A Trip to Chicago and Joe's Fifth Month

We had a great month of February...with Daddy home and LOTS of firsts for our baby Joe!  But first...we wanted to share a little about our short trip to the Windy City last week!

We planned a brief trip to go see our friend Mitch, who worked with Josh in Curacao.  He is now going through the Chicago Fire Academy, so it was great to get to see him, see his apartment downtown and go out to eat at a great Italian/Polish place!  Pizza and pierogies in one place?  Perfect!  :-) Mitch has a special place in the hearts of all of us, but especially for our little wild men,  Jack and George. Often, when they are playing with their Legos, they name the bald mini figures "Mitch".  :-)  We are really proud of his accomplishments so far at the academy and look forward to seeing him become a Chicago Firefighter.

While we waited for Mitch to finish his training, we had a chance to see a hallmark of downtown Chicago - the Willis Tower.  (Formerly the Sears Tower.)  At 1350 feet tall, for a while it was the tallest building in America.  But now the One World Trade Center in Chicago (a magnificent 1,776 feet, in honor of the founding of our country) is the tallest.  Nevertheless, it was a sight to behold...even from afar.

Parking was the most difficult thing.  It took us several loops around the building to find a parking spot that was less than $37!!!  Then, the less-than-a-block walk from there to the entrance of the building was possibly the most frigid walk of our lives!  They aren't kidding when they call it the Windy City, that is for sure.  The temperature while we were there was between 5-12 degrees, but we heard that the windchill puts it down to about -20 degrees!  BRRRR!  This is quite a challenge when you have a certain 3 year old that refuses to wear a jacket because he says it is "choking him"!

We took an elevator up to the 103rd floor where the Skydeck is.  You could not even feel the elevator moving at all!  You just knew it by watching the floor numbers change quickly and feeling your ears slightly begin to pop at the elevation increase.  The Skydeck has glass box enclosures attached to the building, so you can actually step out onto the glass and look straight down.  No thanks!  Josh and George were the only ones brave enough to try it!  The view was something else...all of Chicago and Lake Michigan stretching out to the horizon.  They say on a clear day, you can see four states! 

The other fun thing we had planned was to visit the Legoland Discovery Center just outside of Chicago.  We stayed in a great hotel near there - with a warm indoor pool and a magnificent breakfast spread - and were super excited to see the boys in Lego-paradise.

Just one problem.  It wasn't Lego paradise.  Okay...the boys really enjoyed it, but I think if they would have been any older, they would have been bored.  Josh and I were SORELY disappointed.  The admission cost is steep ($20 per person if you don't have some kind of discount) and definitely way too much.  We were expecting something a little more out-of-the ordinary...not a place that is just attached to a mall.  The Lego displays were pretty neat (as you can see from the photos) and they had two rides that the boys liked.  The most disappointing thing was probably the play/activity area.  It actually just felt like a big McDonald's play area with a few buckets of random Legos and lots of leftover Duplo cupcake parts.  But...all of this is coming from our adult perspective.  Josh and I wish we had just saved the money and purchased some Legos or done something a little more creative.  But Jack and George did enjoy themselves.  I think we can confidently say that this is a one-time experience for our family. 

 

Hey!  Didn't we just see this building?  :-)

 

The jungle animals were pretty neat...but George was terrified of them!  (This coming from the little guy who showed little fear at standing on the glass overlooking a 1300 foot drop!)

 We saw a Legends of Chima 4D movie which the boys loved.  George couldn't quite figure out the glasses and he spent most of the movie on my lap, startling at each 3D thing that came out of the screen! 

 Another disappointment: the "Lego factory tour" was just a lady telling kids about the process with fake equipment behind her.  But the boys seemed interested. 

 We were hoping the Build and Test Racecar area would have more than just random Lego pieces and a ramp.  But the boys did their best. 

 Joe had fun from his post! 

 The pedaling/flying tricycle ride was pretty fun, I must say.  The boys felt like they were flying!

 There was one section where you could build some sort of structure/tower and then push a button to see if it could withstand an "earthquake".  Josh's tower lasted a few seconds before toppling over. 

 One of the best parts of our trip was just being together and enjoying the amenities of our hotel...Embassy Suites.  It was great! 

So...if you've lasted through that long Chicago post...congratulations!  Now you get to see our cute, five-month old baby!

Joe is doing well...growing by leaps and bounds in all areas!  He is over 22 pounds and over 26 inches long, and if he keeps up this pace, he'll be wearing George's clothes by his first birthday!  ;-)  We did have some continuing ear fluid problems and another virus hit at the beginning of this month, which made him pretty miserable for a while.  This is very common in babies who have had a hard bout of RSV, so we are ready for winter weather/virus season to be over!

On February 9th, we had a party to celebrate Josh's homecoming, healthy boys and God's goodness to us during Joe's illness.  We invited all those who had so graciously come to help us during that time to enjoy pizza and a time of fellowship.  It was wonderful!  Joe (and our whole family) is so loved by so many...it really moves us.  I was so glad Josh got to meet the wonderful people who provided such loving support.  And they were all happy to see a healthy, smiley Joe...who got passed from arms to arms!

This was a month full of firsts!  Joe rolled over for the first time, from back to front.  (He still hasn't done from front to back, since he has always hated tummy time so much.)  We found a great deal of an antique wooden high chair, so he had his first mealtime sitting up at the table with us!  (We have given him a spoon and do little drops of water for now...no solids for a little while longer, but the boys can't wait and really enjoy "feeding" Joe water on a spoon!)  He had his first swim in the hotel pool, his first trip to Illinois (his 9th state) and has definitely discovered his own voice, entertaining us all with his amazing vocal antics!

Joe absolutely adores Jack and George.  He is almost constantly smiling and laughing when they are around and seems to miss them when we are up before the boys in the morning.  Joe is already a busy, busy boy.  He is no longer content to just lay on the Boppy and look around.  He wants things to look at and touch and learn from and it is so fun to see.  He LOVES his Sophie giraffe (can you spot how many times she shows up in the montage?) and he loves to sit in my lap and look at books while I read to the boys.  We have a small set of Usborne black and white baby board books that he looks at with such concentration!  He is a sharp little guy and is already adding another lively element to our household of little men! 

He is a delight to all of us on a continual basis and we are so grateful for his cheerful, smiley personality.  Happy five months, sweet boy!

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