Fly Away: Christmas in Chicago

How is it the middle of February?! Mom's been trying to get through the photos from Christmas and New Years and finally realized that she just needed to stop trying to organize them and get them up before spring. This year, we spent Christmas in Chicago at our cousins' new home in Lincoln Park. We got to see ALL our cousins from mom's side of the family, Grammie and Grandpa B, and most of our aunts and uncles. It was FREEZING, but so, so, so much fun. We cannot wait to go back!

We spent our first day downtown with Grammie and Grandpa B checking out the German Christkindlemarket and the Christmas windows at Macy's. It was chilly and crowded, but was nice to get out and about.

As you might have heard, one of my most favorite books (we listened to all the audio books in the series, actually) is Blue Balliet's "Wright 3," in which three school-aged children solve a mystery involving Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House in Chicago. Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio is actually in mom's home suburb, Oak Park, and she has a small obsession with him, too. So as my Christmas present this year, Grammie and Grandpa B took us on a tour of all the best Hyde Park spots from the book! We went by Powell's bookstore, took a tour of the Robie House!, and had lunch at The Medici Cafe. It was AWESOME.

The Robie House actually runs a special "Wright 3" tour for kids, but it is on Saturdays only and couldn't swing it. The regular tour was pretty awesome though, especially when the guide learned we were "Wright 3" fans -- she made sure to point out some of the features from book. I'm kind of obsessed with pentominoes (a math puzzle used in the book) and architecture, so I insisted on getting a second set from the bookstore there. Cam did the same.

We spent a lot of time just hanging with our cousins, which made us so happy, but sad that they live so far away :(

Christmas Eve dinner was from Eataly Chicago -- everyone loved the delicious food and lack of preparation that I think it might be a new tradition. Cam and Jack helped Grammie B with her famous Lemon Bee cake -- so there was some homemade, of course. See that outrageously cute baby belly? That's our new cousin Alex -- he was born about 2 weeks later and is even cuter than he was in Aunt Carrie's tummy! (see below)

Our Aunt Allie, aka Ms. Frizzle, put together a super awesome treasure hunt for us to do after dinner. See -- it runs in the family.

Christmas day we went bowling (of course) with our immediate family and then, well, hung out some more and tried to stay warm.

Cousin love at breakfast. 

We also made our first visit to a bounce house, which was a huge success all around and gave everyone some much needed exercise.

And mom made it back this past weekend to visit a month-old baby Alex. Certifiably the cutest baby ever.