Hello, Chicago!

Dave had a conference to attend in Chicago at the beginning of December, and we all decided to come with him! We stayed for one night in a hotel, and we learned that road trips and vacations are a whole different ballgame with two kids, even when you're only on the road for 2 hours and only away from home for 2 days. Natalie successfully navigated the hotel's double bed without falling out--phew!--and David slept fairly well in his carseat, which is where he usually sleeps anyway.

We packed in a lot of fun stuff during the day--we visited the Field Museum and the Children's Museum, rode the L Train (EL Train?), and we ate Chicago-style pizza. Natalie loved the train. Her excitement was so contagious that she even made the tired commuters smile. How can you not smile when a cute 3-year-old (no bias here) in a bright pink coat says "Whee!" everytime the train starts moving, and repeats the names of the stops as she hears them over the intercom?

We don't actually have pictures from our favorite part of the Chicago Children's Museum. It was an indoor snowball fight, complete with white puff balls the size of golf balls and snowflake-shaped cardboard cutouts you could stack to create barricades. We had such a blast, and we weren't freezing cold afterward. Fine family entertainment!

Kitchen helper

Here's Natalie getting more mileage out of her Wisconsin tee. This time she's helping me roll out sugar cookie dough. As you can see, this is a full-body effort.


Ah, my favorite sight! Natalie & Dave working side by side in the kitchen. Natalie loves doing the dishes so much that she cries if we won't let her help. Here's hoping we can keep the dishes excitement coming when she's in high school.

Daddy-daughter date

Dave & Natalie love riding the bus to the Madison Children's Museum. Here they are, all decked out in UW regalia, ready for a fun day together. Thanks, Mom, for the fun tee shirts!

Smiling baby

These days David loves laying on the floor and ... smiling! Baby smiles are the best.