A New Tradition is Born

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Adrienne stopped in Chicago this weekend on their move to Balitmore. Since it was Ryan's birthday and company is a great excuse to do fun stuff, we went to Chicago to the Taste of Chicago Festival on Friday. Jason and I actually went there on a date a week earlier, so we had some idea of what to expect. Sixty Chicago restraunts set up tents and sell an amazing variety of foods. Everyone had a favorite -- Dani liked the Vienna Beef hot dogs; Evan, cheese pizza; and Emily liked frozen chocolate banana and fried ravioli. Jason and I liked the spinach stuffed pizza. I also was a pretty big fan of the baklava . Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to try things like stuffed grape leaves, collard green eggrolls, and sauteed goat and fried plantains. Maybe.

After the Taste, we walked down to Millenium Park and played in Crown Fountain. I'd say Brendan was the biggest fan of that one. He took off crawling through the water, chasing Evan and trying to climb up him.


















We also checked out the Cloud Gate sculpture in the park. It looks like a giant silver kidney and reminds me very much of a Disney Sunday movie we saw when I was a kid, "Flight of the Navigator." It is supposed to reflect the city skyline, but people are more interested in seeing themselves in it, as were my kids.











The only bummer part of the day was that we got stuck in traffic and took nearly 2 hours to get home. The kids absolutely loved the day. Evan is already asking to go back to "cah-go." I think we'll make the Taste a yearly tradition!