Labor Day Weekend, 2017

Hey, you guys!  I’m back! We did our usual Labor Day tradition and hit up Chicago for the long Labor Day weekend, and I’ve got some pictures to share.

It was a really good weekend.  It really was. Unfortunately there was some burglary action in there (more on that later…), but hell, yucky weird stuff happens to EVERYONE so no worries, we’re fine.  Let’s just get started.

So!  We hit up the kids’ favorite museum first.  We bought the extra tickets for the coal mine exhibit for the first time ever, and the boys LOVED it.  It was indeed very cool.

The plasma balls there are so, so addictive.

Pete decided to stick his head against the plasma ball.  Goofball.

Also there is this area with blowers and balls and you can balance the balls but Linus decided to take the blower to the face and then when he stepped away his hair stayed all blown up for awhile and it was pretty awesome.

Wow that one is kind fuzzy now that I see it big. Sorry about that.  Still keeping it in the post though IT’S ALL I HAVEEEEEEE.

So after the museum it was lunchtime, and we drove off to the West Loop. I was on a mural hunt this visit, lately I’ve gotten more and more into the street art around Chicago and the West Loop was where I planned to start my hunt.

Thank goodness, the boys are always into a good long walk. So we found some parking on a random side street and off we went. First stop: PQM for some delicious delicious sandwiches. And delicious beer.

(At some point we’re taking the boys to the Whiner taproom and I don’t care if they are glued to our phones the entire time so they’re quiet brain-dead zombie children, we are going. I want to try all their goodies.)

Scott got a turkey sandwich thing, I got a gyro with MASSIVE chunks of pork belly and salty olives on a handmade griddled flatbread thingie and mmmmmm all so good. The kids split a chicken parm and munched away on chips. All very, very delish you guys. I was kinda bummed I didn’t pack a cooler to bring home some of their amazing looking meat-counter goodies (but that probably would have just gotten stolen too, so nevermind it’s a good thing we forgot the cooler).

Ooof, so full. So then we went off to hunt down some decent mural action.

I found a little sailor cap in the clearance section at the MSI shop and I mean sorry but how could I not buy that thing.  I need to get him a striped shirt too. Very fitting for Linus the irreverent preschooler.

At one point we walked by a Do-Rite shop and with my kids, there’s no just walking past a doughnut shop.  So we had a doughnut pit stop.

Then off to find more murals. And stare lovingly at the El trains as they roll by.

This onion dude is weird and yet I love him so.

Then the kids were whining about sore feet and there were no more doughnut shops in sight to revive them, so we finally hit up our hotel.  Why are my kids so ‘exhausted’ but the second we get to our hotel room they are jumping on beds and climbing all over like animals?

KIDS.

Bummer thing to note: we booked a room with 2 Queens, but apparently they overbooked (are hotels like airlines now?) so we were stuck with a King bed.  One bed.  Nope.  So we ordered a pull-away cot and hit the streets.

We walked the river and watched all the boats (and Linus gave us hell because we weren’t riding on a boat this time; mental note made to not skip the water taxi next time…).  Watched the street performers.  People watched.  Stood in line to use the State St. Walgreens bathroom for like 15 minutes.  All good times.

We walked around until it was dark. And then we stopped at Shake Shack, grabbed some burgers to go, and spent a lovely, relaxing evening stuffing our faces while watching cartoons in the comfort of our hotel room.  And I actually got some photos of that stuff, but alas: gone forever.

(Also I don’t have a ton of photos from this day and I guess that might be a blessing to some visitors to this blog (heh) but above is what I have.  I will say: usually I only download a few and use them to post on social media and take care of the bulk of the photos after I get back home. For some reason, I decided to cull/work on ~30 photos and then backed them up on Flickr to boot. So: blessings.)

Anyway.  Another day, another hour spent playing on the windowsill.

Also Linus took the bathroom and closet doors and fashioned his own personal hotel room.

Our morning plans were to check out of the hotel and stow our bags in the car (we had parking paid up until 3pm), and then find some breakfast and hit the streets.

So we found our car in the garage, tossed our bags in the trunk and the boys’ blankets/buddies in their car seats, and then went off in search of doughnuts.  We were close to Firecakes so the kids were pretty happy.

I got a peach cobbler mini, Scott got his fav peanut-butter chocolate mini, and I got a pistachio to hide away in my bag for later because I LOVE THEIR PISTACHIO OLD FASHIONEDS THEY ARE SO AMAZING YOU GUYS.

That moment when Linus realizes he wore a very appropriate shirt that day.

