Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Day three: otherwise known as that time I got sucked into the world of American Girl and Legos.

Day three was an expensive day, let's just say that. But oh do I have fun stuff for you.

We started Sunday off with walking one last time down the Magnificent Mile in search of this candy store where our bus passes got us a free bag of candy. But it was such an awesome day and almost nobody on the streets, so I got a couple of pictures over the river.

 Even Matt looked like he was trying to participate.
We never did get to the candy store because we got sucked into the American Girl store. On Friday I joked with Jen and Jon that they couldn't get their daughter Haylie the ghetto $24 mini doll because she would roll up to a play date where everyone else would have a real one and here she is clutching the ghetto cheap ass version with tears in her eyes.

It's hard out here for a pimp and all.

So here's Olivia and she has wanted an American Girl for YEARS and in Kindergarten she came home to tell me several times that all of her friends had one and she'd like one. Well Santa didn't bring it, Easter Bunny didn't, not even Grandma's, so the poor girl had all but given up. So I ended up getting her the mid-rate ghetto bitty baby, and an outfit. For a whopping $87.
 But look at her face. Completely worth it. And she carries the damn thing around all of the time and I have to hear about all of the accessories she can get because you know she grabbed a catalog before we left.
 So after that, we parted ways with our friends and got into the van to head off to Legoland, which was supposed to be the Matt/Jackson stop of awesome.

On the way there we encounter stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic on the Kennedy Expressway. Out of nowhere, I totally get rear ended by a Lexus and I hit this piece of shit Blazer in front of me. Have I mentioned that it was pouring rain? Because it was. So the Blazer and I make our way to the side of the road, not easy in 5 lanes of traffic, and I see the Lexus fly past us. Super. Thankfully, everyone was OK, no damage to my back bumper and my front only has a scrape. The guy in the Blazer didn't seem concerned because his vehicle was a piece of shit as it was and he says this happens all of the time. But what made the situation completely awkward was I had my Ludacris song "Everyone is Drunk as Fuck" playing. Something you shouldn't have playing when you know, you get into an accident on the freeway.

Finally we get back on the road and Maggie the GPS gets us completely fucking lost and apparently has no idea where she is. We end up finding LegoLand on our own and Jackson literally squealed when we went in. Let me tell you- it was fun, but not for the price we paid.
We saw a very cool, miniature version of downtown Chicago made of Legos. Jackson told me, loudly, that he could so totally make that.
 Then he jumped up and down and squealed when we saw R2D2 and hugged it. Seriously. How god damn cute is this kid.
 Then Matt took a ton of pictures of Darth Vader because he is a dork and totally embarrassing. So I made the kids stand next to dad so he didn't look like a loser getting his picture taken next to a make believe character.
 The highlight was when Jackson found Batman and wanted to show me his superhero moves, properly documented here.

Overall it was fun- they went on a laser beam ride, saw how Lego's are made and walked out of there with a cool one that says LegoLand for their sets. Then we obviously let Jackson get his own big set of Legos. He chose the Bat Cave from Batman (obviously) and held the bag/box the entire eight hour drive home.
 On the way home we stopped off in the Wisconsin Dells to get gas, pee, and have dinner. I decided that we would go to Buffalo Phil's because apparently, your food comes to you on a train. The kids love trains and this would be fun so off we went.

And your food legit comes on a train. It was pretty decent food but holy fucking expensive. We're talking just under $100 for 4 people. Sure, we had dessert, but I have never paid that much at a restaurant for 4 people EVER.
 As we were leaving, I noticed the really terrifying Buffalo Mobile and then made the kids stand there so I could get their picture.
Overall? Awesome weekend. It was a perfect trip to end a kind of lame-o summer and the kids finally got to see Chicago. They've been asking me for years to go and now they got to go. Plus I really enjoy Jen and Jon  and their kids are really awesome and I'd probably steal them if they would go willingly. Jackson already thinks Haylie is coming to 4K with him and to Disney with us next June so we obviously need to start planning a wedding.

6 comments:

____j said...

Aww! I think it's awesome that y'all got to go to the American Girl store! We could never afford them, but it didn't stop my sister and I from scouring the catalogs every year! Aaron would flip if he saw the Star Wars lego statues. Maybe I can convince him to take me to Chicago?

Julie H said...

Oh so much fun!! Except the spending money and getting rear ended part. TG you didn't have any damage!

Ang said...

Sounds like you were able to make Chicago a nice family friendly city! I have to admit though.. those things made of legos are kind of badass... I mean think about it... Legos are small... those things are HUGE!

Nikolett said...

Haha love how you made your kids stand around Matt for the Darth Vader photo; you always have his back :D And I have never heard of the American Girl doll today and shudder at what a Canadian Girl doll would look like - but next time, you must travel to Toronto so we can meet, okay? (no pressure.) Glad you had a great Chicago weekend :)

Anonymous said...

Just so you know, my BFFs daughter makes clothes specifically for American Girl dolls. She has an etsy shop (Her company is Gomunk Creations....I will send you a link). And she has really good prices.

Oh, and I need to pack you a box up from the convention. Also have a few things here I saved from the yard sale with our name on them.

XXOO

Shannon @ Bungalow960 said...

I have one of the original American Girl dolls. One year, all the girl cousins on my dad's side got them. It was so fun to have them growing up. And, even as adults, we still have them. They will be fun to give to our kids someday.