Taylor's to the City of Chicago!

Chicago is a little bigger than Swansboro, so we thought we should take the Taylors to the city to experience the sights and sounds of a big city.  We made sure to have some experiences that would leave a lasting impression and started by taking the train into the city.

The kids were good and had fun playing their iPods and gameboys.  The ride went by quickly.

What a fun group.  We took a water taxi from the train to the Michigan avenue area, completing two of our three transportation modes.

An obligatory stop at the "bean" to see ourselves in the reflection and then on to Grant Park.

Here is our water taxi ride - lots of fun!

Even though it rained on us just a bit, the kids could not but help to take off their shoes and socks and play in the fountains.  We always take for granted the fun things in the city until we bring guests and realize how unusual some of the sights really are.

We stopped for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and everyone got stuffed.  The day was really fun, except poor Reagan came down with a fever and kept falling asleep on my shoulder.  She did not complain however and we finally got her home to bed.

We took our first trip to the Sears tower with the Taylors.  It is so amazing to see the city from the 104th floor.  New window "boxes" were installed last year which allow you to walk "outside" the walls into an acrylic box which gives the sensation of standing on air.

That is the city street below Austin, 104 floors below!

It was fun to stand in the box and look around the city.  What a great view!