Girl's get away!

My sister had been asking if Alyssa and I could come visit for months so after talking about it, and finding the only possible time to go, we planned the trip. Jimmie and I decided this would be a great tradition to start where one of us would take each child the year they turn 10 on a trip by themselves to somewhere fun. Jimmie thinks it's fair if he takes the boys and I take the girl(s), if this baby ends up being one, but I think we should let the kids decide. I'm just hoping that I get chosen and am able to go on more than one if Alyssa is our only girl. For Alyssa's trip she got to go to Chicago. We hopped on a plane which Alyssa was so excited about because she was so young the last time we flew that she didn't remember it. Our flight was delayed but we got there safe and sound at 10 pm. It was off to my sister's apartment to spend the night catching up and playing Uno until 1 am.
My brother decided to drive up from Cleveland to visit since we were in town so they were able to spend a couple days with us. We decided to go to Six Flags Great America! Alright, there wasn't much I could go on, but it was fun to stand in line and talk until everyone else got to go on the rides. I was able to go on the carousel, the swings, and a few other low key rides so it was quite a fun day.
I told everyone to act scared but Alyssa was the only one who cooperated.
Day 1: We decided to hit some of the water rides and went on the log flume twice and then the river rapids. We thought since it was only 3 o'clock in the afternoon we had plenty of sunlight left before it would get dark and cold. By the time we had gotten off the last one it got overcast and windy so we were freezing. We decided to make use of the hand dryers in the bathroom to dry our clothes at an attempt to get warmer. Everyone using the restroom didn't think this was a great idea when they needed to dry their hands, but we thought trying to prevent hypothermia was worth their annoyed looks as they stood in line for the only open hand dryer. Even though the dryers helped a little bit, we were still wet and froze.

That night we went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. When we were watching the animatronic alligator come up out of the water I teased Alyssa that he was going to eat her for dinner. She quickly pointed to a little 6 year old girl and said, "No it won't, it will eat her first; she's closer." The little girl looked sad as she walked away. I told Alyssa that wasn't very nice and she said "well it's true, she was standing closer."
Day 2: We started out by going to lunch at Ed Debevic's which is decorated like an old 50's diner and each waiter/waitress dresses up however they'd like. When certain songs play, they all stand up on the counters and windows to dance to the music. One waiter kept yelling, "Stay in college or you'll end up doing this." It was quite funny and the food was really good.

After lunch we hit the Michigan Mile for some shopping. My cute sister wanted to get Alyssa an American Girl Doll so we headed there first. It is the largest doll store in the world and I was very overwhelmed being in there. There were about 30 different dolls and 10 different versions of each doll so you could get exactly what you wanted or one that looked like you. Then you could buy a matching outfit so your daughter could dress the same as the doll. They also had everything from bunk beds to canoes to pets with carriers for your doll. If you didn't like your dolls hair style, you could take it to the hair salon and they could change it to whatever you like. You could also have your daughter's hair done to match. Then you could have a professional photo shoot, tea party, watch a movie or have a sleep over with your doll inside the store. At this point I wished I had come up with this idea, I would be rich! Here is Elizabeth, the cute doll Alyssa chose. Alyssa set up a little bedroom for her inside her closet.
After our afternoon of shopping, we went to dinner at Medeival Times where we were able to cheer on the yellow knight. Alyssa loved being able to eat with her hands and watch the jousting and sword fights. Our knight almost prevailed but in the end he was defeated.Alyssa wanted her picture taken with the beautiful queen.
I tried to get my sister to sit our knight's lap for a picture but she wouldn't do it. She insisted I had to go over with her and we had to kiss him on the cheek. I told him what we were planning on doing when he said, "Oh, hold on a minute." He then lifted up the front of his costume to wipe the sweat off his face. At this point I thought our "kissing" idea was a horrible one and just standing by him was better. My sister thought the kissing one was more fun, so we suffered through it. From the knight's smile I think he enjoyed taking this picture more than we did.
Day 3: We went to a Cubs game and it was so much fun to watch a MLB game which of course included hot dogs and cotton candy. I was amazed at how fast the guys in the outfield can run to catch the ball. Professional games are so much faster than 6 or 8 year old baseball games. In the same amount of time it takes for two innings of our kids games, the Major League players can 6 innings.
After the game we decided to see some sights. First we went to the top of the Sear's Tower where you can see the whole valley.
Then it was off to the Buckingham fountain that is famous for being shown at during the intro of Married With Children.
The Bean. After walking around to all the sights we were starved and had to taste the pizza that Chicago is known for. It was worth it, it was so good.
Day 4: A boat tour. The night before my sister and I had asked if Alyssa wanted to do a boat tour. She asked, "Sure, that sounds fun. Will we get to see the whole boat?" We had to explain to her that it isn't a tour of a boat, you take a boat to tour the city by river. At that point we decided they need to rename it a river tour. It was fun to see and hear about all the buildings and history of Chicago. After the tour we headed to a cute restaurant on the river. The food was amazing but we felt a little under dressed when everyone else was in designer business attire and we had on jeans and t-shirts. Unfortunately it was then time to end our get away and go home. We had so much fun it was hard to leave. We were really excited to see the rest of the family again and Jimmie was very excited to have me home so he could go back to work.