Chicago

This summer we took a quick little trip to Chicago with the Brusky family.  We took the train and had a great time.  The Brusky boys were so excited about the train ride.  We got to Chicago around 10 am and walked to our hotel...put those hotel points to good use!  We got a 3 day transit pass so we could use the train/buses and was well worth it.  The first day, we ate at the Rock n Roll McDonald's (which isn't so much rock n roll anymore), then headed out to walk around the downtown (bean, fountain, river, half-naked Indian man riding a horse that reminds Erin of Gene, etc.), went to the Lego store, then eventually dinner at Rain Forest Cafe with Sheila and her boys.  We tried to get to Sears Tower that night...but didn't quite make it. 

The next day, we headed to Wrigley to see the stinky Cubs...thought about taking a tour until we heard the prices...it would have been ridiculous!  Sam was not pleased and that was very evident to everyone there.  The older retired guys taking the tickets for the tours offered him a Cubs sticker...he very politely took it, looked at it, then said no thanks and returned it to them.  From there, we headed to the lake front and enjoyed Lake Michigan for a while.  Lunch was an adventure, but we were quite happy the Brusky's allowed us to venture to one of my Hamburg favorites...Vapiano's!!!!  My mouth is watering right now thinking about it.  Then, we met Greg, Christina and Owen at the Lincoln Park Zoo and spent the afternoon there!  It was quite fun.  Then back to downtown for some yummy Giordano's pizza.  After that, the boys were all re-engerized (me not so much...but hey) and we finally made it to Sears Tower.  They boys all went out on one of the walkouts...not Erin or I...not our thing!!!  We got to see fireworks in Navy Pier from the Sears Tower, which was pretty cool...we were even with them or even a bit higher instead of looking up at them. 

The next day, we headed out to the Museum of Science and Industry and the boys were in heaven.  They had a MythBusters exhibit going on.  We stayed there for most of the morning and in to the early afternoon.  When we headed back in to town, the Taste of Chicago was starting that day so we went to go see about some snacks/food before we got back on the train.  That was crazy because they had put down new black asphalt right before and the sun was beating down so hard that day...holy crap was it hot.  We were headed back to the hotel to get our luggage...we decided that it may be better for Erin and I to take the boys and head to the train station ourselves and Gene and Pete would go get the luggage and meet us there.  Sam was a bit worried that it would end up like their Italian adventure...Pete missing the train in Venice.  We all made it though and got back home late that night.