6/25
The City
That's what you call Chicago if you're from the Chicagoland area.... The City. The kids went to the city last week to go to the Shedd Aquarium with their grandparents when Tracy and I were in Denver. Yesterday (Wednesday) my sister, her kids, Tracy, our kids and I, left for the city around noon. We took the train from Crystal Lake and it took us about an hour to get there. The kids were pretty good although we managed to have half of them, two of the four, cry on the trip.
We got to the train station around 2:00, checked in to our hotel, and walked a few blocks to Millenium Park to hang out and see "The Bean", which is actually called Cloud Gate, which ironically I never knew. I bet most Chicagoans don't know the actual name of the sculpture. "The Bean" is a huge bean shaped, mirrored sculpture that hundreds of people seem to be at every day of the week, looking at their reflection. We've been there before, but not with the kids. We spent a half hour at the park looking at the various sculptures and gardens.
After checking into our rooms and napping for a half hour or so we decided it would be best if we left for famed Wrigley Field early, to catch batting practice. We arrived around 4:30 for a 6:05 game time. It was surprisingly cool outside. Probably about 60 degrees and foggy with a cool breeze coming off of the lake straight in from center field.
Wrigley Field really is an amazing place. I've been to Fenway, and it has that same nostalgic feel to it. It's amazing these places still exist. Babe Ruth called his shot at Wrigley in 1932. The first night game wasn't until 1988. The scoreboard is still manually operated. The kids had no idea the history they were experiencing, but they also had no idea there wasn't a huge jumbotron in center field, the bathrooms were 100 years old, and the junk food still tasted great. The kids watched batting practice along the wall, hoping to get a ball thrown to them, while I went near the right outfield hoping for a guy to hit a foul ball to me. None of us succeeded, but we had a blast.
After hitting up the concession stand to get a few thousand calories of complete junk food, we took our seats. We had talked up the junk food opportunities all day and told the kids they could get whatever they wanted. We got nachos, hot dogs, pizza, cracker jacks, beer (for Daddy), popcorn and peanuts. Ironically the kids ate it all before the 2nd inning! The Moms tried to explain to them that you're supposed to spread it out over the entire game and have something every few innings to no avail. After our nutrient free snacks they went through the usual ritual of starting a baseball game and the first few innings were slow. The Reds scored one run in the first inning, and a few more in the middle innings while the Cubs scored one in the 2nd or 3rd. Nothing too eventful during the game other than the kids enjoying ordering beers for me and various food from the walking vendors. We planned on waiting for the 7th inning stretch because it's a special experience at Wrigley. When I was a kid Harry Caray made almost every 7th inning stretch memorable. I remember eating banana splits on my granparent's porch watching the Cubs and listening to Harry sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". He only announced for the Cubs for 16 years but it seems like he was there for 50 years. Towards the end of his career after a few Budweisers he'd slur player's names and every fly ball looked like a home run to him until it was caught in the short outfield. Classic Harry. Now they have guest conductors sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at every game. We missed Sting by a few days but whoever did it for our game did a good Harry impression even adding his classic "let's get some runs" at the end. After we sang, swaying back and forth, we headed out to Clark and Addison to get a cab. We gave up after half a block and used Uber. Twice the cost for way less than half the hassle. We got to the hotel around 9:00 which is pretty late for these kids. My kids fell asleep faster than I've ever seen.
In the morning we all surprisingly slept pretty late. Last night I promised the kids room service in the morning which lit up their faces with a smile. We ordered room service for 7 which is no small feat. While we waited the kids looked jumped back and forth between the two beds and looked at the window washers on the building next door. They noticed a worker looking out the windows about the same height as us in the building next door. I told them to waive to them and try to get their attention and they'd wave back, which they did. The kids laughed and thought it was hilarious. The food arrived a half hour later and we made make shift spots for everyone to eat. After devouring our feast, the kids went back and forth between the two rooms to call each other, while us adults attempted to hang out and talk. They finally wore us down after an hour and we decided to leave for the train station.
I'm sitting on the train now writing this post and can hear the kids blabbing over my headphones, which I'm sure the daily commuters love listening to without headphones. Seems like Aunt Colleen and Aunt Tracy have it all under control.
Last night favorite part of the day:
Colleen - explaining the bases to Davis
Arden - hanging out with her cousins at the baseball game
Davis - getting a baseball (for $20! from the gift shop) at the game
Austin - working with his Dad on the beer delivery truck in the morning when uncle Matt used the knife to cut the wrapping off the beer just as his Dad said "don't cut the cans" uncle Matt cut the can and beer sprayed in his face
Caden - Cubs game and watching Davis rolled off the chair during fave part of day
Mom - eating nacho cheese at game. Ironically the way it makes her feel is her least favorite part of the day
Dad - singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch with my family, Sister and Nephews
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