And then we just started walking.  I planned on finding a little park on the River North side, but I walked in the wrong direction so we went west for a good mile.  Whoops.  Oh well, lots to see 🙂

I loved their dash hula lady.  Also got an inadvertent family selfie.

IT’S THE FLAMINGO MURAL.  It was painted by one of my favorite street artists (J.C. Rivera).  Also apparently it’s a favorite Instagram-worthy background because when we drove past it the day before, there were THREE different people actively posing against portions of it while other people fired off dozens of shots.  Hilarious.  I was able to find it without people  littering it, which was nice.

Also I kinda prefer the Bear Champ side, but to each their own.

After we righted ourselves we made the trek to the park, going in the correct direction. We had been walking for a few hours by then and the kids were as usual DYING so we stopped at Stan’s for a shake and soda break.  And cold brew.  And I apologize for the color diffferences in a few of these but there were dark-red umbrellas and it was uber sunny so there was a bright-red cast to all my pictures, like so bad that color correction tools weren’t even working on it, so that was a bitch to fix by hand.

Pete’s face was beet red in the photo above, no lies.  DUMB AWNINGS.

Anyway. Back to walkin’.

So!  We get to the park, and then realize it’s tucked right up next to a beach.  And there’s no keeping my kids from the water, so they ended up taking off their shoes and running for it.  I was kinda mad at myself: I keep an emergency beach bag in the trunk, with towels swimwear sunscreen etc., I should have thought ahead and taken that along, but oh well.  It is what it is.  It was hot that day (creeping towards 80F) so the water felt pretty darn nice.

Around 1:30p we decided to drag the kids out of the water.  We had about a 30 minute hike back to the parking garage, and didn’t want to cut it too close to our 3p deadline.  The kids were soaking wet and full of sand so the plan was to change them into fresh clothes in the parking garage, then hit up the Field, and grab a nice early dinner at Old Irving Brewery, maybe look for a few murals if we have time. So the kids scampered along, it was a lovely day, and I love Chicago.

Even when Chicago doesn’t love us at the moment.

This is the last picture I took that day.  We got to the parking garage, and Scott pops the trunk to get luggage out to change the kids.  And he says, kind of surprised, “huh, the suitcase is missing”.  So I poke my head in the trunk and yeah: no, not just our suitcase is missing, ALL OF OUR BAGS are missing.  Luggage, our electronics bag, my work bag, everything in the trunk was cleared out.  The front/back seats were a mess of things tossed around, the electronics (tablets) in the car were gone…

Scott called the nonemergency line to report the theft, and needless to say it really sucked.

After filing the police report we were all pretty down and so we just skipped the rest of our plans and drove home. I was feeling pretty awful about the whole thing.   When we got back I told Scott I had to go REPLACE THE NECESSARY PARTS AND I NEED TIME ALONE so I went all by my lonesome. I stopped at the mall to get new makeup and I got the kids replacement fall jackets.  Then I went to Target and did that thing were you kinda mentally go through your morning routine and start tossing all the necessities in your cart from there.  Toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair brushes, lotions and creams.  I was sad because I don’t know about you, but when I go on vacation I like to bring my favorite things.  My comfiest PJs, my favorite sundresses, my best bras. I pack my favorite outfits for the kids, too, because I know I’m going to take pictures. Linus insisted we pack his favoritest moon shirt. Some of my camera equipment (including the memory card of photos from the first day). My work laptop was in my work bag, you guys.  All that was just gone.

So I get to the check-out at Target and I see this sign, to donate for hurricane relief. And then it kinda hit me and I felt stupid. Because really, I didn’t have it bad at all. Insurance will cover the electronics at least, and clothes are replaceable. There are people all over our country who have it a million times worse right now.

I gave a little, and if you all want to give a little too here’s a good article about where/what to donate, for Harvey at least.

Okay I have no idea how to end this other than: help your fellow man! Do what you can. And be compassionate and kind to people, we all need that at the very least.

OH WAIT NO I KNOW HOW TO END THIS. Like three days after we got back I was cleaning out some stuff, including the tote I had while walking around Chicago. And there it was, on top of the jean jacket I had shoved in the bag when I got too hot: my pistachio old-fashioned. In all the mess of what happened after we got back to the car, I had completely forgotten about it.

Yes, I ate it, and yes, it was a little stale, but still it tasted like a dream. SO THERE YOU CAN’T STEAL ALL OF MY JOY, BURGLAR ASSHOLES.

Okay more to come probably next week. Enjoy your last bits of summer.