A Dash of Smith: Chicago

I have to say I feel a little guilty about this trip. It was the second no kids trip this year. But not guilty enough to start thinking about where we can go next time-it will be a while before we can go completely without kids. We spent 72 hrs in Chicago two weekends ago. Some friends in the ward were up for a trade, one of their boys is between Noah and Owen, one is a a few months younger than Winston then they have a little girl about 9 months. So the numbers were pretty even and the kids play well together. We don't have to pay them back until April, which is good, I couldn't do it much before then. (This chica is taking it out of me!) Here's a list of what we did:

Architectural Boat Tour along the Chicago River-enjoyed it. Beautiful buildings and you get a feel for the city. Recommend it to anyone going
Shopping along Magnificent Mile- don't consider myself a shopper but its kind of fun without kids and in stores you don't have at home. I was able to find quite a few non-maternity things to wear now and post-partum. So wish we had an H&M in Houston but I might get my wish.
Cubs vs Astros at Wrigley Field- such a great stadium, they way baseball should be. I actually enjoyed the game even though both teams are pretty terrible this year. Our seats were close, cheap and I loved the organ they still play. I could go to a few more baseball games if all the stadiums were like that. We ate Chicago dogs at the game-really good dogs, with grilled onions then you dress yourself. I a picky hot dog eater and I could have had two however, I figured for the sake of the baby I should stop at one.
Trip to Little Italy-a disappointment. We went to eat a restaurant we had a recommendation for but by the time we go there the wait was 2 hrs (not cool for a pregnant lady) and there was hardly anything else around even though we were in the heart of little Italy. We ended up going to a casual cafe that was decent but certainly not Italian to write home about.
Museum of Science and Industry-One of the greatest museums I've ever been too. We spent 3.5 hrs there and didn't see it all. They had a U-boat from WWII with great displays and they story behind it, they had a wonderful human body hall with plasticised bodies like the body worlds exhibits, and it included human gestation, lots of interactive things for kids, a great weather hall with movies/mini-documentaries on avalanches, tornadoes, tsunamis, and lightening. The weather stuff also had quite a few hands one things, a coal mine from the 1930 mock-up (the line was too long so we had to skip it), Apollo 8 command module, moon rocks, lunar landing training gear, astronaut gear/suits, really good footage from the moon landing with things I'd never heard or seen before and you could practice docking to the space station and drive a model of the Mars Rover. Well worth the 30 minute bus ride.
Trip up to the top of the Hancock Tower to view Chicago by night
More walking along the river walk
Dinner at a fabulous Indian restaurant called Marigold. They make their own paneer so I had to try their saag paneer which was the best I've eaten. We also order the best ginger beer, it was $4 but so good.
Gelato not in little Italy but really good
Walk through Millennium Park to see the sights and the giant bean
Deep dish at Pizzeria Uno

We didn't get to a lot of stuff but with our limited time and my pregnancy limitations we were lucky to see as much as we did. I'm pretty sure my OB would not have approved of all the walking I did even though she approved the trip. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. It was great to sleep in, eat in peace and spend time talking with Ben without constant interruptions. It was the first no kids, no friends trip we've taken since having kids. Can't wait to go someplace again with Ben-he's still pretty fun to hang out with.