Reed Family Review: Chicago

The weekend before Christmas we ventured into the city for the first time. I figured that Chicago was sure to have an awesome light display. Public Square in Cleveland always looks so nice with all the light displays that a city as big as Chicago would be incredible. The lack of light was somewhat of a disappointment, but the day was not a disappointment. Mostly because we did something I have always wanted to do. (you'll just have to wait and see what that was).

We decided that with the cost of parking and gas it would be almost as cheap to ride the train in and much more relaxing, especially given the busy time of year. When we woke up to the first snow of the year, Jared was glad he didn't have to drive in it. It wasn't a lot but sometimes thats more dangerous because people aren't careful. On the way to the train station, we saw several cars in ditches.

We were lucky to get seats with 2 rows of 3 facing each other both on the way there and back. Especially since the trains were full and some families had to be separated. It was a really long train ride though. Over an hour and a half each way due to all the stops. Jacob was convinced we were on the polar express and wouldn't believe otherwise. "But mom, its the same color.." "Look mom that guy has on a conductor hat and he is punching tickets". Half way through the trip he leaned back and sighed. "It sure is taking them a long time to bring the hot chocolate!" ( my kids have a hot chocolate obessions if you haven't guessed by now). One of the girls asked when our stop was. I told them Jacob didn't believe it wasn't the polar express so we thought we ride it to the end and see if we ended up in the North Pole. The look on their face was priceless. What they didn't know was it was the NW Indiana train and the last stop was the stop at Memorial Park station (where we wanted to be anyway).

As the day progressed, the streets and sidewalks were wet and the girls and I learned that although our brown boots may look cute and stylish, they are NOT waterproof. We thought our toes would break off. We actually considered buying handwarmers at a downtown walgreens to stick on our boots.

We saw the Macey's window displays and the giant indoor tree. We also tried to go to the Kristkindlemart (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). It is an outdoor German market. There were food stands as well as handmade crafts and ornaments. Everything looked so beautiful. But is was packed!! We could barely move and had to form a chain holding on to the coat of the person in front of us. I don't know if it was because it was around lunch, if it was because it was the week before Christmas or if it is always that busy. It was making me nervous with the kids. And about 90% of the people walking around were drinking beer. We didn't get to stay long and I barely caught a glimpse of the beautiful ornaments.

Next we headed to my favorite part of the trip. Memorial park, home of the famous Bean sculpture, but more importantly, the outdoor skating rink!!! We waited in a long line, but it was sooo worth it. Every so often they clear the rink to smooth it. After they finished before they let us back on, a figure skating group performed. The girls were entranced. Everyone did really well. Jacob did great for being 4 and never having ice skated before. However, he was not found of falling on the ice. (when we went roller skating with the YMCA the other day he said he didn't want to go because he didn't feel like getting wet cold pants. I assured him that didn't happen in rollerskating)

We ate a midday meal at subway downtown. While Jared was ordering this homeless man that seemed to have lost his mind sat a the table next to ours and kept muttering things that made no sense while staring at us. It pretty much unnerved me and the kids were freaked out. We were glad when Jared came back and he left! The girls loved this sculpture that kept chaning colors. The made me take a ton of pictures while they posed.