Zoo Year's Eve...

aren't y'all so proud, I am almost caught up!

New Year's was just a few days after our little downtown adventure and we headed to Brookfield Zoo for their Zoo Years party. I'll be honest, I was not excited at all to go back out in the frozen tundra that is Chicago. But like Mr. Incredible always tell me, "you will be happy we went". Which I was. They had a "kid friendly" countdown that was at 8PM - but who I am kidding, I am pregnant with 3 kids, I was very grateful for that "kid friendly" countdown. (I was on my 3rd dream by the time midnight rolled around). What made a huge difference is there were places to go inside and get warm and that definitely toned down the whaling and gnashing of teeth that we heard from the kids when we were downtown.

Sorry, these aren't the best pics. I wish that I could link you to friend Kelley's blog, she's amazing and is much more witty and creative than I, but she's on lockdown. (She was smart and actually got pictures that proved they were at Brookfield Zoo, me...not so much.)

This is the snow leopard - no I promise, really it's there....I think?

and this is the polar bear - no seriously we really went to the zoo and that's really a polar bear. If you zoom in really close you can see the reflection of his eyes.

Muffin's favorite part of the zoo (no this wasn't Petsmart, it was really the zoo!) - petting the guinea pig

I was shocked that B-Man would even touch said guinea pig- this kid won't even pet cats!

Winter Wonderfest...

We decided to venture downtown a few days after Christmas to the Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier and also to go see the infamous Macy's windows. At Navy Pier they had all sorts of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and dozens of rides to tempt our children, overall it was fun.

The highlight of the evening was our crazy kids. It was hilarious - who knew what a little Rihanna and a lot of sugar could do to small children. I guess I don't ever have to worry about them being afraid to perform in public.

The picture says it all! (if you need proof, please refer to the above video)

We should have just stayed in the warm confines of Navy Pier, but instead took the trolley to head over the State Street Macy's to see the windows. You know, when you are used to something as amazing as Temple Square, you have pretty high expectations and as cute as the Macy's windows were, we definitely will be skipping that in years to come. It was absolutely freezing and it was miserable for the kids and to be honest, I was pretty miserable as well, but we all survived and now we can check that off of our Chi-town "to-do" list.

On the trolley...

We passed the Chicago Theatre on our way...

Finally reached Macy's

Although we were freezing cold, we were in good company and are grateful for wonderful friends who help us be a little more adventurous that we would be otherwise :o)