This post is a little late, but I figured I’d better record our trip to Chicago before I forget the details, so… better late than never.  ;-)

The following trip was made possible by Norman’s employer and our friends & family who quietly slipped us some money before we left and instructed us to “go have fun!”  Thanks to them and to God, who allowed for the boys and me to go along with Norman on his business trip.

And, thanks to Adam, who let us take his business car since Norman couldn’t get the windshield wiper motor fixed on our van in time and Norman’s business car was just too small for all of us.  This ended up working out great for us anyway since it was much easier to maneuver through Chicago with the Focus station wagon than with our huge, bulky van.

We started our journey right after church services on Sunday evening, February 22 and arrived at the La Quinta Hotel in Bolingbrook, IL sometime after midnight.  This didn’t leave much time to explore, so we quickly located where the pool, breakfast room and vending machines were before heading to our room.

Monday (Day 1):

After a quick and yummy breakfast at the hotel, we drove Norman to the Sharp Electronics building in Romeoville where he would be attending classes all week.

Although the building is in a different suburb than where we were staying, it was actually just down the street a little ways.  Also, our hotel was located right off of Hwy 55, one of the main highways that goes into downtown Chicago, so everything was situated ideally.

Not having a plan yet, the boys and I headed back to our hotel.  I grabbed brochures for local attractions from the rack in the front lobby and looked at them while the boys swam in the pool.  Neither one really knew how to swim, so we brought noodles for them to use.  Before our stay was over, though, Samuel was doing better at going under water and trying to learn some strokes.  But, poor Joshua was too much like his mother and panicked any time his head went under.  :-P

At lunch time, we picked up Norman and went out to eat.  He said that there was a cafeteria in the Sharp building, so the rest of the week, he just ate there for lunch while the boys and I were at the different attractions.

After we took Norman back to his classes, the boys and I headed on over to Chicago.  The boys got pretty excited when all of the skyscrapers came into view… We were really in Chicago!!!

This afternoon, we went to the Navy Pier, which juts out into Lake Michigan.  We started out inside, checking out the many souvenir & food shops.  I was especially excited to see the fudge shop from Mackinac Island, which shouldn’t have surprised me since the island is only on the other side of the lake.  Norman & I had gone there on our honeymoon, so it has special meaning for us.  Needless to say, I bought a pink box of creamy chocolate fudge to bring back and share with Norman (and the boys – ha!).

While resting for a bit and eating our waffle cones, we enjoyed watching the security guards zoom past us on their Segways.  And, since our boys enjoy mazes, we later checked out the Funhouse Maze.

We then stepped outside and walked along the pier, viewing the beautiful sightseeing and dinner cruise boats.  In the warmer months, the shops are more accessible to the outside.  I could only imagine how festive of an atmosphere the pier would transform into on a nice, summer evening.  According to my brochure, Navy Pier is Chicago’s number one tourist & leisure destination.

It was a cold, blustery day, so I was a little surprised that the Ferris wheel was in operation.  As we got closer, we realized it was a ride for sightseeing… not for thrills.  We talked to the operator and he said that it takes 7 minutes to go all the way around.  It is non-stop and goes very slowly, so you just step into the gondola as it moves along the walkway.

Samuel wanted to go up, but it took us a little while to persuade Joshua.  He still wasn’t too thrilled about it and shut his eyes for the first part of the ride.  After he got used to it, however, he did pretty good… well, for the most part.  J

Yes, we were right out in the open and, yes, it was rather chilly, but the sights were breath-taking!

After our ride, we went back inside to get warmed up and strolled through the Crystal Gardens.  I tried to get a picture of the shooting water blobby-things, but we never knew when they were going to start flying and my camera was much too slow to catch them… or was it just me?  ;-)

Norman’s class was over at 5:00, so we left in plenty of time to make the ½ hour trek back to Romeoville.  However, we got caught up in 2 different rush-hour traffic jams and then I turned off on the wrong exit.  After checking my map, it looked like I could just keep going by taking another route, so I did that instead of venturing back up onto the main highway.  This turned out to be a mistake, but we did finally get to Sharp.  I was afraid that Norman would’ve already called the police to start searching for us since it was getting so late, but we found him patiently waiting for us at the front door.  After that, we decided that he would just walk to the nearby McDonald’s if I didn’t show up by 5:00 for the rest of the week.

We ate out at the Golden Corral for supper and then just went back to the hotel.  This time, Norman got in the pool with the boys.  If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m not real big on water, so I kinda became the “towel lady”.  I enjoyed watching them, though.  Norman hadn’t swum since back in his high school days, so I was surprised at how quickly he picked back up on it.  Yes, he’s using the noodle in this picture, but he became a regular Michael Phelps later in the week.  J

(Day 2 coming up…)