Chicago!!!

We had such a blast visiting Michael & Ann this weekend. And we got a little picture happy... there were a lot of "baby's first fill-in-the-blank" moments.

We left for our trip last Thursday. Here are some shots of John in the car after his first feeding. He is really turning into a little boy. He loves to play with his little friends (dot & hops) in the car seat. The photos really don't have much to do with our trip... more me just amazed at how big my son is.

Honestly, I was little (make that a lot) intimidated by flying with a baby. Turns out it wasn't so bad. Our stroller had issues through security (but whose doesn't?) but we made it to our gate way early. It was good to give John a little play time before he was confined to someones lap.

Steven was in charge of holding him (both ways) but on the way there the plane was relatively empty so we had an open seat next to us to set up our car seat. This made Steven feel a lot better because it's safer to have them in a car seat.

After we got things set up we put John in the car seat and I was SHOCKED!!! that he fell asleep right away. I guess the little guy got so excited about his first flight that he wore himself out. I mean we literally placed him in the seat and watched his eyelids close... it was crazy easy. I love our baby.

However, I guess Thursday morning is the day to fly with your kids because there were like 6-8 other kids on that flight. One of them decided that 45 minutes was way too long to be quiet and woke my baby up! John was a trooper and played pretty happily until he got hungry. Once we fed him it was pretty much time to land.

The landing was kinda funny. We were worried that his ears would bother him so we were trying to make him laugh the entire time we were descending. I should have taken some pictures, because it was kinda fun. By the time the plane touched down we had him cracking up.

We got out of the airport (boy did it feel good) and met Uncle Michael!!! Yeah! While we waiting on Ann to get home we took a walk to a park. Michael helped carry John.

At the park (which was very beautiful) we let John explore a tree. I love watching him discover new things. He often tries to put new things (make that everything... even old things) in his mouth, so we have to redirect. I'm sure this trick will come in handy when we start solids.

Our first night was pretty relaxing. After the park we got settled in and had a wonderful dinner with Ann & Michael. We gave John a bath and put him down. I brought a crib sheet from home and I think it really helped him because he had no problems sleeping at night.

The next morning we headed out to the big city by way of the train. John's first train ride... yeah... pull out a camera! ha ha.

We Swindells are so good lookin'!

Steven probably carried John around the most... but I think John liked it because he took pretty good naps while we were walking around. I mean, he wasn't sleeping his normal 2-3 hour naps, but he did fall asleep when he was tired... and I usually pulled out a camera if he fell asleep because he was so cute!



(side note: Mackenzie, we got so many compliments on your baby legs! Thanks again.)

Our first stop was the Willis Tower (formally known as the Sears Tower). We thought it would be good to get an over view of the city... and I was really excited about the glass balcony things. And it's kinda fun to say that you've been in the tallest building in America.

Here are some snapshots of the city... and John being obsessed with his lady bug friend (we think her name might be dot).



I tired to take a picture of the fall colors from the sky... but it really didn't do it justice.

The cool thing was this ship on the lake. It looks like something that should be in a bottle. I zoomed on it from the picture below.

There were a TON of sail boats on the lake.

Now for being the only one excited about going on these silly balcony things, I have to say it was kinda hard to step out there. I had to really bank in on my engineering education to help me take the step... especially with a baby strapped to me. Steven took a picture of us out there.

Steven looks pretty happy in this picture... but he was just a crazy as I was about stepping out there. After you did it a few times (even holding onto the edge of the main building) you gained more confidence.

We got someone to take a snap shot of all of us. We are such a cute little family on our first family vacation with John.

We re-united with M&A and headed to "The Bean"

It was such a pretty day.

You know, you could stand back an marvel at how they welded all those plates together without any seems, but I just wanted to go up and touch it and take pictures like the other 50+ tourist there.

And, of course, John had a blast playing with his reflection. He loves mirrors so I knew it would be a hit.

We continued our little tour of Chicago in Millennium Park...

And of course diaper changes along the way...

Ann had a try at the "star-fish" carrier (formally known as Bjorn).

And Steven got his Chicago style hot dog. It had poppy seed bun, chopped onion, tomato, green relish, a sport pepper, a dill pickle, mustard and celery salt. Yum? I tasted it... it was crazy... but I was glad he enjoyed it.

Heading back home...

John did great for his first day. I was very proud.

