May 27, 2012
I was 36 weeks pregnant, Christopher was in Uganda, and Caroline and I of were soaking up every moment of Mommy & Only Child time that we could. Every morning was breakfast on the back porch and walkin to school, and every evening was story telling and falling asleep while reading together in bed with books strewn about and (usually) the lights still on.
I had been planning a special trip to Chicago with Caroline, but hadn't shared the plan with her because I was starting to reach the uncomfortable part of the pregnancy and was also in my last week of feverish work to get everything ready for my 4 month absence from Lilly.
While driving that far was out of the question, a friend suggested taking the train or the MegaBus, and that turned out to be a
fabulous option. I bought two tickets on Friday, told Caroline at dinner that we were going on an adventure on Saturday, and we spent the whole evening getting ourselves properly excited for such a journey.
Caroline was beside herself with excitement and anticipation. She had been saving money from
two summers of lemonade stands for her own American Doll. I could see her little hands trembling as she pulled all of her money out of the piggy bank and started double-counting it to make sure she had enough. (She gets the catalogs, so she knew what an investment it would be...)
We woke Saturday morning, drove downtown to the stop, and climbed onto the shiny new bus at 6:30am. It's a 3 hour trip, which put us arriving in Chicago at Union Station at 8:30am... just enough time to make our way to the American Girl doll store for a 9am opening.
Because I wasn't sure exactly where we were headed, Caroline got to follow her first bus trip with her first taxi ride! She was so tickled, and couldn't stop laughing when we made our way to the waiting line and found our cab driver napping in the car. She was a fit of giggles, and our driver was completely charmed!
We decided it might be nice to have brunch with one of their dolls, and that bought us a little more time to decide on a doll for Caroline.
Doll Shopping - I was actually a little concerned about this part because I didn't want Caroline to be indundated with all of the items she
wouldn't be coming home with. I only wanted her to be filled with joy and satisfaction that she had reached her goal and had would be going home with a precious doll to love and share her summer with.
After much (MUCH) discussion on the merits of both the Kit doll and the personalized dolls, Caroline chose a doll with blue eyes and dark blond curly hair. She didn't want the doll to be JUST like her... so she chose the doll with curls. :)
My sweet tender-hearted and classic-minded girl chose the name Opal for her doll, because Opal is Caroline's birthstone and because it's a name she doesn't hear very often.
First order of business... Show Opal around Chicago, starting with teh Lego store next door. =)
Touring the Windy City with Caroline and Opal
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| Michigan Avenue |
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| Waterfront |
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| I can barely breathe... much less smile! =) |
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| Dipping her feet in the water at Millenium Park |
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| I want to remember that ponytail and those little shoulders forever. |
After walking from the American Girl store, down Michigan Avenue, past Millenium Park, and to the waterfront, I decided my tired feet weren't going to make it all the way back to Union Station. So we walked back to the canal and found another "first" for Caroline... a Water Taxi!
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| Waving at the other boats |
Back at Union Station, and enjoying a cool place to sit (!) while we waited for our bus.
I think this means the trip was a success!
