This morning I woke up the kids up at about 7:30am to go to Chicago. It’s their friend’s birthday and he chose to have a destination party at Maggie Daley park.

Their usual wake-up time lately is around 10am but they were all pretty excited to visit the Windy City and to see their friends so getting ready was quick and easy. Nova wanted to stay home with Dad and she had a little fever last night so that worked out well.

All I brought along was a backpack with three beach towels, swim suits for the kids and a water bottle. Asa brought his friend’s birthday present.

We stopped at Kwik Trip for a grab and go breakfast and then drove towards the Waukegan Metra station.

All of the kids rested a little in the car.

On weekends the Metra offers a $10 all-weekend pass so I bought myself one of those at the station. Kids ride free on weekends so we took full advantage of that.

Esme found a most comfortable way to sit in the seat…

We arrived in Chicago around 11:45 and it was starting to rain. We stopped and spend about $15 on ponchos and an umbrella and then walked about 24 minutes to the park.

The kids played at the park and we enjoyed sandwiches and donuts in honor of the birthday boy. Then we walked over to Cloud Gate (or “the bean” as we call it).

We went to the Crown Fountain and played in the water. It was about 78F today but it was overcast and rained off and on. The kids can no trouble getting into the fountain water but it was a little chilly getting out.

We had a great time exploring Chicago with friends since we usually go alone.

Asa and Cal had soggy feet by the time we left. We let them air out on the Metra back to our car. I’m sure the other passengers loved that.

Then we went to Ikea in Oak Creek to buy a few things for Esme and Nova’s room redecorating project and to have some Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.

Now we are back home to sleep in our own beds. It was nice to go on a short adventure today.