Spring!

I love spring in Chicago. It's fickle -- 72 degrees and sunny can turn into 45 and rainy in less than 12 hours and back on its head again soon after -- but after a long winter of snow, ice, salt spray and brown-yellow grass stubble, I'll take whatever I can get!

Today, The Boy went on a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago, arriving back to school just before 4 p.m. We missed gymnastics, but ran around with the rest of our crew on the Disney II playground until we were all too thirsty and too tired to continue. At which point, we walked the 1/2 block up to Smoque BBQ for some pulled pork (me), fries (The Boy), brisket (The Tot) and mac & cheese (The Girl). Yum! What's better than a spring afternoon? A spring afternoon capped off with super yummy barbeque from the celebrated (it was featured in Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) local spot.

After dinner, we returned to the playground, where I ran into Beth T. and her young'uns, letting the kids run off whatever steam they'd just built up at dinner.