We're in Chicago!!!!

Actually, we're in South Holland, a suburb of Chicago. We (Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Tom, Noah, Justin & I) arrived on Monday morning. It's been a great trip so far. Packing for this trip was very interesting. Had it been only Justin and I we would have taken one suitcase and a small bag. Since we have Noah it felt as though we were moving. Here's a picture of the back of Kathy & Tom's car after we were all packed.
We stopped that this rest stop along the Mississippi River, just on the border of Iowa and Illinois at about 7:30 am Monday morning. What a pretty view!
Justin has lots of family out here, his mom's side of the family. They sure are a great bunch and are all so great with Noah. Here's Noah with his cousin, Sue, who is a 2nd grade teacher.
Here's Noah with Aunt Jackie, who is a retired music teacher. I don't have a picture of him with Jackie's husband, Eldon (YET!!!) He's also a retired school teacher.
Here's Noah and his cousin, Chris, who teaches elementary school art. (Are you starting to see a theme?)
Noah, Grandma Kathy & cousin Chris playing with his new shape puzzle in Jackie & Eldon's basement.
Yesterday, Noah, Justin and I had lunch with Grandpa Dean, Fran and Noah's Uncle Jackson and Aunt Holly. They live outside of Springfield, so it was great to have the opportunity to visit with them. Jackson will be going into first grade has grown a lot since the last time we saw him (which was at our wedding!) And it was the first time we have seen Holly, who just turned two. They sure are cute kiddos!

Here's a picture of Grandpa Tom, Noah & Aunt Connie playing piano this morning. Connie & Noah were playing "Concerto for Bebe" in no particular key. Actually, Connie plays piano very beautifully, what a great start to the day!
Today we headed into Chicago. Above is a picture of the clan, me, Connie, Sue, Tom, Kathy, Noah & Elloise (and of course Justin who was taking the picture). Our first stop was Macy's, formerly known as Marshall Fields. What a huge store-there are 9+ stories!!! Noah was crashed out when we got there but quickly woke up just in time to find the toy section. Of course Noah HAD to get a new toy! Why not, we're on vacation, right?
After lunch in the food hall at Macy's we walked down Michigan Avenue to Ghiradelli's for dessert. On the way back we stopped at the Millennium Park. Noah had a great time walking around in the fountain area and looking at himself in the "bean".

Here's Noah and his daddy on Michigan Avenue. We'll be going back downtown on Friday to meet up with Justin's brother, Daniel, and of course to have lunch at the one and only Uno's!

So far Noah's acquired 5 new articles of Cubbies' clothing, all in different sizes (24 months, 2T, 3T & 4T) so he should be set on his Cubbies' wear for a while! :)