Last weekend, we took the older boys to their very first Cubs game on Saturday and their first Air and Water show on Sunday. It was also the first time they stayed in a hotel (LOVED it!) We all had a blast! It was one of those weekends that, as soon as it ended, I wished could start all over again. It's always great being back in the city...sometimes I really miss living down there. But, as Brian said, we wouldn't last a day living downtown with boys! Can't beat the big backyard, free parking lots and, of course, our friends in the burbs! Sadly, this was another summer event Brady had to miss. Next year baby - you're coming with us for everything!!!

I took this picture to help us find our car (didn't need to...Brian always knows where we are...thankfully!)
Before the game, the boys got some Cubbie hats. Logan picked a visor like daddy.
Ok, so I took this picture as both a momentum and as a reminder. We had great seats, but they were a little bit too far in the middle of the row. Next year, same section, but a bit closer to the aisle.

Brian explains the game to the boys. When they were actually paying attention, it was really cute. Every time something good happened and the crowd cheered, they got SO excited to clap and yell...especially Aiden. The look in his eyes was like "I can be loud here? This is awesome!" We even got to see a home run.

Some pictures at the game:

The cotton candy was a huge hit!

Plus when you're done, it makes a great hat...apparently :)

Although the boys said they wanted to stay for the whole game, we took off after the 7th inning stretch. We wanted to beat the crowd and Aiden was looking mighty tired. He snoozed on the way back to the car...and then in the car

After the game we went to visit some friends and their new baby boy. Then we headed to the hotel where the boys did...well...what you do in a hotel when you're a kid - jump from bed to bed a few times. They thought our room was the coolest! Logan was concerned about where he was going to potty...until we showed him the bathroom...which was yet another cool area to be explored.

After checking in, we went next door to a hibachi-style Japanese steak house. Brian and I went there on a date WAY back in the beginning of our relationship so it was fun to take the boys. After dinner, we went walking around the city.

We checked out the Chicago River and waved at all the boats going by.

Walking under one of the draw bridges

I had never been to this fountain before. It's really cool....right off the river

The boys wanted to do a little more than dip in a toe. I dragged them out a few times

In the end, it was a futile effort to keep them out of the fountain. They just had to walk home with damp shorts. A minor price to pay for fun.

The Air and Water Show was a big hit...especially the playing-in-the-water-and-sand part!

This is fun!

The ever popular self-portrait (what's with the face on Aiden?) :)

We built some awesome sand castles. I took care of the building, Aiden did decorations (rocks collected from the water) and Logan was in charge of running back and forth to the lake for bowls of water to make our sand nice and sticky.

This was the best one...until Logan "accidentally" knocked it down with a shovel.

The weekend ended with spider-man ice-cream treats! The boys had seen a side-walk ice-cream cart with a picture of these on Saturday night. We promised to track them down on Sunday. Lucky for us, there were 2 side-walk vendors at the top of the tunnel leading off the beach...and they both had the spidey-pops! We had a long walk back to the hotel so I actually put Aiden on my shoulders for a while. He is a SLOW ice cream eater and it was raining spidey pop down my arm for 1/2 the trip back. A mom with a double stroller came up behind me with a wipe and cleaned off my arm while Aiden was still on my shoulders. She said she just had to help another mom in need. Sweet :)

We grabbed our bag from the hotel front desk, our van from the vallet guy, did a quick cloths-change in the hotel bathroom and headed back home to pick up Bray. In an attempt to round out the day until bed time, we went for a family dinner at TGIF (how suburban...quite delicious!) and then went home!!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Cali and then Hawaii. Can't wait!