Chicago!

We spent Labor Day weekend in Chicago with my mother-in-law, brother-in-law John, sister-in-law Christine and niece Mae Rose. The weather was fabulous, our condo was in a perfect location for walking everywhere we wanted to go, and my kids were excellent travelers.

Here's what we saw when we looked out the windows in our condo on the 35th floor of a 55-story building near Lake Michigan ...

[From the living room window]
[From our bedroom window]
Even Ben liked the view, and, really the window ledge that was a perfect height for him!
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We walked to Shedd Aquarium, which made for beautiful views along the way and fun times once we arrived.

This octopus was my favorite part of the aquarium. I was fascinated with watching him move. And, yes, I was happy he was behind a glass wall.
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I took lots of pictures on this trip. I found myself slightly obsessed with trying to capture the skyline, the contrast of having the lake on one side of Lake Shore Drive and tall buildings on the other and, well, the metal bean at Millennium Park. Seriously ...

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We (minus Christine, who graciously volunteered to stay with the babies, who would have each had to have $28 tickets ...) went on an architectural boat cruise down the Chicago River. It made for some good picture taking of all the fabulous buildings.

I liked this view from Lake Michigan. We stayed at the building on the far back right.

That's the famous Sears Tower, which is now actually called the Willis Tower. I don't know anything about this Willis company, but I don't think the big bucks paid for the building naming rights will be worth much because it'll always be the Sears Tower, especially to us tourists.

I loved, loved, loved this building. Well, really, the skyline reflection in the building. It's the Kohn Pedersen Fox building. They have three buildings right in a row, but this is by far the prettiest.
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The 94th floor of the John Hancock Building makes for some beautiful views. Especially this one ...

That's the view to the north. I love the contrast of the lake shoreline and tall buildings.

Cute photo opportunity! Look at them pretending to wash windows!

Cate wore that visor all day. Seriously. I was so sure we'd end up shoving it into my backpack, but she proved me wrong. She wanted to be like Gran-Gran.
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We walked. Yes, there was much walking. And I loved it. We stopped at a park area along Lake Michigan between the John Hancock Building and Navy Pier ... and had an impromptu photo shoot ...

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So, yes, now at Navy Pier, where the 140-foot ferris wheel had Cate's attention from the night we arrived until the evening she actually rode it ...

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There are many, many, many more photos here in my Facebook album.