Yesterday evening we went to Gurnee Mills because most of Owen's pants have suddenly become high waters. It is a crazy huge indoor mall that has mostly outlet stores. We left Evanston around 4 and I had not had any coffee yet. Owen screamed for most of the 45 min drive there. Still don't really know what it was about. By the time we arrived, I had the most raging headache and was pretty much ready to tell Mike to turn the car around. Thank heavens for Starbucks. 
Despite pretty horrible selection, we still managed to find Owen 2 pairs of jeans, along with a few bargain buys for summer. Mike even found some jeans and a new hoodie. I treated myself to some new undershirt/ tank tops because mine were all stretched out and grungy from breastfeeding. Aside from the coffee, the other highlight of our trip was the little train at the mall. Owen loved watching it! We kept walking by and he really enjoyed just sitting in his stroller, watching it go around and around. 
When we were almost done shopping, he and I went for a ride. He was in heaven. We were the only ones on the train and he kept yelling choo-choo for most of the surprisingly long ride. He loved ringing the bell. He didn't even throw a fit when it was time to get off. We did a little more shopping, and Mike was going to take him on the train one more time because he had really been such a good boy. By the time they walked back out to the train, it was closed. Bad news!!! Owen finally calmed down (a bit) after I told him the choo-choo was tired and had to go to bed. We finished the evening with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The food wasn't the best, but totally worth it! Owen loved every minute of it! We sat by a pack (herd?) of monkeys and he was absolutely entranced by them. He loved the rainstorm, too. We kept him up about an hour and a half past his usual bedtime and he couldn't have been more well behaved. We will definitely have to go back!
Despite pretty horrible selection, we still managed to find Owen 2 pairs of jeans, along with a few bargain buys for summer. Mike even found some jeans and a new hoodie. I treated myself to some new undershirt/ tank tops because mine were all stretched out and grungy from breastfeeding. Aside from the coffee, the other highlight of our trip was the little train at the mall. Owen loved watching it! We kept walking by and he really enjoyed just sitting in his stroller, watching it go around and around. 
When we were almost done shopping, he and I went for a ride. He was in heaven. We were the only ones on the train and he kept yelling choo-choo for most of the surprisingly long ride. He loved ringing the bell. He didn't even throw a fit when it was time to get off. We did a little more shopping, and Mike was going to take him on the train one more time because he had really been such a good boy. By the time they walked back out to the train, it was closed. Bad news!!! Owen finally calmed down (a bit) after I told him the choo-choo was tired and had to go to bed. We finished the evening with dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. The food wasn't the best, but totally worth it! Owen loved every minute of it! We sat by a pack (herd?) of monkeys and he was absolutely entranced by them. He loved the rainstorm, too. We kept him up about an hour and a half past his usual bedtime and he couldn't have been more well behaved. We will definitely have to go back!
