth between Mom and Dad most of the train ride. 

We were worried about Toby not getting his nap in, but the long walk to the park at naptime did the trick. 

On our walk, Lucy finally figured out how to skip.  She has been trying to figure it out for a few weeks now and had one leg down.  She was thrilled.  Our walk was pretty neat because they were setting things up for the marathon the following day.  Many streets had fences set up and there were banners hung everywhere.  We even saw many marathoners who had just picked up their registration bags.  









Grant Park was full of tents and port-a-potties for the event.  I guess we had talked so much about the mirror bean at Millennium Park that the huge fountain was not that awe-inspiring to the kids. Lucy’s favorite part there was the rose garden.

  
 We arrived to Millennium Park at the opposite end of the “bean”.  The kids were getting antsy to see it, but thankfully there were some inflatable things for them to play.  Caleb loved the soccer and Lucy the bouncer.  Toby was just waking up. 

 It was pretty crowded because of the Country Music Festival which was taking place this weekend. We went through a garden where they could put their feet in.  Toby especially loved splashing in it.  Caleb dropped one of his socks in so he had to go the rest of the day without them.  Thankfully it was not his shoe.  

We finally made our way to the bean. Sometimes when you anticipate things so much, the actual event cannot live up to the hype.  This did.  Caleb and Lucy loved it.  How could anything be better? 

…. With the arrival of Spiderman, of course. As we were walking under the “bean” 3 men dressed in costumes joined the crowed.  There was a Spider-man, black Spider-man and a green guy with a G on his chest. I couldn’t get a photo of Caleb’s face, but you can imagine his excitement.  The men looked absolutely ridiculous in their full-body suits.  Even the masks were attached to the suit. 

With Toby strapped in the Ergo, we put Caleb and Lucy in the stroller and made the mile trek back to the train station.  The train was just as crowed as the way down, but we were able to find seats on the lower level, much to Caleb’s dismay.  It was a much longer ride home with the kids (and us) exhausted. 

Caleb has been talking about eating at Taco Bell for a while now, so we decided to go there for dinner. 

We had such a fun day as a family and such gorgeous weather to boot.

Maybe we will go and see the Michigan Ave window displays at Christmas time.