Chicago Trip Part 1

I never really got the "I heart NY" shirts until I went to Chicago & now I would love to proudly wear a t-shirt that says "I heart Chicago!" We went for a full 2 weeks and it was WONDERFUL! The city is so clean, architecturally interesting, & has tons of free fun stuff to do. I now understand how boring Idaho must seem to all of the Californians that move here! Since we had a full 2 weeks we spent the first couple of days just recouping from life & getting lots of rest in. The first day we were there I was in the bathroom happily plucking away & thinking how great it is to have time to do my nails, etc. when I realized Tommy sounded a little too happy in the other room. I took my time walking in there only to find him happily dunking my phone up & down in a glass of water!... Ya, not a complete vacation as I swear I can never take my eye off that kid, but oh well it forced me to concentrate on my family the entire time instead of texting anyone else!
Vic had already been out there a couple of weeks before us for work & he was really excited to show us the fireflies as they are EVERYWHERE at night. His workmates made fun of him for being so excited to see them. One guy even bought him a fake one in a jar to remember him with. :) They are totally romantic & cute as long as you don't get too close. When we got really close to them I just had this sudden feeling of bugs all over me cuz I realized just how many bugs are always out, but us westerners can't usually see them!

The second day I joined the local LDS playgroup & they are serious about their playgroups... they like to go all day! I totally wish we had enough fun stuff to do around here that we could too! This week we went to dolphin cove smim park. Tommy loved the little kid area.

I was worried he'd just push past the other kids as he's never waited in line before, but it was super cute as I didn't even show him- he just followed the other kids & got right in line with them.. my little baby is growing up too fast!

Also, I kept looking at this big yellow slide wondering if the lifeguard would let me take Tommy down it as I knew he'd love a little bigger slide and I was helping Whitney for a second & next thing I knew Tommy had raced up the ramp to go down this slide all by himself! Really he's too big! I still had to stand at the bottom to coax him down it as it was kinda scarry for him, but none of the other moms & kids minded as they all thought he was the cutest thing ever cuz he was so small & doing it by himself over & over.

Continue on down to Part 2!