The end of the visit

I got these pics out of order and I'm too lazy/tired to change it...this is the night before the Stanley family flew south again. I was so sad to say goodbye to these little guys (Blake on left, Case right). Our whole family would have loved to have kept one for a little brother, but Todd and Breezy wouldn't let us keep one. Maddi (with her fake glasses from Claires that she thinks she looks good in...) and little cousin Blake. The kids enjoyed having their cousins around and it was really sad when they woke up the next day with everyone gone.

Cade and Case chilling out watching tv. I think my kids enjoyed watching some "baby" shows on Noggin while they were here.

Friday afternoon we rode the train to the city again for some shopping and to go to Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park zoo. Maddi was teaching Omie some hand games she plays with her friends at school while they were passing time on the train.

Getting to Zoo Lights was pretty much a disaster. We were going to ride the bus from the hotel, but Todd looked at the map and decided the red line subway would get us there 3 blocks away and with traffic so heavy we thought that it would be quicker to ride the subway rather than bus. So, we walked a few blocks to the subway and got off and started walking toward the zoo. We walked and walked and it didn't seem like we were any closer to the zoo. It had been raining for part of the day and it was above freezing so the snow was melting and we were walking in slush and puddles most of the way. We ended up stopping at a New Balance store to buy Maddi and Cade new socks since their shoes were all wet inside. The man at the shoe store told us we were only a few blocks away from the zoo so the kids put on their socks with bags over their socks inside their shoes to keep their feet dry and we trecked on. Once we got to the zoo we were all laughing hysterically when we saw the 151 bus sign right in front of the zoo. My mom got a picture of the bus stop sign so we could remember our adventure.

Since we finally made it to Zoo Lights we had to have a group picture in front of the entrance.

We watched the ice sculptor while the daddies were getting snacks since we all worked up quite an appetite on our adventure. It's just not right that the ice sculptures from the beginning of zoo lights right after Thanksgiving are still ice. That means that it's just too cold here!

*On Christmas afternoon we got all of us bundled up to go sledding. Cade and Maddi went down a few times before Maddi hit several ice patches and fell off her sled and skinned the skin between her lip and nose (you can see it in this pic). She was bleeding all over and freaking out...meanwhile...Todd and I have the twins and are climbing up the icy slope. I fell twice (didn't hurt Case, just my knees) and dropped my sled. I was stuck on the hill that was too icy to walk down without a sled, so I slid on my butt most of the way. It was a sledding adventure gone bad so we loaded back up in the car and headed back to our warm house.

Some pretty lights at the zoo that "danced" to music.

Cade was talking with the twins. He has grown up so much and it's so fun to see him enjoy his little cousins and not be annoyed by them. It ALMOST makes me want a baby for the kids because they have so much fun with their cousins, but I'm sure that if it was their baby that never left the novelty would wear off and they wouldn't enjoy it.

The boys are checking out the lights in their cool glasses. It would make the lights look like snowflakes. The boys , especially Case, would walk around the house saying "Christ....mas....ON or lights....ON" so I can imagine they really enjoyed all of the Christ...mas....ON at the zoo!

The tiger was sleeping right by the window and we were watching it and all of sudden it started waking up. The kids were screaming with excitement when it would move. Case on left, Blake right with Breezy. I think Breezy is making a tiger growl or something...sorry Breezy, but it was a cute pic of the boys.

After the zoo mom, Brett, the kid and I rode the train back to our house. Todd and family stayed downtown again. Maison was tuckered out and fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel. Poor little girl was such a trooper, she walked around all day in the city shopping, then all the way on our detour to the zoo and all around at the zoo. She never once complained of walking too much.

This is their last bus ride back to Union Station to get on the train to come back to our house. It stinks being so far away from family but at least we live in Chicago (burbs) which is such a great city so our family likes to visit us. We are always happy to have visitors, so if you've never been to Chicago we'd love to have you come for a visit.