Saturday, July 5, 2008

Walsh/Stratton Chicago Vacation '08


We were very lucky to have Mike's parents, sisters, aunt, uncle, and cousin in town last weekend. They came last Thursday and stayed through Monday. We did lots of Chicago touristy things and had so much fun. Friday morning, the girls went to brunch at the American Girl Store on Michigan Avenue.

It was so great!!! I would highly recommend it to anyone with little girls or any older American Girl fans. Going to that store seriously makes you feel like a little girl again (I'm sure the mimosas didn't hurt, either.)


This is Mike's cousin Olivia, who is 5, with her doll, Julie. She loved the American Girl store. I seriously wanted to buy all of the many new outfits and accessories for my Samantha doll (which is somewhere in a closet at my parent's house.) It was so cute to watch the little girls (many dressed in matching outfits with their doll) enjoying such a fun outing. I hope that we will one day be blessed with a daughter or niece or some little girl who we can buy this stuff for so I can play with it and not feel ridiculous.

This was the dessert. Everything was delicious and so cute, too! Otherwise, there are these twin dolls that come in boys and girls... I'm sure Owen (and Mike) would love them... I would highly recommend this activity to anyone familiar with the American Girl dolls.


After the American Girl brunch, we met up with the boys at Navy Pier for an architectural boat tour on the Chicago river.


The weather was great and we enjoyed the boat ride


and seeing all of the interesting buildings.






Owen had lots of fun playing with Grandpa Jimmy.


After the tour, we had lunch at Charlie's. Then Mike, Owen, and I took the "L" back to Evanston. Owen was overtired and a little cranky, but stayed awake and silly the entire way back to Evanston!



while the Walsh crew spent some time at Navy Pier.


Other trip highlights included hanging around the Orrington Hotel


Dave's Italian Kitchen (Owen ate an entire loaf of bread, among many other things!)





Cheers!



And, an obviously enthralling tour of Mike's lab and the Northwestern campus.




Thanks to everyone for coming to Evanston and including us in your vacation. We had so much fun!

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