A trip to CHI

Last week we took a family vacation to Chicago. My good friend Kate is having a baby in October and I helped host a shower for her there. Since James still needs me to survive we can't very well leave him behind, and, well, its just not fair to leave one and take the other. Especially when the other one is sooooo adamant about traveling anyways. 

So off we went. Here's a shot of our first flight together as a family of four: 

See, the boys are thankfully good fliers: 

Jack got us a condo near Millennium Park and all of the museums. While it was a ways from my friends, it was a great location for all of the sights we were going to check out anyways. 

 

First and foremost and the entire reason for this trip (if you ask Jackson) was to see the dinosaurs at the Field Museum. We had explained to the cub that some dinosaurs lived in Chicago and so he was dead set on wanting to see them.

 Can you tell he was a little excited? 

 James preferred the bears. He likes to think of himself as a little bear cub (he is one) and so he wanted to see what these animals were all about.

 Can you tell he was so intrigued?!!?

We ended our visit at the Field Museum with a 3D movie experience about Sue the dinosaur. We thought Jackson would love it, but as it turns out the film was just a little too scary (and SO loud) and so the boy kept asking to 'go to lunch' and 'hold him' instead. He didn't want to say he was scared so he kept yelling, "I want to go to lunch! Mi quiere sandwichito!!!!" instead. It was hysterical.  

We of course did as Jackson asked, but Jack and I couldn't stop laughing at his response.

 A little bit of walking and sightseeing later...

 ...and we ended up at the Lincoln Park Zoo. As you can tell from reading this blog, Jackson is a fan of all things animal related so he thoroughly enjoyed the visit...

 ...and so did James. He was his usual doll self :) 

 The next day was Kate's shower. It was beautiful and my friends did a spectacular job putting it together. I really hope she enjoyed it, she looked stunning!

 

Baby James and Baby Jackson were huge fans of all the Tia's that were there. My friends, Angie and Jo stayed with us at the condo and Jackson was OBSESSED with them. He wanted to play with them, sing and dance with them and he was SO excited to show them his very own bed. 

I'm so glad they put up with him and love these boys just as much as they love the Tia's. Jackson and James are truly blessed to have so much love from so many people. 

Our last day in Chi city was spent at Millennium Park where Jackson was free to run wild at the Crown Fountain. It's such a great attraction and the last time we were there he couldn't even walk yet so he definitely took FULL advantage this time around...

 James was a bit jealous of his older brother, but we promised him we'd bring him back when he can run wild. Hopefully it'll take longer for him to run though--these boys are growing WAY too fast :(

To my sweet friends--thank you for having us. To Kate--cannot WAIT to meet beautiful Noelle, and to the fantastic city of Chicago--I love you. Until next time, which will probably be sooner rather than later ;)