Oscar has discovered that the windows at each end of the
hall that
we are on in the Hyatt Regency face out to the Chicago River, Michigan and Wacker streets and then the River leading in to Navy Pier and Lake Michigan. He spends all of his time in the hotel sitting at each end of the hall taking pictures, watching the traffic, waiting for sirens. We can still go eat anywhere we want and if there is a view of traffic, don’t have to worry about the kid wanting to leave. We can only tear him away by promising to go back to Maggie Daley park again and this time it wasn’t horribly hot. We spent a couple of hours there and when it got hotter we walked up Lake street to a used book store. This was one of those times
when things seem to recede away from you as you walk and it was a good thing that we brought Oscar’s stroller on this trip. He would be exhausted because my fitbit is excited all the time at my step counts now that we are without a car again and travelling. This book store was huge and John and I would take turns looking at books with Oscar in the kid’s section and finding our own must haves. The Meyer-Gray family could spend days in book stores it seems. Oscar was the one who couldn’t seem to leave too. He
had to go back after John had already checked out and find a book about fire trucks that he wanted and had put back. Finding that book again was not going to happen, so he found some random book about a fire truck and insisted it was the one that he wanted. He got more books than John did, but his are one tenth the price of our books. The funny part was the book that he bought on the fly was the cutest one that he got and a real winner. We walked back to the hotel along the river and stopped for some food and drinks along the
river. Traffic on the river is as good as traffic on the street in Oscar’s eyes, plus he really liked the waitress who was the bubbliest person in Chicago on this day. We had surprisingly good food and it was nice and airy on the river. The walk back was not hard and Ali can join us tonight for a sunset sail on Lake Michigan. I get tickets on groupon for the Tall Ship Windy and we head toward Navy Pier to find dinner and our sailing ship. We find a small Mexican place to have forgettable food, but Oscar eats a basket and a half of tortilla chips. I joke that we’re killing
it as parents with
what he has eaten today and vaguely wonder if I should have brought motion
sickness pills for the sail boat. We
head out and have a great time on the boat.
Oscar gets to hold the wheel at the helm, help pull the ropes for the
sails, and dance around to the music playing on the boat. He doesn’t take in much of the scenery and
his previous fear about falling off the boat has gone away because now I have
to ask him to come away from the edge repeatedly. It’s a beautiful night and when we hit dry
land again, I’m congratulating myself on no one getting seasick, Ali makes a
joke about Oscar’s head spinning around and throwing up.... and 10 hours later,
that’s just what happened. I
don’t know if it was the ridiculous amount of junk food that he ate, some time on a boat that had a lot of movement, or just karma when you’re having too much fun, but Oscar woke up at 6:15am throwing up and crying. He doesn’t throw up often, so he just cries and doesn’t know what to say so he gets in on himself, John and the bed. At least Ali’s alarm was supposed to go off 15 minutes later, so there’s some cleaning up and then she gets ready for the conference, while I read Oscar all of his new books. He
seems to love them and we’re moving up from See Spot Run things, to books that I actually learn something from. He says his stomach hurts, but it’s hunger and he is able to eat and hold down his usual peanut butter and crackers. He gets informed that there will be no junk food today and we head to
the store near
the hotel for salad and soup for John and I and bland foods for Oscar. He is fine after this one episode, which
seems to be the case anytime he is sick, so we put him in his bathing suit and
head back out to the park. He wants to
go to Maggie Daley again, but I make him see the fountains with the faces in
Millennium park just to see if he likes it
and boy does he. The boy doesn’t trust his parents yet to know what’s best, but he runs and plays for hours through several different fountain parks. We let him dry in the sun in the swings that he loves in Maggie Daley park and then head to Giordano’s for Chicago Style pizza. I tell Oscar that he
can watch traffic, but Giordana’s have set up their patio so that you can’t see the road and there are only fountains and gardens to see, so he’s angry. Plus, we find out that our pizza is going to take an hour to cook. Have to get bruschetta to make it that long and God was that the right
choice. The balsamic was like candy and the tomatoes were piled so high on the perfect crusty bread that there is a reason it comes with a spoon so you don’t have to lick the plate. Oscar got his pizza earlier and was able to play with the fountain some that wind would blow on to him and make him laugh at times. So, we were able to make it the hour that was needed to make the most amazing pizza. I could only eat one piece, of a 6 slice pizza,
two pieces were left because it was a huge amount of
food in that pie. This is the first
pizza that is a true pie. My mother
always said that this is what pizza in Italy was like when she lived in Milan,
but I’ve never seen pizza like this in Italy.
The Naples version is the one we’re used to and John and I had to have a
discussion about if we liked New York style or
Chicago style pizza better. I think we both decided that we wouldn’t say
no to either one, so not much of a decision.
They’re both amazing. But you
can’t pick this pizza up, fold it in half and walk around the city with
it. So, New York style pizza fits that
city I think, because everyone is on the go all the time. I can’t imagine New Yorkers sitting down for as long as it would take to cook and eat
one of these Chicago pizzas. We waddled
back to the hotel which luckily, was very close.
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