A Special Day with Gracie

A few days before Christmas, Kevin and I took Gracie down to Chicago for the day.  We were all very excited about the trip and we had a fabulous time. 

On the way, we stopped in Lakeview and showed Gracie where we lived when she was born.  She thought this was very cool and could not believe that we just lived on one floor!

 

We planned on finishing up the day in Lincoln Park, so we left the car in that neighborhood and took the brown line downtown.  Gracie enjoyed the train and wasn't scared at all.

 

We had lunch at the Signature Room on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.  

 

Grace was not scared of being "in the clouds" at all.  We had a good lunch and then headed out for some shopping. Grace's favorite was the Hello Kitty! store.  We did stop in the American Girl store and she was so good.  We thought this may turn out to be a big mistake but Grace was fine with not getting anything.  She really doesn't like dolls and she hasn't mentioned the place since then.  Maybe we can completely avoid the whole American Girl doll obsession with her?!

We stumbled upon Santa at the Nordstrom and had time for a candy cane and quick photo op.  

 

Then we planned to head over to Macys, get a snack, a new Christmas dress for Grace and check out the windows.  We should have just skipped Macys, since it was a bit of a disaster.  The windows were totally lame.  They did not seem to have ANY Christmas dresses for little girls. And when we stopped at the Starbucks to get a snack, it took no less than HALF AN HOUR to get our drinks.  It was ridiculous.  We were all hungry, tired and a bit on edge.  

So when a crazy person came up to our table and started talking a whole bunch of nonsense, I was just not in the mood.  In an effort to make it crystal clear that we were not interested in whatever she was saying, I held up my hand and said, "Thank you."  That didn't work.  She started talking about the Russian government, read us our Miranda rights, and then turned to Gracie.  She held out her hand and said, "So you come with me little girl."  Something in me snapped and I kinda lost it.  I said very, very loudly, "YOU NEED TO GO AWAY.  NOW!"   Well that didn't work, so I yelled "GO AWAY!"  as loud as I could.  That worked in scaring her off, but then I ended up looking like the crazy person. 

  When we were heading home later that night, Kevin and I were discussing this situation and Gracie piped up from the backseat, "Mommy are you talking about the lady that tried to take me?"  It nearly broke my heart.  On the bright side, it was a good opportunity to discuss what she should do if someone tried to get her to go with them.  Stranger danger, etc. 

We finished up the day by taking a cab up to Lincoln Park and checking out Zoo Lights.  Here are Gracie and I posing in front of this tree.  I swear we are there.  Gracie said, "Mommy, that is an UGLY tree."  She did love the zoo lights though.  We saw different animals than we see at the Milwaukee zoo, which was fun. 

 

She also took a ride on the carousel. 

 

She was such a trooper all day.  It was sleeting freezing rain at the zoo.  We walked a ton.  She was dragged to a few boring places.   And her mom totally embarrassed her at Macys.  But she didn't complain at all. 

On the way to the restaurant for dinner, she told us her feet were wet.  Her shoes and tights were absolutely soaking wet and freezing.  Poor thing. 

We finished up the day at one of our favorite restaurants, Bricks in Lincoln Park.  What a great day!  Can't wait until we can take there Andrew too.   Grace said her favorite part of the day was, "Everything except the car ride."  On the way home, she asked if we could take the "fast way."  So cute.