Vacation week

Lucy, Jon, and I are taking a vacation this week. We found this amazing Chicago bungalow that’s available for the week. It has every amenity we need, plenty of space for all three of us, and it’s free! Plus we don’t even need to pack!

Here’s how it works: instead of flying or driving somewhere far away and paying some hotelier to put us up (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), we offer ourselves the hospitality of staying right at home. But we turn off the phones and stop checking email and simply tell everyone we’re not available because we’re on vacation. It’s awesome.

Jon and I took our first “Chicago vacation” before Lucy was born and had a great time. I checked out some Chicago guidebooks from the library and we made a big list of all the tourist-y stuff we’d like to do but never get to. We went to the “Shedd Aquarium”:http://sheddaquarium.org/, and the “Lincoln Park Zoo”:http://www.lpzoo.com/, and ate lots of yummy meals out. I think one of my favorite parts of that vacation was going to see “_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_”:http://imdb.com/title/tt0367594/ in the theaters, and then heading out to “Ethel’s Chocolate Cafe”:http://www.ethelschocolate.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE for some yummy chocolate fondue.

p{color:gray}. Photo: Lucy in a rented stroller at Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday (after her parents forgot her own stroller at home; but who cares? it’s vacation!).

Vacation will definitely be different with our little Lu around. No sleeping in until 9 am, but we do get to sit around in our pajamas and play with Lucy’s fun first birthday toys. We might actually nap while Lucy naps, too, instead of trying to get things done. We have plans to go to the “zoo”:/2006/zoo-trip/ “again”:/2006/dont-put-me-in-with-the-camels/ (especially the petting zoo part), and perhaps to the “Chicago Botanic Garden”:http://www.chicagobotanic.org/index.php, and to go swinging on park swings as much as we want. We might (or might not) check out a “museum”:http://www.fieldmuseum.org/ or “two”:http://www.msichicago.org/. (The Chicago Public Library has this great service where you can check out membership cards to Chicago museums and get in free!) Jon and I lined up a babysitter for a couple of evenings, too. This is a definite benefit of vacationing in Chicago, as opposed to the Caribbean where we don’t know any babysitters. We can even splurge a bit on fancy restaurants, since we can use some of the money we save on travel and lodging to eat fabulous food!

Jon and I have found that it helps to be clear about what we want on vacation before we start, otherwise we can end the week feeling a little disappointed. So this time, our goals are to relax and be together as a family. We might not go to lots of exciting places, but if we end the week feeling rested, we’ll be pleased. I think Lucy will just be glad to have lots of attention from us, no matter what our location. I’m personally excited about Jon joining me and Lucy for our weekly grocery trip. Regular routines are truly extra-special with your favorite friends along!

And, although one of our vacation rules has been “no computer use,” we plan on bending that a bit to record some of the fun we are having. Stay tuned for cute pictures of the Lu!