Chicago

Our day had a lovely slow start. I laid in my bed for as long as possible (8am), we meandered down stairs for breakfast. We actually managed to all be sat at the table eating at one time!
Then we went to Megans family's house.
We had to wait a while before we went to the train station as we had missed the earlier morning train.

It was only a short drive to the station and we got there with just a few minutes to spare.
The kids were so excited as the train started to pull in!
This was the first time in my entire life I have seen a double decker train.
We all got on board and immediately went to the upper level.
The chairs were super cool, you could pull them back in either direction so the chair could face forward or backward.
S was my most excited. She kept telling me, this was the best day of her life. I was so relieved and happy as we were both unsure how she would cope on a train.
B wasn't feeling so good today and after much initial excitement, the train finally rocked him to sleep.
We were so excited to find out that the children ride for free in off peak time so we got to take a train to Chicago and back for only $15 for all 6 of us.

The first place we went from the station was Cloud Gate, in Millennium park.
A giant shiny bean sculpture. It was surrounded by tall buildings with clouds so low you couldn't see the tops of buildings. There were so many people there taking pictures but it was still fun.
The kids went underneath to check out the trippy mirrored effect.

We walked past Millennium stadium, which had free concerts in the park. The sound of the orchestra floated across the air and was a peaceful lullaby in the center of the bustling city.

We took the kids to sit in the grass while they ate their lunch. Megan had found them, Sub sandwich lunchables for just $3 each. They had a drink, cookies, chips and a Sub so the kids felt they were getting quite the treat, Megan and I also realized we had been missing a trick as the subs were made out of hot dog buns. Perfect size for little hands!

After lunch we took the kids to play in Maggie Daily Park. It has several playgrounds, all aimed at different ages and interests. The first place we went to has tall climbing towers and giant slides.
The children had fun but after a while, attempting to count heads in such a giant, crowded park became exhausting. We took them to the swings which were fenced in and easier to keep little ones corrald.
Because B was feeling so crappy I decided to run to the target 12 minutes away in the city, so I could pick up a stroller. My stroller was too big and not allowed on the train.
My GPS is clearly not built for city living as it attempted to lead me in to several unlit parking garages and dark alley ways. Um... No thanks!
Target was an experience itself. I have never seen a two story target built in to a sky scraper but there it was. Thankfully they were having a sale on the small umbrella stroller I needed.
The staff at Target were super friendly and helpful. They took the time to help me unwrap the new stroller and put it together and before long I was headed back to the park.
Unfortunately a man outside Target decided he wanted my money and came at me. He said "I want yout money", I said "No" and started to walk away. He started to follow me and again said " I want your money". Again I said "No and I quickly darted in to a big group of people walking down the side walk and he gave up. I am thankful because I did not have a back up plan!
It didn't take me long to get back to the park. The adults were all hungry by the time we made it back so we decided to head in to the city to find food.
We were all feeling pretty tired and it was starting to rain a little so we decided to just head in to Panera bread as it seemed quickest and easiest.
Our food took a while to get to us because of a slight mix up but it was tasty and worth the wait. The kids pared up and shared giant chocolate chip cookies. All of them except Megans oldest managed to spill their water cups.
We decided we better head back out even though it was still raining a little.
We spotted a  comic book store across the street and decided to pop in for a quick browse. I almost got stuck in the revolving door with the stroller, but some how I made it inside. It was quite a large store, which you would not have been able to tell from the outside. We all enjoyed looking around, They had so many things to look at.
After that we ended up at the Chicago public library and cultural art center.
Unfortunately Megan's oldest got her fingers trapped in the door, so after much flapping and panicking of all the adults and one very sad kiddo we finally managed to get everyone (thankfully in one piece) inside the building.
We only managed to find one open exhibit in the building, based on the history of black music. They had an old phone booth amongst the other items and I asked the kids what they though it was. J and S both guessed teleportation device. G saw the word telephone so she guessed right. We sat in an empty gallery and enjoyed the air conditioning and lack of rain. The kids all played and the longer I sat the more I noticed the beautiful intricacy of the inside architecture. The whole place had fancy gold mouldings and pretty mosaic pictures. The kids thought it was beautiful too. After the gallery we headed back to the train station. We fed the kids some dinner and then setlled down to wait for our train.
I decided to try and grab a quick pretzel while we waited but right after I paid they started boarding our train so the lady just grabbed the first two things that were ready and shoved them in a bag so I didnt have to leave empty handed. I dont know what it was she gave me but the kids loved it!
Our outgoing train was not double decker but still fun to ride on.
By the time we got to the car everyone was very tired. We went to pick up our bird from Megans house and then headed back to our hotel.
Leeta decided to punish me slightly for leaving her all day but I soon won her over with fresh seed and water.
The kids all took quick showers, scarfed down some tacos and fell asleep with no fuss. They all said this has been one of their favorite days.

It was certainly an adventure!

Tomorrow is our last day in town ad we plan to spend it with family again.
I will be sad to leave Indiana but I am very excited to see Kentucky.

Anyway, time to get to sleep!

Goodnight all

- Sophie