Chicago

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The first couple pics on this slide show are from a Just Ducky tour that we took of Pittsburgh with David and his girlfriend Tina. They came in from Kansas City over the holiday and David wanted her to see Pittsburgh. It was a really nice tour, but it was cold that day. I am still waiting for summer here. It really hasn't been hot AT ALL. My mom opened the pool and we may have been in it 4-5 times because it is only 64 degrees. I don't know what is going on here.


Ok, we drove to Chicago on Friday July 3. It took about 8 hours with stops. When we got there, around 9:30pm, the traffic was UNBARABLE!!!! They were having "A Taste of Chicago" and it was just being let out. All kinds of streets were blocked off, which made it impossible to get to the hotel. We were trying to find this certain parking garage, because we knew parking at the hotel was VERY expensive, but finally, I gave up, just told Mike to listen to me instead of the GPS, got us to the hotel and parked. We waited in line to use the elevator for like 15mins. When we got to the room, I was glad.

The next morning, the 4th of July, the kids had to meet for a practice in the morning. Once again, the elevator situation was impossible. After practice, we had to go back to the room and get ready to go on stage. We were on 4th in the program. After we were done, we were free for the day. I wanted to go to the shops on Magnificent Mile. It was raining, so we braved the streets driving. We went down and went to a few stores, went to eat, and noticed it was 8pm. We wanted to head back for the fireworks. We seen the fireworks and headed back to the hotel.

Sunday, July 5th, the kids had a mass performance where all of the kids from all of the groups joined to perform. After that, we were free to leave. Elevators, once again were an issue. We were on the 18th floor and had to walk down so the kids weren't late. One lady told us it was 240 steps. We then went down to the Navy Pier. We walked around, ate lunch (Chicago Hot Dogs), and took a boat cruise. Then we headed to our other hotel. Our other hotel was SOOOOO nice. Sheraton Gateway Suites by Chicago O'hare Airport. It was so big, it was like an apartment. It had a pool, so the kids were happy. I didn't get pics of that though. The kids were happy because it was heated too.

Monday, we took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo. It was the nicest zoo I have been to. The way they put the animals on display was like something I never seen. Just amazing. The kids loved it. They really enjoyed the dinosaurs too.

Tuesday we went to Legoland. It was interesting. The kids really enjoyed it, but I think you had to be a kid. Now all I hear about is they want Legos. I tell them they will lose them. It was really neat to see all of the stuff they made out of legos. We took them to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. They REALLY loved that. Well, Michael and Zac did, Luka was afraid, lol. He wanted to sit on Mike's lap the WHOLE time. It was cute.

Wednesday we went to Shedd's Aquarium. They never got to see a Dolphin show before so that was the highlight of the trip for them. That night we ate at a Brazilian restaurante. OMG was it the best food!!!! They had a buffet of salads and then they brought out all kinds of meats. If you wanted more, you left your card green. If you didn't, you turned your card red. They had different kinds of steak, chicken, pork, ribs, and sausage. MMMMMM. Mike and I really enjoyed that.

Thursday we woke up, checked out and headed for Chicago pizza. Boy was it good. We ended up bringing most of it home because it was SOOO filling. Our trip was nice, busy, lots of traffic. I LOVE Chicago. LOTS to do!!!! Who knows where next year will take us. Maybe back to Florida. Then maybe take a year off and head out west to my Uncles!!!!!! Wonder how long it takes to drive there?????