Chicago: Day 4

We slept in this morning... Way in. So much so that we missed breakfast in the hotel lobby. The kids swam in the morning with their cousins and we ventured in to the city around noon. I really wanted to take one of the neighborhood tours through china town, little Italy and Chicago's Greek village. The tour was on a trolley bus and our tour guide knew a ton of history. I'm always amazed by those people. We never got off the bus but learned a lot. One thing of importance: the Chicago fire was started in the old lady's barn but it wasn't her fault. They talk about the Chicago fire a lot around here. How it burned the city which was made of wood, including sidewalks, and how the city recovered and preserved. Well the fire was blamed on an Irish woman (the people of Chicago hated Irish folks). The legend has it that her cow kicked over a candle which started the barn on fire. The winds carried the fire quickly into Chicago but left the old woman's home untouched. She was a wanted woman. Turns out, the fire was likely just a wild fire probably started by lightning and in the late 1990's the mayor went public with such story. Putting the famed old woman and her cow not guru. What a story!

We promised the kids a trip to the American Girl and Lego store so we headed downtown next. Those places are crazy. The American girl store is out of control and Addi for a moment turned into a crazed doll lover. We talked her out of it ... But I'm afraid it may not last.

As we were leaving WaterTower Place, the baby had finally fallen asleep in the stroller and the plan was to walk to dinner. When we came out of the mall there was a storm brewing. It moved in so fast! We turned left, passed some cops that were hauling to their cars, and decided to get inside quickly. By the time we had gone 50 ft the rain was pouring down, the wind was crazy and the storm was full force. We made it down the stairs with skirts above our waists and the baby still asleep. Tables, chairs, signs, everything was blowing over. It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. The kids were a little freaked out and rob thought it was a tornado! To make matters worse, we thought for just a moment that the parking garage closed at 7pm so we were sort of panicking about getting back to the car. The Doubledecker bus saved our butts. They made a stop after rob ran after them and let us get on.

As soon as it came in, the storm was gone, we were in our car and headed to Ed debevik's a famous Chicago diner. After dinner we got back to the hotel just in time to watch the final quarter of the Blackhawks game. A win for the Stanley cup!