Friday

Got up early (7am is early when you only just when to bed at 2), but that's not when my day began. It actually began with Abby talking in my ear: "Mom, is it time to go yet?" Me: "HUH?? Honey, it's 5:00 in the morning. No, you need to go back to bed."

5:30: "Mom, is it time yet?" Me: "Sweetheart, no. Please go back to bed."

6:00: "Is grandma coming yet?" Me: "No, babe. Not yet."

6:30: "Are we going to be late? Shouldn't grandma be here, because I think it's time to go."

7:00: My alarm goes off and I get up and head toward the bathroom. I hear the TV on in the family room. I go down to check it out. I find Abby sitting the in the recliner, fully dressed in her blue butterfly shirt, jean skirt, pink and green tights and tennis shoes, with her camera purse draped over her shoulder. Me: "Abby, honey, what are you doing down here?" Abby: "Waiting for grandma." Me: "Ok, why don't we get you in the bath? And we're going to need to wear something a little warmer..."

Jacob rolled out of bed around 7:30, then showered and dressed. I was still scrambling to get ready when mom showed up at 8:15 (should have followed Abby's example...). We drove to the South Bend Regional Airport and jumped on the South Shore bound for downtown Chicago and the Shedd Aquarium. A ride, by the way, that takes about 2 and a half hours. Good to know. The kids really enjoyed the ride, but the newness wore out fast and they were ready to get there NOW. Arrived in Chicago and walked a couple of blocks to the Aquarium. Abby was not thrilled with the walking, but it was a beautiful day for January in Chicago - not a bad walk at all.

The first thing we did was watch the diver feed the fish, rays and sharks in the Caribbean Reef just inside - Jacob raised his hand and answered a question asked by the presenter - I was so proud! Jacob and my mom have been studying sharks for a science fair-type project for school, so he knew that the predators in the tank were the sharks! What a smarty!! From there we went directly to the Oceanarium for the dolpin presentation - what Abby had been waiting anxiously for (and losing sleep over) for days. She literally squeeled when the dolphins would jump out of the water - made the whole thing worth while. We grabbed a bite in the cafeteria and then headed for the Shark Reef downstairs where Jacob and grandma read and saw everything there was to know about sharks. Jacob even took out his project notebook and jotted down some notes of things he wanted to remember for his presentation. What a kid!! Finally we tracked down the seahorses and seadragons and the jellyfish before heading to the gift shop on our way out. Jacob got a book about sharks and a plastic shark model for his project - Abby got a little dolphin, a dolphin keychain for her backpack, and a book about sea creatures. They made out like bandits. Grandma is certainly an as-of-yet undetermined species of jellyfish herself.

We caught a cab - the kids very first taxi ride (actually, that's not entirely true...I just remembered that Jacob rode in a cab with me on his first birthday in Nashville, but anyway...) - to Michigan St. for a quick visit to the American Girl store and the Lego store (no purchases) with a quick stop at Garrett's for some carmel corn in between (YUM!!). Then it was a quick cab to the train station for our long, sleepy ride home. Abby was OUT the entire way. I dozed a little myself. Jacob, on the other hand, bounced off every surface he touched. Second wind, I guess. Then it was home, dinner and straight to bed.

Thanks for the awesome day Mom!!

more pictures here