That evening Ann's Mother treated us to dinner at a place called The White Chocolate Grill. Dinner was great, but the chocolate souffle for dessert was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!! We ate a lot of chocolate on this trip... and that was definitely my favorite.

The next day (I believe it was Saturday) we went to the French Market in downtown Wheaton. It was like a Farmer's market. We got some yummy things to eat and I got some oatmeal goats milk soap... I've kinda become addicted to goat's milk soap.

We had lunch in the car (focaccia and kettle corn... I know we ate so healthy on this trip) and headed towards the arboretum. We drove through some nice neighborhoods and admired the beautiful trees. The trees weren't in full Fall color, but way better than anything around here. In fact, I was kinda surprised at how brown our trees looked when we were driving home from the airport.

The Arboretum was lovely, but it was cold. It was kinda nice to hold John because he helped keep me warm :)

In true Fall fashion we had some carmel apples.

And this is what you look like eating a carmel apple...

some bonding time before we headed out on the trails...

And I do have to report that John pretty much lit up when "Uncle Mike" was around. Michael was great at getting him to smile for pictures.

The Arboretum was great. It wasn't as "groomed" as the Dallas Arboretum, but it was very enjoyable. It was kinda like a nice state park that you couldn't camp at. M&A spend a lot of time there and I can see why... it was a lovely afternoon... despite the Fall (I thought it was Winter) weather.

We introduced John to a willow tree...

I think it might have been the coldest weather John has ever experienced.

It was sunny, though...

and all the sun made for some great pictures back in the woods.

and John fell asleep... picture!

gosh, we're such a good looking family! I can't get over how "family-like" we look. Everyone should have babies!!!

on our way back to the car John started to shiver... I felt really bad about spilling milk on his jacket earlier that day.

On Saturday night I think we played "Trains"... or A Ticket to Ride, and ate more chocolate. It is so much fun to hang out with Michael & Ann. It might have been my favorite part of the trip.

I think sometime after the Arboretum I realized that John's diapering situation needed more attention. We were already struggling with a pretty bad yeast infection before the trip. I had stopped using cloth diapers because he had been dealing with it for 2 weeks before the trip and I figured it was in my cloth diapers and ultimately decided to leave them back home. The poor little guy was pretty much screaming throught diaper changes again. It was heart breaking but we did eventually get the hang of vactioning with a baby that needs pretty frequent diaper changes.

On Sunday we got to visit M&A church. It was very similar to ours... in fact they actually lead a young professionals lifegroup (homegroup). I thought it was kinda funny that the nursery there looked almost identical to ours. John has become pretty familar with exersaucers... too bad his parents have a tiny house and have no room for one. He really, really like the blue ball on this one. He kept spinning it and didn't even notice I was walking away... kinda heartbreaking... but not really.

After church we rested and headed to downtown Naperville in the afternoon. The downtowns in the suburbs of Chicago are really nice. There was a TON of little shops and quite a lot to do. The highlight of Naperville was Cookie Dough Creations. It was an ice cream shop, but they also served a scoop of raw cookie dough (without raw eggs) next to your ice cream. Very rich. But don't worry, we only finished it off with a deep dish Chicago style pizza. I think I gained thirty pounds on this trip!

On the river walk in Naperville.

Monday we explored more downtowns (Wheaton & Glenn Elen) with Michael. The pictures definitely decreased by this point because 1) I had developed a cold sore & 2) John had scratched his nose pretty badly due to long finger nails (I really slacked on Mom duties... must have thought I was on vacation or something).

Monday night (before M&A's lifegroup) I made dinner. It's always interesting cooking in someone else's kitchen. I made my pear & gorganzola pizza and had to use a wine bottle to roll out the dough because Michael didn't know where the rolling pin was. Ann had a good laugh when she came in and saw me.

I got to shop at Trader Joe's (which I've heard about almost non-stop for about a year now). It was a very cool place. What I really liked was that it wasn't necceassiarly "organic" in the trendy since, but most of it's products didn't have preservatives in them... and the best part (and really the kicker for me) was that they weren't riducoulsly over priced because it was "organic." It was kinda nice... we ate a meal without preservatives and it didn't cost us a fortune.

Anyway. That pretty much wraps ups the highlights of the trip. I thought a great way to end would be with a picture of M&A reading to John for bed. Aww...

They would be great with kids (wink wink!)!!!

From Chicago