Chicago vacation Day 5 - September 18th

Last day and I was a bit sad. I didn't want to leave. I felt "alive" in Chicago, like there were all of these possibilities right around the corner. And the funny thing about all of these possibilities is that they made the days seem longer...weird, I know, but they did. The days blow by in a blur here at home...I wouldn't mind if time slowed down a little so we could enjoy things more as a family. I'm gonna have to figure out a way to make that happen :)
We wanted to wake up early so we didn't have to rush. We knew we wanted to be back home no later than 5:30 that evening so we could pick up Murphy from doggie day care, and we also knew that there were some things that we wanted to do before we left the city, so we hit it early. And we didn't have to wake her up...she just popped her head over the pack-n-play and was ready to go. She just wakes up cute.


Izzy became quite the little city girl during our short stay. She had the elevator thing completely figured out by day 2, but it took me till day 5 to record it. She would stand in front of the elevator door and wait for it to open, then walk to the back corner and turn around. Then, when the door would open, she'd march right out. The last 2 days, though, she seemed a little freaked out by the threshold of the elevator, so we had to walk her over it.

I really wanted to take some photos in a small part right outside of one of the entrances to the zoo on Tuesday, but we didn't think it was a good idea to push it any further with Izzy, so we decided to play a little "catch-up" before we hit the road home on Friday and headed back up to Lincoln Park. We drove around a while with no success in finding a parking spot, so we decided to drive by the apartments I used to live in when I lived in Chicago and photograph them, and here they are...
This was the first apartment I lived in....doesn't look like much, does it? Well, you'd be right. Due to the job I had with Dean Foods, I was on the road during most of the apartment search, and my old roommate/ex-boyfriend (at the time) found this place and thought it was up to par. Note the "ex" on the boyfriend...the only thing this place had going for it was wood floors and a cool view of the city from the kitchen, but that's about it. My apartment was the one on the 3rd floor.

Except for this. Taco & Burrito Place #3. THE BEST CHICKEN TACO YOU WILL EVER EAT (sober or not-so-much). I REALLY wanted a taco on this trip, but it was just to early to partake of the yummy goodness...save it for next time.

Here is apartment #2. I LOVED this apartment....hardwood floors, built-ins everywhere, patio in back. It doesn't look like much either, but it was a true gem of an apartment.

This was my last place in Chicago. It wasn't bad...I had a parking space (FINALLY, but it cost me an arm and a leg), and it had a GREAT location. This is what I remember when I think about wanting to walk out my front door in any direction and be able to find a great place to eat and some shopping. This was it.

Okay, enough reminiscing about that...We headed back over to the zoo, but still no luck with parking, so we bit the bullet and paid for the zoo parking. The zoo may be free, but they get you in the parking lot $17!!! Freakin' ridiculous, but people like us will pay it :) So, we walked through the zoo, but our timing was good enough to catch the seal feeding.

We got to the park I love, and hung out for awhile. This is just a cool shot of some asian grasses.

We went over to the fountain in the park, and there was a little girl Izzy's age there that had the same hairstyle as Izzy and a pink balloon that she was kind enough to let Izzy play with. We were all wondering if they were communicating with the ponytail antennaes sticking out of their head! :)

I put out a blanket hoping that we could just hang out for a bit..

but it didn't last long. She wanted to roam, until she found this bench. Then she wanted nothing more than to sit on it.


She even convinced her pappa that it was the most wonderful place to be...

Then we headed back to the fountain. While we were there, there was this woman walking her dog in the fountain. She was yappin on her phone the entire time, but went around us so the dog could continue walking....cute puppy!

Here we are checking out a squirrel that was running around in the trees.


Nice view from the zoo parking lot (except for a little bit of haze)

And then we headed out of the city :( We stopped in Merrilville to get gas and something to eat. I went in to get an ice cream cone, and this is what I had in my seat when I came back...a little MONKEY!


I had posted on Facebook last week about someone having a meltdown and decible levels that were causing permanent damage...make sure you're volume is at an appropriate level for this:

NOT FUN. But here she was just minutes later:

And this is my most favorite video that I took the entire trip....kinda think you'll figure out why...