Over the past 5 days I have been anxiously checking email and Facebook to check on my dear friends trip to Ethiopa to see her son. This is the first child for “M” and “G” and I couldn’t be more excited for them both!
“M” texted all of us as she was holding her son for the 1st time, saying that it felt that her heart was going to burst! This feeling is no different for any 1st time mother, no matter HOW you become that childs mother. Every child is a blessing and I can’t wait to meet this little guy once he comes home to Chicago!

On monday my friend and I made a quick trip to the city with our 4 year olds. We ended up finding to great places that I wanted to write about.

The 1st place we visited was Chicago Kids Bookstore located on Southport in Lakeview. The girls were excited to run in as there are books, toys, clothing and more. While we were there they were about to have story time for infants. There were cozy places for the girls to sit as well as large stuffed animals(horses, dogs, etc…) for them to sit on. It is a whimsical yet educational environment as after all it is a Bookstore 1st and foremost.

After visiting the book store we headed down the street a block or so to Candyality and let me tell you, good luck getting your kids out! The have candy from the days when we were young, as well as chocolates by the pound and every other candy you can imagine. We were greeted warmly by the owner who showed the girls around and gave them the golden rule of “not putting our hands in the candy bins and only using the scoopers”. There is a cooler in the front full of frozen treats, movie style popcorn, t-shirts and gift items available. My daughter picked up a little gift bag of treats for her daddy that said “SOME SUGAR FOR MY DADDY!” how cute is that? I ended up spending $19 on candy but so enjoyed my bag of chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered peanuts on the way home!

If you are in Chicago, these are both great places to visit with your Kids and are local favorites (not touristy spots). Just click on the names of the places above to visit their websites.

So we decided to be brave and take our 2 girls to the auto show. We arrived early and parked up close(so we thought). It took us at least 15 minutes to weave our way thru McCormick place, across a walkway to the otherside where the car show was taking place. Once my girls got to the other side, low and behold, they were thirsty from the long walk and of course needed a snack too before entering. We spent the next 3 hours sitting in cars, well at least the girls did. They decided on which cars we actually looked at and which ones were their favorites. I think it was something like this,
1. Denali…favorite because it had multiple televisions and a passage to walk thru to the 3rd row
2. Suburban…very similar inside to #1 and cost much less
3. VW Mini Van…shiny black color and same favorites as #1 and #2, 3rd row folded with the push of a button, back door was also automatic
So we figured out that we need a 3rd row, but not all the time, and that when having a 3rd row it is much easier to have a walkway to the back rather than having to lift up seats. Do you need all the bells and whistles?

The highlight of the trip (in between all of the complaining that everyones legs were hurting and Are we leaving yet?) was the robot which was pretty cool, and the little mini cars and hybrids caught everyones attention.

So here are my final thoughts, if you are going to take children..GO EARLY! Don’t expect for them not to complain, its alot of walking no matter what however they can take lots of breaks sitting in the cool cars. I would rather spend one day looking at all the cars in one spot, than 5 different afternoons visiting seperate dealerships ANY DAY!