Chicago - Day One

Last week Taki had a business trip to Chicago so Nikos and I, being the jetsetters that we are (to read: Taki and I trying to get Nikos amped for the looong flight to Aruba next month) decided to join him. Taki flew out on Monday and Nikos and I followed on Wednesday night. Again he was a champ on the plane, awake for the first hour or so and then asleep for the rest of the flight. Since we were on Southwest (who no longer boards families first btw) we sat down in an empty row and I pinched Nikos a few times as people walked by so he would look like quite the fussy baby. I couldn't get any real tears but I did get some squirming and groaning. I may have mentioned something like "ooh, is that a stinky diaper I smell??" - again, a fabricated concoction. And PRESTO - we got the whole row to ourselves. Hee hee! Of course, once our fellow passengers noted that he passed out for most of the flight sprawled in the middle seat they may have realized they had been duped but HA too late.

Right about now I would usually insert a sleeping-Nikos-on-the-plane picture (please see previous San Diego/Seattle/Philly posts) but I discovered that like an IDIOT I had charged the extra-special-you-can't-easily-find-in-stores camera battery and left it at home. Hello Heather - you left the battery in the charger? What a novice. Sadly, it was even worse. I brought the charger and left the battery sitting on the kitchen table. Thus, you will see no pictures until Day 1 in Chicago (which was actually Day 2 of our trip since we landed at a little before one in the morning on Thursday.)

While we waited for Taki to finish up with work Nikos and I stopped by Barnes and Noble (we had to go somewhere while our $65 replacement battery was charging at the camera shop) and picked up Good Night Chicago.

We are starting a collection of the Good Night books for the places we visit. So far we have San Diego, Seattle, Philly and Chicago. Fun!

While Nikos napped I took a few shots of the fountain next to the Art Institute of Chicago.

We met up with Taki at the Chicago branch of Method and Nikos impressed the crowd.

Lucky for us, Chicago's Greektown was mere steps from Taki's office. Opaaa!

Yes, authentic Greek beer.

Clearly, Nikos and the monkey are infatuated with me.

I apologize that I don't have a picture of the flaming Saganaki cheese that we ate - yum! - but Taki is a little slow on the uptake so he got a picture of the smoldering cheese. Blast!

Taki made fun of me for this shot but I thought it was fun. They go all out in Greektown.

After dinner we headed back over to the Art Institute of Chicago (free admission Thursday nights - wahoo!) Here I am threatening Niko that if he acts up he will only receive armor for his birthday.

Every child needs a gauntlet to play with.

Roar! Go LMU Lions.

I think Dolly Parton was playing here. Hee!

I really enjoyed the landscaped medians so I made poor Taki pose by about 20.

Stay tuned for Day Two.