My Kind Of Town

I shamelessly admit that I have lived within driving distance of Chicago for my whole entire life. And I LOVE it! Granted, I probably love it so much because I don't actually have to live in the city but I still love it.

Today we took the girls to the American Girl Doll Store in downtown Chicago, otherwise known as "The Money Trap". But my girls had such a wonderful time. We got their doll's hair done in the salon (at $20.00 per doll!! Grandma thought that this was a wonderful idea but I wasn't really convinced, so she paid because I said "No".) Just FYI, if you ever go to the store to have your doll's hair done, we waited 2 hours for this. Prepare to wait. We heard from one Mom in line that they waited five hours one time just to have the dolls hair done. CRAZY!! We dropped our dolls off, went to have lunch, stopped at the Hershey store, and then picked up the dolls.

We ate lunch at California Pizza Kitchen in Watertower Place. As a die hard Chicago area native, I am a pizza purist. I like mine either extra thin and crispy or Chicago Style deep dish with only the traditional toppings (but no pepperoni for me, please). New York and L.A. style is just a Chicago code word for "Bad Pizza". ;) It felt like a crime against Chicago to walk into that restaurant instead of a place like Giordano's or Gino's East. I mean, if you are going to do a tourist pizza at least stick with the Chicago icons. I was dubious at best, but my kiddos wanted to eat at CPK so that is where we went. I ordered the Carne Asada pizza and I have got to tell you that it was absolutely DELICIOUS!! I mean it was really really really really good. Good as in "I ate the whole entire pizza until my stomach hurt because I just couldn't stop eating it" good. I will be craving that pizza for quite some time. I am a convert, although I will never admit that to my fellow Chicago Pizza loving friends.

Our next stop, which we walked to very slowly while I was nursing my bulging and aching belly, was the Hershey Store. We've been there before, but I never fail to be amazed at all of the delicious chocolaty things all in one place. We hit the bakery shop where you can get chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and truffles all made with Hershey's Chocolate. I took my Mint Chocolate brownie to go because there was no way that I was going to fit another bite of anything, no matter how delicious and chocolaty, into my painfully full tummy. I know that it will be sinfully delicious when my belly finally recovers enough for me to be able to eat it.

Then it was back to the American Girl Doll Store to pick up our beloved dolls. I have never seen so many little girls walking around clutching dolls as I have seen in that store and all over the streets around that store. We started out the day saying to the girls while we were walking to the store "Oh look, she must be going to the American Girl Store". But it literally seemed like we were saying that about EVERY single little girl that was walking around that area of Chicago, so we gave up. Words cannot express how crowded that store was. I thought that it was bad when we got there at 11:00, but it was even worse after lunch. I was kind of happy to leave that craziness.

We drove home after that, with a few minor family related stops along the way. I am now completely exhausted and ready for bed. But the girls got to enjoy a day of Chicago tourism and I had a great time. I can hardly wait for the next time that we go, because there will definitely be a next time.

Have a great night!