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#AllegroKidsRule Day 2 – Navy Pier

July 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
After completing our Scavenger Hunt for the #AllegroKidsRule event, Erin, the girls and I headed for 312 for our cooking class with Chef Luca.  we made home made pizzas and chocolate chip cookies.  we also dined on all kinds of yummy dinner pastries, pastas, and salads while our pizzas cooked.
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During dinner we discovered that they would be having a fireworks show on Navy Pier at 10:30pm.  Though that was really late for the smaller kiddos, it was perfect for Sami and I and our new friends Joe and Shiva.  We met outside of the Hotel Allegro at 9:15 and headed towards Navy Pier.  This time I was smart enough to wear my tennis shoes.
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On our way we passed the theater where there was a symphony performing.  It was absolutely beautiful and the music just bounced around the whole park.  We stopped and watched in awe for a few minutes – and then realized we better leave quickly to beat the crowd to the Pier.
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We arrived outside of Navy Pier a bit early and sat down for a drink while Sami and Shiva had ice cream and sat with their feel dangling over the water.  Before long though we were all startled by a huge boom, and a beautiful show.
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After the show it was just way too tempting to not actually go ON Navy Pier and of course ride the Ferris Wheel.   The view was amazing and the kids begged to ride the swings afterwards, which of course we let them.  Truth be told I wish I had gone too – the ride looked like so much fun!
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Best shot of the weekend:

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The Navy Pier closes at midnight so we stayed until the last minute and then began the hike all the way back to Hotel Allegro.  I was amazed at how SAFE we all felt – walking about 2 miles alone in the dark on a Saturday night.
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We tried to go to see “the bean” again to get a picture of the Chicago skyline at night…. but were chased out by security lol Apparently Millennium Park closes at midnight too.
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We walked all the way back to Hotel Allegro – completely exhausted – but all four of us grinning from ear to ear from such a fun night.   Sadly I got some bad news within a few minutes of walking in our hotel room, but it was an absolutely amazing day in Chicago and I am so glad I got to experience it all with the Tween and all of my new AllegroKidsRule friends.
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Thank you again to Hotel Allegro or an amazing weekend checking out your beautiful hotel, city, and everything there is to do as a family there.

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Day 2 – #AllegroKidsRule Chicago Trip (part 1)

July 12, 2012 By 5 Comments
Day two of the #AllegroKidsRule event began with a quick breakfast at 312 Chicago (pronounced 3-1-2  by the locals, not 3-12 the way I walked around saying it) Since we had some time before we were to meet with the other Moms, Sami  and I decided to stroll around the block – just checking out all of the sights.  Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, a bank, a salon, … practically everything you could need all in the same city block as the Hotel Allegro.
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When we met up with the other moms and kids we walked to Millennium Park to have lunch at the Park Grill.  It may possibly be the busiest spot to have lunch – because it is absolutely fabulous.   We dined on everything from nachos to little jalapeno hot dogs, and I had a Caesar salad which was enormous.

The Park Grill – Millennium Park, Chicago

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THEN…. the Scavenger Hunt began!
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The Hotel Allegro crew gave us a worksheet with a scavenger hunt with five of the best things to do and see with your kids in Chicago.  As soon as we finished lunch we all broke off to explore.  It wasnt long before Sami and I realized that we are severely directionally challenged…. even “The Bean” (aka Cloud Gate) – which beautifully reflects the entire Chicago Skyline wasnt much help… but it sure was cool.

