1st Conference Trip: Licolnshire, Illinois

I'm so excited at the idea that Scott could start going to more conferences. I grew up going to conferences with my parents all the time for my dad's clients. They were so much fun, and it's cheap too. We went to Lincolnshire, Illinois for our first conference trip with Scott's work. Lincolnshire is a suburb of Chicago...way north. Scott had meetings on Thursday and Friday, so we decided to stay an extra night to hang out Friday night and Saturday day before we returned home. I researched like crazy to find fun things to keep Abbie and I busy while Scott was at "work."

We went to Lamb's Farm, a dinky little farm on the highway with a tractor ride, train ride, merry go round, miniature golf, petting area, and lots of animals. There was also a playground and a pet shop. It only cost $5 for me and nothing for Abbie...and she rode the merry-go-round 3 times...man was I sick!

After Lamb's Farm we went to the nearby mall where a brand new Gymboree Play & Music center had just openned and had free classes that weekend we were there! We walked around the mall, had dinner, then went to a free class at Gymboree! Abbie was so excited to be at Gymboree, and it was fun to see her so happy and interacting with all the little kids. I was invited to a play group by one of the mom's in the class...but had to tell her I lived in Indiana and couldn't make it! : ( !! We went back to the hotel and went to sleep...Scott came back MUCH MUCH later!

Friday Scott was a slacker and skipped his meetings. We'll have to talk about that because Abbie and I can't go with Scott to conferences if he doesn't actually go to the meetings! We went shopping instead at Gurnee Mills....our favorite outlet mall! Scott got lots of ties and some undershirts, oh and pillows. Abbie got a new bathing suit! I got nothing :( no time to look in Archivers, the scrapbook store. We had lunch and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Abbie of course did not nap, I tried to tell her she was going to nap and then we were going to go to the pool, and she climbed right out of the pack and play and said, "I go pool." That ruined that tactic and getting her to nap. So we let her lay in bed with us and watch a video to have some quiet down town, before we headed to Hidden Creek AquaPark (a water park just like Sahm Park Pool with zero depth & water slides). She loved the water park. At first she wouldn't walk in the water without holding our hands...but after awhile she was walking in water up to her chin to keep getting back on the slides. Although it cost $24 to get it...which is a lot for 1 1/2 hours...it was a lot of fun and Abbie had a blast.

Abbie fell asleep at 7:00 in the car on the way home from the water park and didn't get up until 9:00 the next morning...no dinner for her!

Saturday we got up and went the Shedd Aquarium on our way home...which I have to say was a bust. I cost us $42 to get in (plus $40 for lunch) and all Abbie wanted to do was push her stroller around the Aquarium...no looking a fish! Plus they were trying something new in the dolphin show and for the first 30 minutes just talked about how they train dolphins...which did not entertain Abbie at all. The dolphins jumped for 2 minutes at the end.

Below you will see some pictures from our trip:

A picture of Abbie and I at Lamb's Farm next to the train. The train ride was actually 15 minutes long and went all along a lake with fake animals and cute stuff. I would have rode it again but we had so many other things to do.

Abbie not sure about the whole walking in the water concept. She was clinging to Scott until she realized she could do it all by herself. The hat didn't last that long. On the adult swim break we went to a playground in the facility that had water features. Abbie "almost drowned" at the end of the curly slide. It went right into a pool of water about a foot deep. She landed underwater and the hat was drenched...so she has hat hair in the other pictures!

Abbie getting ready to go down the big slide. Scott would catch her then she would walk to the side of the pool, climb out, and then go up the stairs of the slide to go down again all by herself. She loved the slide!

Here's an overview of the slide Abbie was going down. You can see her on the right side of the slide in the green bathing suit. Scott's giving her a high five..well low five actually.

This is us anxiously awaiting something entertaining to happen in the dolphin show.

Oh my gosh...they finally jumped.