we found THE bean.

a couple of weeks ago already, the kiddos and I tagged along with my younger sister, Pigg, on her work trip to Chicago:) We LOVE to travel...near or far...and I really want the kiddos to be well traveled as well! And this family is neverrrrrr, EVERRRRRRR, going to pass up a free hotel stay;)

thank jesus for the free breakfast...which only slightly made up for how shitty the hotel was in every.single.way. Arg. But again...FREE...so no more complaints;)

unfortunately, Pigg had to work the entire time we were there...so she missed out on our adventuring:( BUT the kids and I had THE greatest time. Only thing missing was Jacob...and my aunt Vicki, who I spent many an adventure with in Chicago as a child...she wasn't able to join us but NEXT TIME:) xoxo.

i went back and forth about going downtown with both kids - and a stroller and backpack and purse and 2 KIDS and their attitudessssssss and my sometimes missing patience - but I'm SO sooooooo happy we did it:) The kids did SO great taking the train - the rest of the train-goer's may disagree;) - it did take a bit of effort/entertaining on my part but we did good:) And we couldn't have done it without the help of a few very kind strangers. The experience definitely reminded me how great helping can be and that it isn't an entirely lost art and how much more I want to make a conscience effort to be aware of those around me and offer a helping hand:)

the weather couldn't have been better - about 72 and sunny:) And we were fortunate because the rest of the days of our trip were very chilly:/

my only goal was to make it to The Bean:) We've been to Chicago several times and I don't know that I've ever been to the bean - maybe as a child and I don't remember? - but Jacob and I and the kids have been down here and never had the opportunity to get to that area.

i wore Theo in the Ergo and pushed Homer in the little stroller. It worked perfectly. Theo passed out almost immediately and missed the whole experience...but that was probably best for everyone;)

i couldn't stop smiling:) Just making it, with both kids, to this place I'd built up in my mind...in a big City, by myself...felt like such a huge accomplishment:) 

And it was perfect:)

we happened upon a little craft area that had live music and an area for us to take a quick break and have a smoothie and dip our feet in the water:) As much as I loved The Bean, these random little stops are our favorites:)

i love making these little videos...but it was sort of an after thought, so this one isn't one of my best. In the future I'm hoping to remember to grab a bit more video.

i'm beyond grateful that we had our one wonderful day in downtown Chicago...cause the kids jacked up the rest of our stay being completeeeee DICKKKKKSSSS! OMG. I can't stress that enough. HUGE.ASSHOLES. Big Time. THE BIGGESTTTTTTT. Catching my drift?!?!?!?!;)

but luckily, we had such a great time on our one sunny day downtown that they weren't able to ruin our trip entirely - pizza and snacks and naps and a bit of shopping helped too;)

until our next adventure...xoxo, the Smith's:)

a family that travels together...

chicago is my fav:) It takes us about 5-1/2 hours to get there...longer with kids because, obviously...Target. Food. Nursing. Snacks. Diaper changes. Screaming. :)

but then you roll up on that City...totally worth it!

it's actually been a few weeks since our trip down there. Jacob had a few, rare, days off and I was able to finagle my schedule as well. Jacob was adamant about getting out of town seeing as we both had off and I was happy to oblige:)

from past trips, we've found that just 'going with the flow' works best for us. So on the ride down I used the Hotel Tonight app on my phone to find an affordable place to stay for the night. Everything was booked and ready for us when we arrived!

we stayed at the Hotel Blake. It was purrrrttttyyy:)

What is it about staying at a hotel?! I love it. Love it. LOVE it.

we arrived in Chicago around 6PM - Jacob had to cater that morning so we weren't able to leave too early - but the weather was amazing and we have daylight until almost 9PM...so after we settled into our room and took a few bathroom selfies, we headed out to explore:)

my aunt Vicki and uncle Ted live in Chicago. They are the greatest. The end:) It's pretty neat to get awesome suggestions from someone that has all these 1st hand experiences!

we jumped in a cab and headed to Wicker Park and after a few wrong turns...we found Antique Taco. I still dream of it weekly;)

the next day, we hung out in the hotel room and got ready for another few hours of exploring before we headed for home:) Yep...we drive 5-1/2 hours with 2 kids...for less than 20 hours of 'exploring'. We are THOSE people and proud of it:)

After packing up and taking some more bathroom selfies - duh;) - we hit the streets!

this time we had an amazing suggestion from a friend - thanks Nicole:). UBER. A great car service app that was so simple to use and paying is so much easier because you can link it to your PayPal and because by signing up and using a promo code she shared with me, we got $30 worth of credit. All our rides were free that day!:)

we had planned on going to the Shedd Aquarium but by the time we waited in line for a while...did the math on ticket prices...we decided it'd be best to come back when we were able to give it more time. 

instead we took a quick boat ride to Navy Pier and rode the circle of death Ferris Wheel and then a nice long walk down Michigan Ave. back to our Hotel:)

the kids did so great. Jacob and I both want to take them to as many places as we can. To see as much as possible. Oh, the adventures we will have:)

it was kind of a dual trip for Jacob. I dropped him off at 6Flags on the way home from Chicago to meet some of his friends for the night and then I headed home with the kids by myself - believe me...I made sure he knew that he owed me BIG.TIME.;). Luckily, Jacob's sister, Renee, lives about 1/2 way between Chicago and home. It was the perfect place to get out and stretch, feed Theo...let Homer run wild and wait out the storm before making the last leg of the trip.
And even with getting pulled over once...we made pretty good time! Thankfully, no ticket. Speeding in a Prius really isn't feasible;) Just a burnt out tail light:)

cheers to travel!!!!:)

xoxo.
The Smiths.