Downtown Daddy Days and End of Summer

I often tell people that one of the hardest parts of having 4 kids is finding the time to give them each the individual attention that they need (and crave). Towards the end of summer, Paul took a few days off of work and took each child (except Matthew) downtown on their own day to do whatever they wanted to do. The kids LOVED their special day downtown with Daddy and we had fun at home with each mix of kids minus 1. Abbey went first.  Here they are riding the train downtown.

They had a really cool display in the lobby of the building where Paul works where they had statues made up of all cans.  Here they are in front of Baymax.

And "Lord Canley's Cup"

Abbey wanted to go back to Maggie Daley Park.

She had fun climbing on the nets.

And swinging in the nesting swing.

Downtown Selfie!

A very sunny day downtown, so they bought new sunglasses.  These two are looking stylish!

Then they went to Navy Pier.

And took a ride on the Sea Dog, a speed boat that goes fast along the lake front!

Having fun on the Sea Dog!

Abbey with the Chicago skyline behind her.

Beautiful views of the city.

City girl.

After a great day, it was time for one last treat before heading back home on the train.

Next up was Ben's turn (by the way, we had to draw straws to see what order the kids got to go in as they all wanted to go first!).

Ben in the city!

They also went to see the Can Display and Ben wore his Baymax shirt after seeing the pictures of it from Abbey's day downtown.

They checked out the new river walk.

One thing Ben really wanted to do was go to Nike Town on Michigan Avenue.  So they found some cool school shoes there that made him extra happy.

Then they went to the Under Armour store next to Nike Town and found the Notre Dame display!

Boys back to school shopping.

They went to the Billy Goat Tavern for lunch, which is a famous place for cheezborgers.

Great views of the city.

Boys city selfie!

Ben also wanted to ride on the Sea Dog.

Enjoying the ride!

Going super fast with the city skyline in the background!

And he got soaked on a turn!!

After a fun day, his back home train treat of choice was a giant piece of pizza!  

And finally, it was Juliette's turn!

She was delighted to learn that the day started with some dunkin donuts while waiting for the train!

On the train downtown.

Juliette by the river walk.

Not to be left out, she also went to see the can display.

Little Juj in the big city!

Cuties having fun.

Juliette wanted to go to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier, where she had a lot of fun building things.

I have never been there, but they said the museum was a lot of fun.

They spent most of their day playing there.

Getting her train treat of choice - a smoothie!

Fun day!

And one last thing before school started - we went to Lake Arlington and rented kayaks.  Ben did a sailing camp over the summer and really loved it, so we went with the intention of renting sailboats, but unfortunately the day we went was rather windy and they had declared the conditions unsafe for their sailboats (which are pretty small).  So we got two kayaks instead.  Paul and Juj.  

Ben held his own.

And they have a little beach and play ground that Matthew played on while the others were out on the water.  

Hello cutie!

Abbey's turn to go with Daddy in the kayak.

Matthew was very excited to see the ducks (quack quack!!).

We had a fabulous summer, my absolute favorite time of year, but as usual, it went way too quickly.  Everyone was sad to see summer end, but the start of school is always exciting too.