whirlwind

We got to Chicago on Saturday night after a fairly easy flight to Denver and then a connection to Midway airport. In Denver, Nina was starting to get a little crazy, so I asked her if she needed to take a nap; she said yes and after a brief stroll, she fell asleep. Just in time to board the plane to Chicago. I carried her on asleep and buckled her in and she slept for about an hour all curled up in the seat with a coat over her. We took the train to our friends' house and had a lovely dinner.

Sunday we spent preparing for the party our friends Miriam & Ben threw in our honor, which was wonderful because we got to see some good friends. Our Israeli Jew friend even brought the components to make traditional Polish easter eggs. Go figure!

Monday we moved to a hotel and Nina and I spent the day looking for gloves, with no luck--everyone has cleared them out to make room for spring clothing, though it's still pretty cold here (with the wind chill it was around 30 degrees on Monday, though I walk pretty fast, so I wasn't usually too cold. We ate lunch at Potbelly and brought in dinner from Pizzeria Due, which is Pizzeria Uno, it was just the second restaurant they opened. When I have had Chicago deep dish pizza, it has always been from Giordano's, but the Due pizza was pretty much the same. I still prefer New York style, though.

Today our friend Karen picked us up in her car and took us to the National Museum of Mexican Art (we gave her a choice of that or the Nortbaert Nature Museum and she chose art), with a stop at a playground. Then we headed Mundial Cocina Mestiza for lunch. Then back to the hotel for a little down time, and on to American Girl Place. I had told Nina I wasn't going to buy her anything, so it went pretty well and was fun to look at the dolls and their accessories, though it was hard for me not to pick up a little something for Shelf (yes, her name is Shelf now, not Beep). Nina is sleeping now so I'm going to relax as well. Not sure where dinner will be, but our plan is to hit Margie's for some ice cream after.

I would also like to hit the Nortbaert Nature Museum while we're here(it's really amazing and has a huge butterfly house), as well as the Shedd Aquarium, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the Field Museum of Natural History (where Sue the t-rex lives). Busy times ahead...