The Aquabats in Chicago

Try not to be jealous, but we got a double dose of Andrew and Alicia this spring. Shortly after their honeymoon, they hopped on a plane to meet us in Chicago for a long weekend. The Aquabats -- a weird ska band that Matt and Andrew have cherished since their youth -- was performing at the House of Blues, so we had to make the trip.

Here are the A's enjoying their first deep dish Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's in Hyde Park, just a few blocks from our old apartment. It's always such a treat to be able to share our favorite cities with our favorite people.

From there, we went down the road to the Museum of Science and Industry. It's one of our favorites. If you get the chance, GO! Even if you can't see everything, the kid area and the WWII U-boat are amazing!

Baby Adele made so many funny faces that day. I can only describe them as like unto Ron Swanson.

I have no idea where this cute little hood hat came from, but it reminds me of a baby Amelia Earhart, and that's just adorable.

Unfortunately I couldn't go to the concert that night with the cool kids because, you know, dependent children. But Josh being a young Aquabats fan went in my place.

There were a surprising number of young kids there, even younger than Josh. I guess that's what happens when the fans have all grown up and started indoctrinating their children from birth. Really though, songs about pizza day and midget pirates and shark fighters are a little boy's dream. 

Josh had these ear plugs in for a while, but took them out when a message on the stage screen said, "People wearing ear plugs cannot be trusted." I guess he was a afraid he couldn't trust himself? 

Also, he was a little sad when the Aquabats did not end up throwing cupcakes out into the crowd. If that doesn't ruin your day....

The next morning, we of course took our visitors to the Bean, which you've seen a million times if you've been reading my blog the last five years, so I'll say no more.

We walked to Magnolia's Bakery to pick up a good collection of desserts to share at the hotel. I take great pride in the fact that I converted Andrew and Alicia to Magnolia's banana pudding. I know it doesn't sound like anything special, but it really does blow the mind. Sorry no pictures -- we were too busy stuffing our faces.

It's much easier getting around in the city when each child has an adult attached to them.

Matt had some meetings one morning (hence the dress shirt), but we met him afterward for Nuevo Leon, Matt's favorite Mexican food restaurant in all of America. And that's saying something, because he grew up with the real thing and has developed quite the picky palate. Jude was so tired he fell asleep sitting up at the table. This was Matt's affectionate way of keeping him comfortable.

It seems like we spent a good amount of time stuck in traffic, but the kids were pretty good in the car. They really like cell phones. And selfies.

I just thought this was sweet -- Uncle Andrew keeping his hand on Adele through the car ride.

After fighting the traffic to get a good parking spot near the Water Tower Mall, we were about to get out and head to the Lego Store for the boys when we realized this had happened:

So we sat in the car and talked for a bit while we waited for them to wake up. After about 20 or 30 minutes of me being outrageously uncomfortable squished between two car seats, I said we should just wake them up. That's when I realized that not only were they deeply asleep, but one of them had wet his pants, and we had no extra clothes to change into. He would have been grumpy and smelly and cold and wet if we had tried to wake him up and go inside. So after all that, we went back to the hotel to rest. 

Matt took the boys back to the Lego store later while I tried to nap with Adele. It didn't work for us. That night we were going to try to go out to a dueling piano bar and dinner without the kids, but I was so unbelievably tired I couldn't function. I really don't think I've ever felt so out of it while un-medicated. I was incoherent, irrational, and absolutely desperate for sleep. Such is the life of a mother of three young kids when she tries to do ANYTHING in addition to caring for her children when away from her own home.

The next morning, Matt found us this wonderful little market called Eataly. (Basically eating like you're in Italy.) We wandered through lots of fresh, fancy, unique ingredients, and relished the authentic Italian pizza, canoli, and gelato. Oh, the gelato!!

Best way to end the trip. You should go there. I mean, they even have a Nutella bar.

The only thing I would do differently next time:  wait until my baby is not a newborn anymore. The combination of sleepless nights (especially in a hotel), breastfeeding, and postpartum hormones still going strong, just completely wore me out. It's a good thing this baby's cute. 

Andrew and Alicia, I promise to be more fun next time. Thanks so much for coming!