We Heart Chicago

For Spring Break, our sweet friends Chere and Lizzie asked Kami and I to join them on a quick trip to Chicago (in honor of Lizzie' 9th birthday! Happy Birthday Lizzie!). Just a mom/daughter thing. So on Monday night, the four of us flew out to Chicago for a two day/three night fling. The main attraction was The American Girl Place. Kami and I really knew little about it except that the dolls are (choke) very expensive. Kami was never interested in dolls, so, I assumed that she wouldn't be too interested in this. I couldn't have been more wrong. In the end, I coughed up the cash for her doll, which she named Jessica Hope Hankins, and the weirdest thing happened when she opened that box. She fell in love with that doll! It was so fun to watch the excitement on her face (and Lizzie's too) as they dined at the American Girl Cafe with their dolls, took their dolls to the American Girl Salon (I am not kidding and it was not free) and picked out clothes and accessories for their dolls. I sound like I am bitter about the spending we did there, but I am not. After all, it was a very special time that I cherished with Kami. Not rationalizing here, I don't think. : ) We also very much enjoyed our other destinations like Shedd's Aquarium (amazing beluga whale and baby, precious penguins) The Museum of Science and Technology (see the dancing robot with Kami's face above), and the Navy Pier. It was fun to hang out at the hotel and the girls swam a couple of times while Chere and I enjoyed conversation. We ate some yummy food and rode in a lot of taxi cabs. One taxi ride was a tad on the scary side (very fast driver in the rain yelling on his cell phone) and while I closed my eyes in the front seat (praying), Chere wrote down the toll free numbers to report the guy. Well, he got us where we needed to go, but it was a pretty wild ride. What cracked me up was that by the end of the trip Kami was on the street hailing cabs all by herself. She thinks that she is a "city girl" and said she'd love to live in Chicago. Ok, well maybe that's a sign of things to come in the future, but for now, we're happy to be back in Oklahoma!