“The Bean” aka Cloud Gate
Millennium Park Chicago

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Thankfully we found Erin and her daughter at the Fountains, and the four of us buddied up for the rest of the day.  Erin’s daughter is almost the exact same age as Midge, who Sami and I both were missing terribly, so it was great for Sami to hangout and bond with her, and before long they were skipping ahead hand in hand while Erin and I chatted about blogging… and tried to figure out where we were – stopping to take pictures all over the place.
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The first stop after the Fountain was the Field Museum where they have “Sue” – the largest complete Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil in the US.  We had misjudged just how far of a walk the museum was from the park, so we were all glad to find a place to sit down, get s snack, and soak up some air conditioning.
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After an hour or so of relaxing we were off to our next stop – the Willis Tower observation deck – formerly of course the Sears tower.  We got some Italian ice on the way, and realized none of us really wanted to walk another 3 miles (I was already at about 12,000 steps on the FitBit) so after a few moments of laughter with Erin and I trying to figure out whether we should take a bus or a taxi, we finally hailed a cab… right in the middle of the street.  It was hysterical – something I have never done.  A quick ride to Willis Tower and we were ready to mark off another task from our scavenger hunt.
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When you enter the Willis Tower to go to the observation deck you can watch a video about the building including some history on Chicago.  There are all kinds of cool little nuggets of info on the walls – including a life size picture of Michael Jordan… since Sami is taller than I am, I let her pose for this one.
One elevator will take you all the way to the 103rd floor of this massive building – in about one minute.   I am not exactly sure how fast that is, but all of us were laughing about our ears popping on the way up.  As soon as the doors open it hits you JUST how high you are.
I took some pictures – pretty much standing against the far wall.  Have I mentioned I am deathly afraid of heights? As we wound around the building towards the observation deck, panic started to set in.  Thank goodness Erin was with me – I totally think I would have backed out otherwise.
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We got to the deck and the girls walked out for us to take pictures.
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And I really tried to too…. but this was as good as it got.
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Yes, those are my fearless daughter’s hands reaching out to help her terrified mother onto the deck… didnt happen.
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After marking that off our scavenger hunt we headed to go find some Chicago Deep dish pizza and hot dogs.  We were cutting it very close to being late for dinner, but we just HAD to finish the hunt.  Thankfully we found a place to eat right inside the Willis Tower.
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After scarfing down pizza and dogs we headed back to Hotel Allegro for dinner with Chef Luca.   Read all about that on Part 2.
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Thank you again to Hotel Allegro and to Erin from Mommy on the Spot for being my buddy all over the city of Chicago!!!
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The #AllegroKidsRule Event Chicago – Day 1

July 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

On Wordless Wednesday a few weeks ago I announced that the Tween (Teen in 8 days! Yikes!) and I were heading off to a weekend in Chicago courtesy of Kimpton Hotels to check out all the things there is to do with kiddos in the beautiful city of Chicago.  On my Life List #26 is to Have dinner in Chicago with someone who is actually WORTH being in Chicago with… I am excited to mark that one as DONE!

Our trip actually began Thursday when we hit the road at 5:30am to drive to Atlanta to my mother’s house.  The flights were much better – timing and direct flights, plus I was going to have to layover in Atlanta anyway, better to just go there and enjoy it.  We arrived shortly after lunch time and spent the entire afternoon floating around in the pool.  Talk about the perfect start to the weekend.

Friday we had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get on the road to the airport before the Atlanta Traffic set it.  It got us there a few hours before our flight, but that was ok – we found a Moe’s and were delighted to find out they serve Homewreckers … even at 6am.

The flight was perfect and even though the Tween had some anxiety about take off, she did fine once we got in the air.  She has flown before but as a toddler, so she really doesn’t remember.

We arrived in Chicago and got our bags – and then the fun really began.  Now, I have heard stories about taxi drivers in New York… but I can not imagine them being any worse than in Chicago.  Our driver was very nice, and actually a very talented driver – I told him he should try out for Nascar...or to be a stunt driver.  He asked if it was ok to take “back roads” which I laughed about, thinking that “back roads” where I am from are seldom even paved…

We arrived at the Hotel Allegro and were absolutely famished, so we quickly checked in and headed to our room to put our stuff down and find some food!   The room was AWESOME.  The Hotel Allegro was originally built in 1926 and is located right inside “The Loop” so an easy walk to anything (wait till you see Day 2 and my 19,000+ steps) or you can literally step right outside to grab the train.   The colors were silver and blue and had kind of a 70s feel to the decor and the Tween loved the enormous picture of a violin hanging on the wall.

After we checked in we headed to lunch just the two of us at the Encore Liquid Lounge which you can get to from the lobby of the hotel.  The food was unbelievably good – they had amazing Ranch dressing… that made this Southern girl a very happy camper – and we had plenty to save for a snack later.

After a bit of relaxing in the room we got cleaned up and headed down for Kids Hour which starts at 4pm right in the hotel lobby.  They have fun games, puzzles, a Wii, an old timey Popcorn stand… it was terrific.  I got to meet the other Moms – Casey from MooshInIndy, Erin from MommyOnTheSpot, Alison from SassyMomsInTheCity,  and Colleen from MommyDaze.   We chatted while the kids played, all a bit tired from the travel, so we retired early to our rooms where we found a delightful surprise – Cookies and Milk!

The rest of the evening was spent watching movies… well… that is until about 9pm when we got hungry again.  So what are two girls who are already in their PJs in a city they do not know supposed to do to eat….?!! ROOM SERVICE!!