It was a Saturday of fun in Chicago! It started with a trip to American Girl for Laura and I. We spent over an hour wandering from display to display. We took advantage of some really nice Black Friday deals as well as pick up some things like Saige’s pajamas that Laura had been wanting. We took “the girls” for pampering in the Doll Salon and Laura got to design her own girl/doll matching t-shirts. It was a great trip to the American Girl store and Laura was so very, very excited! By the way, her favorite purchase is an activity book called “Doll at Work.” It is all about setting up and running different businesses. I am quite impressed with the book and Laura can’t wait to get her swimming pool business started.
After American Girl, we met Andy and John at the Lego store. We picked up some more train track for John’s train, a couple of Lego City sets, a Christmas set, and a holiday magnet set. Also, we got to see Lego Santa and Lego Iron Man. My favorite part of the Lego store is just looking at all the different statues and displays. It is quite impressive to see just how many different things can be made out of Legos like the replica of the Chicago skyline or the Sydney Opera House.
Like last year, we went up to the Observation Deck in the John Hancock Building. While on one side of the building, Laura said, “Mom! It’s the Rock and Roll McDonald’s!” We had fun picking out the various landmarks and looking at the putting green, swimming pools, and lawns on top of some of the different buildings.
Along with the fantastic views of the city, we got to see Santa. We had a breakthrough with John as he actually talked to Santa and wasn’t afraid of him! Both kids gave Santa their Christmas lists, which were surprisingly short. I would be impressed with the lack of Christmas list length except that I know both kids are planning to tell Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf, what they want as well and *those* lists are much longer…
We met Scot after he got off work and went to his and Sheila’s apartment to spend the rest of our day. What a great and completely relaxing time! Ian came over to join us and we drank some good drinks, chatted, watched some football, and ate some great food. John has decided that he adores Aunt Sheila and was sitting on her lap quite a lot.
Unlike last year where I forgot to take *any* pictures at their place (seriously, *how* does that happen?!?), I did manage to get a few pictures including this picture of Uncle Scot, Laura, and Uncle Ian!
I think we all had a great time and it was a perfect way to end our Thanksgiving trip. Nice and relaxing with great family!