The Sewing Mom

My daughter’s 12th birthday is only 3 weeks away and we’re having a very hard time coming up with what we want to do for her. Last year things were so chaotic with our impending relocation and other things going on, her birthday was all but forgotten. I had promised her a party before we moved, sort of a last get together with all of her friends, but it never happened and I have felt bad about that ever since.

I’ve been talking with her for the last week or so about things she might like to do for her birthday. We’ve all ready decided that we would celebrate it the weekend before her actual birthday because the weekend after we will be busy with Destination Imagination, the Regional Tournament. Other than that, we can’t seem to come up with a good plan. The biggest problem is that she is really missing her friends back in Illinois. She has made a few friends here in Texas, but she’s only known them a few months, whereas, most of her friends in Illinois, she has known since preschool or kindergarten. It’s really tearing at my heartstrings.

My husband and I were talking about trying to have one of her friends come down for a visit, but the school districts don’t have their spring breaks at the same time so that would be very difficult to plan. I’m still toying with the idea and am now thinking of vacation ideas that would possibly incorporate a trip for all three of us. While my husband and I could find romantic things to do in Chicago, my daughter could visit her friends in the suburbs.

Downtown Chicago is a beautiful city. We stayed there when we were house hunting and loved it. A room with a view overlooking Navy Pier and Lake Michigan can be so romantic. There are really a lot of wonderful things to do in Chicago, museums, theater and terrific restaurants. Let’s not even talk about all the wonderful shopping on the Mag Mile! It would be a lot of fun to do all of these things with my husband. It’s been many years since we’ve had the opportunity to do anything, just the two of us.

I’ve signed up for the newsletter at Trusted Tours & Attractions to help me find great deals for planning our trip if that’s what we decide to do. Plus, by signing up, I can win a free digital camera! I think we could all use a getaway, romantic for the adults, fun and friendly for our daughter. I’m looking forward to it!

We lived in a suburb of Chicago for over 7 years before moving to Texas. We definitely enjoyed going downtown and loved taking guests downtown whenever we could. While we always enjoyed going to the museums, particularly the Field Museum, we also like doing the more touristy things. One of our most memorable Chicago tours took place while some of my husbands buddies were in town on business.

We met his friends at Navy Pier and decided to take a boat tour of the Lake Michigan. It was a beautiful April day, as long as we remained on land. We were dressed in light weight jackets and pants, but when we got out of the harbor, on a speed boat, we were all freezing! We wound up huddling together to stay warm and every one of us was wishing the boat ride would come to an end. I think at warmer times of the year, this would be a perfect thing to do, but for us, it was the longest, coldest boat ride we’d ever experienced.

After the boat tour, we headed to the giant ferris wheel at Navy Pier. I’m afraid of heights and tend to become dizzy, so I opted to keep my feet on the ground and watched. I don’t know the dimensions of that ferris wheel, but it’s certainly one of the tallest ones I’ve ever seen. My daughter, who was about 4 at the time, completely enjoyed herself and wanted to do it again.

Following the ride, we headed over to one of the tallest buildings in the world, the Sears Tower. Like I said, I’m afraid of heights, but I did go all the way up to the observation deck and got a wonderful view of Chicagoland, the lake, and the shorelines of Michigan and Wisconsin. It’s really quite a view, well worth the ride up the elevator.

While getting around Chicago is pretty easy, I think if I didn’t really know where I was, it would be worth going on sightseeing tours to see the city. Consider signing up for Trusted Tours & Attractions newsletter for more sight seeing information. Sign up now and be entered to win a handheld GPS.