The night before the girls read clues about where our next ‘advent-ure’ would take us and I am a complete geek because I loved watching them figure out that we were going downtown and staying at a hotel WITH A POOL (very important for the under 10 set)
The pool was adored by all except J who realized 3 minutes AFTER going in that his cell phone was in his pocket. Major fail.
The kids love our time downtown because there is a general disregard for the normal “rules.” Which if you are an Engstrom kid means there is a lot of hotel bed jumping and copious amounts of sweets-eating.
And by a lot I mean all the time.
While Abishai was napping I surprised the girls with a trip to movies to see the new Annie.
After the movie the rain cramped our plans to head to the windows so we decided to just hang out at the hotel and enjoy the cocktail reception, order deep dish pizza, and stay up WAY too late watching Christmas movies.
And how does one enjoy a cocktail reception with a toddler? Lollipops. GIANT lollipops. Don’t hate.
Attempting to get a cute picture of all three is always complete tomfoolery and I love that Abishai looks like he is about to devour her doll.
movies and mama-snuggles
The next morning after eating our weight in breakfast buffet we were back on track and headed straight for the Marshall Field’s windows (yes, I know there is another name but I just CAN’T).
And the best part about be woken by Abishai at 6am is it means you are at the windows by 8am and have them entirely to yourselves!! On the walk there may have been a bit of complaining by our oldest, “my leg feels like it is broken mama!!” seriously.
But once we were there: wonder.
After the windows we headed to the walnut room via the escalators for some tree viewing
Abishai loved the tree despite this photo. What he does not love is doing anything we want him to do EVER. We have a toddler folks.
Next stop hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and a walk to the Christkindlemarket.
which was surprisingly quite in the morning….
What no one wants a bratwurst at 9am? What is wrong with people?
So while we missed out on getting our sugary almonds we did get our run of the joint and enjoyed the Nativity without having to elbow our way to see it (which does seem to destroy some of the Christmas spirit)
After a dreary and gray December this day of beautiful sunshine and family time was just amazing.
The only family picture we managed to get was on my iphone and Abishai is clearly over it but we had a great day enjoying our favorite city and celebrating Advent. Only one more sleep til Christmas Eve!! Hope you adventurers are grand,
So fun! These pictures are awesome and capture what looked like a super fun family adventure. xoxo