As an addendum to her birthday, we took Ella to Chicago for the weekend. It was a bit more accessible than her first request, New York City. Because she's 5 now, we thought we'd expose her to how Pat and I have always traveled -- fast, cheap, and on foot. She was an excellent companion, carrying her own backpack the entire time and not really even complaining about the walking until late in the day on Sunday when I heard her whisper, "This is not how I expected it to turn out." -- as we we were hurriedly hoofing it back across town to pick up our bags we'd left with the concierge at our hotel.
Our first stop was the Field's Museum -- a crash course in natural history. Not even 5 hours into our trip and she was already missing her brother, often commenting "Conrad would like this." or "I bet Conrad would just try to EAT that." ha!
We didn't have time for much shopping, but she did enjoy the Lego statues near the Lego store, and, of course, stopped in the store long enough to pick out something for her brother. She has yet to really be introduced to the American Girl Doll phenomena so when given the choice to visit the monstrous American Girl mecca or the small Sanrio store -- she eagerly picked Sanrio. She's added a metal Hello Kitty lunchbox to her growing collection of lunchboxes.
The Navy Pier Ferris Wheel was among the highlights, and was the first time Pat could remember riding one.
We happened to be in Millenium Park at just the right time to catch the last act of the traveling Chinese Fine Arts Center's dramatic dance show that was making it's way through the park. We have several pictures of the Chinese girls and women in their bright costumes doing the traditional dances. Ella loved these girls and their violins the best. I think I love the dancing dragon most of all.
When we asked Ella what she wanted to do most while in the city, her only requests were to ride the train and a taxi. Cheap date! We rode The L a few times, caught a cab once, rode the double decker MegaBus to and from Chicago from Indy, rode a trolley to the Pier, and took a Water Taxi back up to Michigan Avenue. Outside of an airplane, I think we had most modes of public transportation covered. One of my favorite memories will be when she plugged in her headphones on the bus from Indianapolis to Chicago to listen to some music on my Ipod and she started singing along with the music at the top of her lungs, forgetting that she wasn't alone in her bedroom.
It was definitely a very memorable weekend, and one we are eager to repeat with Conrad in a year or two.
