Chicago

My brother Mike has a conference in Chicago this week, which was just the excuse we needed to take a road trip and spend the weekend there. I loved the city more than I expected to. It's beautiful, and we had a great time!

at Navy Pier

We started our Chicago trip with a visit to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game, which was lots of fun. Gavin made it to the 7th-inning stretch, which was more baseball than we expected him to take in.

At one point while walking through the city we happened upon a fire station. One worker (a dispatcher, I think) saw Gavin eyeing the engines and cheerfully invited him to climb into the one he liked best. He was in heaven!

Mike and I escaped for a couple of hours to the Chicago Art Institute, a fantastic place to which I hope to someday return. We saw so many masterpieces, including these:

"Two Sisters" by Renoir; "American Gothic" by Grant Wood; "At the Moulin Rouge" by Toulouse-Lautrec; "Wheatstacks (End of Summer)" by Monet; "Self-portrait" by Van Gogh; and "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Seurat

Mike (and a painting by Jackson Pollock)

some funky statues outside the museum

Just a few more photos from our fun Chicago weekend...

(part of the) view from our hotel room

(more of the) view from our hotel room

Gavin was such a great traveler. The chocolate helped...

with Uncle Mike

(If, while reading this post, you've wondered what's up with Gavin's ear, I have answers for you. It swelled pretty big (reaction to a bug bite? infected bug bite? We're not sure), and we treated it using recommendations from 2 pharmacists. It's much better now.)