Hello and welcome to day three! Which was so much fun! We walked through this park on the first day when we were headed back to our hotel. Just happened to stumble on it and it's so lovely! We planned to grab breakfast one morning and head back for the girls to run and play-- and for us to enjoy our espresso and a beautiful morning.
So that's exactly what we did. We got donuts, bagels and coffee at a little spot next to our hotel the headed to the park. It's Lakeshore East Park and it's just so pretty tucked into this huge city!
The plan for the day was to take it easy, do some shopping and then decide what to do from there. So once we finished up in the park, we walked down to Shops at Northbridge. The girls had been talking about going to the Jellycat store and I saw there was a Lola and the Boys.
Lola and the Boys was a hit! Everything pink! Everything sparkles! They loved it all!
It's like a little girl dream store!
Headed to the Jellycat store and we lost Brian to a store called Mugsy. I had never heard of it but isn't that the best kind of shopping?! He found some really comfy pants and I picked him out a pair of shorts and a hat. Both he's worn nonstop since buying!
Emily wearing the cool Chicago hat I found!
And then we found Jellycat. Which was just a little spot in the Nordstrom store. We waited in line for 30 mins! Couldn't see in the store half of the time so we looked online so we would be prepared to shop! They were really, really excited. I was terrified we wouldn't be able to get out of there without Emily trying to buy every single stuffy.
She loved all the food ones. It was so cute and funny.
Somehow she ended up with the same bunny she already has but in pink. Our girls loves her bunnies. It was a tough decision. She did go back and forth a few times.
Posed with plenty that she wants for her birthday. Kate kept deciding and then changing her mind. It was a tough shopping experience.
Kate ultimately got the sun. I think she got it cause I said that I liked it. It was precious! We named it Ray-ray. Emily's is named Pinky. Thanks to ChatGPT for helping us coming up with name ideas.
Brian was able to do all sorts of shopping in Nordstrom. Came out with some awesome jeans. He's so bougie.
We got suckered into going into the Starbucks Reserve. It was MADNESS. We immediately regretted it but got coffee anyway. It was subpar and so slow. The girls and I ditched Brian and let him wait for the coffee while we went to take a breather.
Turns out we were chillin at the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
cartwheel clinic
We were so close to the American Girl store that we decided to keep walking and just "stumble" on it. The girls also wanted to go to the Harry Potter store. Which I just don't get but whatever.
Kate wanted to do this. I guess it something about being assigned to a "house." She's a big fan of Hufflepuff so she grabbed a badger?? for her photo and surprise, surprise.. she was assigned Hufflepuff. She thought it was so neat.
And then we kept walking. Question after question about where are we going, when are we going to stop walking... until we were about two blocks. Somehow Emily spotted the red AG awning. Probably because she's made me pull up the pictures 7,879 times. She's also asked about every five minutes since we've been in town where the AG doll store is, are we close to the AG doll store, will we drive past the AG doll store? She's a woman on a mission.
cue the screams and the sprints to the store! We told them we could walk through and I don't think we would ever get them out. They were so happy! That store is so massive and we didn't even see half of it! We have our AG store appointments for the next day so this is just a quick preview.
Summer and Lila, Kate and Emily!
Picture with Molly for Molly Holland.
Courtney Moore!!!!
And somehow we got them out. They also really wanted to go to the lego store. Not sure why. It was kind of lame but they still liked it.
block head.
Don't the faces say it all?
We rode the bus back to our hotel and grabbed a quick bite before heading out again. Figured it we napped, we wouldn't be very productive so Brian went to the Art Institute and I took the girls to the Museum of Ice Cream. The girls weren't very interested in another real museum but had been talking about the museum of ice cream non stop. So I got suckered by the marketing and took them.
We tried to recreate a picture I took with my family back in 2004! We found the spot but the background was a little different.
I think my sister said that a construction wall was up. But the Trump building is also missing. So I googled and it looks like that was started in 2005 and completed in 2009. So a few things different but same spot! Also please note Clark's cool shoes. He got those in Chicago and make sure we captured them in every. single. photo.
sweetest girls!
AND onto the Museum of Ice Cream. I'm putting together a things to do with kids post for Chicago and I talk about this in that post but I'll say here.. this is a total skip. We waited in line outside longer than it took us to walk through the whole thing. The ice cream flavors they served were weird and the girls didn't want most. It was so packed that it was miserable. For me.. the girls loved it and ranked it on their top list! So do with that what you will :)
I'm a million ways grossed out by all of this!!! But at least they had fun.
and another forces photo cause babies don't keep.
Back to the hotel. Quick nap. Meet back up with Brian and off to dinner!
Trivoli Tavern wins the award for very best vibe! Also, it's not say Tray-voli... it's triv-oli. Duh, guess that's my Arkansas coming out.
Brian was most looking forward to this dinner and it did not disappoint!!
Yeast rolls to start-- mine and Kate's love language. So delish! Can you go wrong?
We started with shrimp cocktail and man were they delish!! Massive and huge and so yum!
What you are looking at here is heaven. The girls got lobster mac and cheese and I tried it-- was divine. Seriously, usually lobster mac is terrible and gimmicky.. this was not. This was amazing. Massive chunks of lobster. SO good! We also ordered the girls french fries and they came with this amazing aioli. Brian got steak with bearnaise and he was seriously vibing in his food coma about half way through. I couldn't get enough seafood so I went with the sizzling shrimp scampi and yum. Thinking about the amount of butter we had that night and I just don't care. They also offered table wife by the carafe for only like $18. It was so good!!!
dead but so happy
really happy!
super happy!!
This place was a crowd-pleaser! We all loved it. The vibe was perfect, the food was delish, and we had a fun time laughing as a family.
"show me pictures of the Water Tower Place with the American Girl Doll Store."
We took an uber to the Buckingham fountain and it was SO COLD! We did not stay but Brian did rent a scooter and that was quite the adventure.
Fun, top-tier day with my people! We had such a great day shopping, seeing the city and eating together.. like a family :)
XOXO
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