Playing Tourists

Yesterday, The Boy was invited to visit his great-grandfather in Indiana yesterday. So today while he enjoyed boating, fishing and general gallivanting around a small, country town and its twin lakes, The Girl, The Baby and I went downtown to play tourist in our city.

We had a great day. The weather today was fantastic for such an adventure, neither too hot (or humid), nor too cool, with quite a lovely breeze near the Lake. We took the train downtown with The Dad this morning. He deposited us at the farmer's market, which is held in the Chicago Federal Center each Tuesday. We admired all the fruits and vegetables and bought an apple from a Michigan orchard. The Girl ate the apple whilst riding in the stroller through the Loop; we walked across Adams and up Michigan Avenue. We were going to explore the Art Institute for a bit, but sadly, it no longer offers free admission on Tuesdays and a 2-year-old doesn't have the attention span to justify the $12 suggested entry donation. So we rambled elsewhere.

As a treat to myself, we walked up to Starbucks. The Girl drank a chocolate milk and people-watched out the window. I choked down a blueberry-white iced tea (which I do not recommend and only drank because I had paid $2 for it) and ate a seasonal cookie, and nursed The Baby.

We stopped at Walgreen's on Michigan Avenue to buy hats for The Baby and The Girl, as I had forgotten to pack some in my bag and it was quite sunny in the park. Each child got a Chicago baseball hat, completing our role play as tourists. So equipped, we meandered over to Millennium Park to the Family Fun Activity tents. This week is XXL Games week, offering blown-up Twister and Checkers game boards and a giant crossword puzzle. The Girl played with a hula hoop and a walk-on piano, and colored with markers. She was a bit frightened of the man on stilts. We went to see the bean, which The Girl thought was really cool.

My stomach then went from zero to starving, so instead of hitting the play fountains, we walked across the street to My Thai. The Girl had plain rice noodles. I had vegetable spring rolls and a mild yellow curry with chicken and rice. Yum! The last time I went to My Thai, my friend J. worked at the 'Toot and I was pregnant with The Boy. It's still there, still pretty good and still pretty cheap. Lunch for the two of us was $15 with tip.

After lunch, we headed crosstown to visit The Dad at his office. We eventually made it there, but stopped twice along the way. Once at a going-out-of-business fabric store on Monroe where I bought 3 yards of fabric for a quilt cover for The Girl. The owner assumed that I was a tourist and made a comment to that effect. And again at Sears to buy a paint roller. I also bought The Baby a romper for next year and a few outfits for next spring for The Girl from the Land's End Shop. We used the restroom while there to change diapers, and since The Girl's outfit was filthy, to change her outfit as well. She promptly destroyed it with dry-erase marker at The Dad's office. Oh well, she looked cute while it lasted.

I tried out my baby carrier with a toddler on our way to visit The Dad's office. The Girl rode on my back while The Baby was in the stroller. It worked, but I prefer to use it to carry a 15-lb. baby on my front than a 32-lb. toddler on my back. At The Dad's office, we looked out the window, drew on and cleaned the dry-erase board, and met some of The Dad's colleagues.

Finally, we took the free trolley at The Girl's request before getting back on the L to go home. The L was pretty crowded; a man got up to give us his seat. Why is it always the men who get up? Not sure, but thank goodness that some chivalry is still alive. The Baby, The Girl, a stroller, a diaper bag and me were all crammed into one small seat. I was dead tired by the time we got home, but it was awesome to get into the Loop and wander around the areas I remember best from my childhood and early working days.