Chicago and a lot of pictures

Dave's band had a show last weekend in Chicago. Elinor and I tagged along to come see them but also to visit my sister and nephew. My sister used to visit once a month but has been busy. We haven't seen her since Elinor's 2nd birthday! Normally when I go with Dave to shows, we don't do too much. We eat good vegan food and maybe go to some stores. Having Elinor with us while traveling has opened our world up. We actually look for things to do in the cities we are traveling to.

 There was no one in line so we went to the counter. We were rudely told by three workers to go to the kiosk. Fine but they didn't have to be so nasty about it. Then we waited 2 hours for the car with no explanation. 

 looking at pictures with Auntie and Conor

She was in love with Conor and wouldn't leave him alone. Our first trip to the park in her underpants.

I can't even tell you how many times I've been to Chicago and I never have been to Lincoln Park Zoo. We ended up going twice! It being free totally helped but it is an awesome zoo. We also went to 2 different conservatories that were also free (Lincoln Park, which is right next to the zoo and Garfield Park) . We had planned to do a couple other things but it rained off and on every day we were there. We hung out a lot in Wicker Park. There was good food and a perfect playground with a splash pad. The first day we went Elinor played in her underpants because we weren't prepared but the next time I came with a bathing suit. Remember when we went to the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Gallery in NYC? Well we got to catch it in Chicago too. It was opening night so people were dressed up. Someone dressed as Slimer and scared Elinor. We ended up having to wait outside while everyone else finished up. We had an awesome few days though.

Watching Dave play with her friend and guitar players daughter.

It's always the best when there is a backstage room for us to get away to.

 Helping Daddy sell shirts and records

Traveling with a toddler is interesting but a lot of fun to see everything through her eyes. My best purchase before we left was this ABC Sticker Activities (My First Sticker Activity Book) and a Melissa & Doug Princess Puffy Sticker Playset . Oh man! She played with both of them for hours! I thought the activity book might have been a little too hard for her but nope she did awesome with it. It kept her busy for both flights and waiting 2 hours for the rental car (thanks hertz and also thanks for charging us $80 for a carseat that is free is you have AAA but it doesn't count if you rent through priceline. FYI multiple customer service workers you talk to before you get to your destination will tell you and you have no choice.). She played with the puffy sticker playset everywhere we went. It was small enough to slide into the side of our bag. Shows can be boring for her now.

A little unsure of Ghostbusters but they were super friendly and gave her a temp tattoo.

happy baby pose!

As soon as we landed on the way home she said "I wanna go again!" We told her but we are home now. She said "well what's next?!" She's a traveler just like her daddy. I'm hoping she does as good on our flight to Japan in October!