Harris Family Reunion - Chicago

We woke up early Sunday morning and drove to Chicago to meet the Chad Harris family. All the girls met at the American Girl Doll Store for a luncheon with the dolls. Since Lilly didn’t have an American Girl Doll we started with a little shopping. It was a blast! The luncheon was adorable. The dolls got to sit next to the girls at the table in special highchairs and they gave the dolls miniature teacups and plates. Lilly had so much fun she was too preoccupied to each much of her food. I am glad we got her the doll too. She plays with it daily.

The Lego Store is right next door.

After the luncheon we caught up with the boys at the Disney Store. Lilly participated in the ‘Scare Academy’ they were doing at the store. She enjoyed doing that too. They gave the participants certificates, a necklace, and pins. I told Lilly she could pick something to buy and she picked a jewelry set – like she doesn’t have 100 of those at home.

 

In front of the Disney Store.

Once everyone was done shopping we continued to Buckingham Fountain and then to Millennium Park and visited the ‘Bean’ or Cloud Gate. I hadn’t seen either of these attractions so it was new adventure for me. I am so thankful for the cold front we had come in the week before this trip. It cooled the weather down and made walking around town bearable.  

 

 

 

 

Chad and Angie Harris Family

 

Our Family

 

Brandon, Julia and Leah

 

Kathy - Aka Grandma

 

 

 

 

Lilly spent most of her time riding around with her Uncle Brandon. He was very nice to let her hang around him so much. She misses him a lot!

Next we went to Willis Towers and headed up to the Sky Deck. I am thankful of Angie for getting the Chicago CityPass. We were able to skip the long lines and go right up. The line up at the top was really long though. It took us awhile to get out on the deck. Bennett was ready to get down and move so I spent most of the time chasing after him. I thought he would be scared about going out on the deck but he didn’t seem to notice. Lilly was as acrobatic as always on the deck.

 

Once we were on ground level again we headed to the hotel to check in and find some dinner. By this time we were all pretty tired and just wanted something fast and easy to eat. We ended up going to this place that was like a mall food court but with no mall and awesome food. They had tons of choices, it was cheap and the Italian food was so yummy! Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the place/group of places.

It was bedtime for our family after dinner. We had to re coupe after that day.

In the morning everyone gathered at the Shedd Aquarium. Here is a hint for everyone visiting Shedd Aquarium – always bring a stroller. You can use a special family entrance that allows you to get through the line SO much faster! The Aquarium was fun. Lilly got lost for about 3-5 minutes. Tyson was watching her while I fed Bennett and he thought she was still in the penguin play place but she had wondered off. I found her over by the drinking fountain. I thought she had run away on purpose so I got mad at her but then she started crying. It made me feel bad because she was just trying to find her daddy for help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One new thing that we did while we were there was to go to the dolphin show. Lilly kept looking away before they would jump out of the water. Or she would be looking at a different part of the water. She just loved being with all of her cousins on the big stairs.

 Once we went through the aquarium we drove across town for lunch at the Hancock Observatory. This was another new activity for our family and so cool. The restaurant at the Hancock Observatory is called the Signature Room and it is on the 95^th floor. It has 180 degree views of the Chicago skyline and the food was very good.

 

 

 

 

 

This is not a good selfie of our family but I thought it was funny - Lilly is acting crazy and Bennett is crying. Typical for this trip.

 

The Views

 

I was very impressed with how many new things I personally got to do during this visit. I could probably go back to Chicago several more times and still do all new things.

We ended our Chicago adventures after lunch and drove on to Madison, Wisconsin. We spent the night playing at the hotel pool and getting ready for our next destination.