Downtown Chicago with the Reeves

This is posted a little out of order, but last Wednesday I took the Reeves (Ben's sister and family) on the el train and into downtown Chicago. Ben had to work, so it was Heather, Rob, and me with the five kids. We got all kinds of funny comments when we would walk into a store - you really don't see many families walking around with that many kids ages 8 and under in Chicago.

We went up to the top floor of the Hancock Building and saw the great views, then spent lots of time at the American Girl store. The girls had such a fabulous time seeing the dolls and getting the whole experience there. It was pretty crowded and I feel bad because I didn't take a picture! Oh well. We stopped in a few other stores along Michigan Avenue, including the Disney store - here is Eli playing with a soccer ball and a huge Bolt stuffed animal. He would carry Bolt around, talking to him and showing him other toys. It was pretty funny.

We also spent a good chunk of time at the Lego store - it has all kinds of cool displays made out of Legos, like this huge spider:

And this giraffe (here's Rob holding Hannah in front of the store):
Here's Eli in front of Santa and a lego display (he loves saying "Santa!")
Here we are with R2D2 made out of legos:
Abbie and Emma in front of a Lego version of the Hancock Building:
Hannah, Emma, and Eli playing at one of the lego tables - they had so much fun playing with these:
Outside the store, the Reeves family posing with the lego man:

Me and Eli with lego man:

Later we walked down to Millenium Park and saw the "Bean" - Abbie and Emma had fun running under it:

Eli watching the people ice skating at Millenium Park:

Me and Eli in front of the Bean:

We were gone the entire day, and finally made it home a little before 6 p.m. I was SO tired and the kids were cold, but all in all it was a fun day in the city. I will say, it's stressful keeping track of that many little kids in the crowded downtown area! They were all really good though and it was fun to show them some of the sights. I even ran into a few people that I knew at some of the stores, which was pretty random in such a big city!

Today was low-key... we went to church in the morning, had a big lunch when we came home, then Eli and I took naps while Ben and the Reeves drove out to see the temple. There was some difficulty because Ben forgot his keys and I had locked the doors after they left. When they came home, rang the doorbell and tried calling the phone, I was so sound asleep that I heard none of it!! (and amazingly it didn't wake up Eli either) The phone was turned off upstairs and I had my bedroom door closed, but I can't believe I didn't hear the doorbell ringing. They ended up going over to Northwestern's campus so the girls could use the bathroom and to see Ben's old building, where they tried calling again - this time, I woke up to the very soft sound of the phone ringing downstairs and checked the voice mail.

Tonight after we put the younger kids to bed, we hung out in my craft room in the basement (more like a craft cave - it's pretty small, but I have space for two tables and lots of shelves filled with paper/cardmaking supplies - I love this room!!). Abbie and Emma had a blast using my paper punches and other tools to make pictures, cards, hats, etc. They are the sweetest kids and both made me the nicest cards today. It's a treat to get to spend time with them!