Thanksgiving in Chicago

Chicago, IL
Flight Time: 4 hours
Trip length: 4 days
Age: 2.5 yrs

We are traveling back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I lived there for 6 years before settling north of Seattle, my older brother has now moved to the Chicago burbs, and my parents are in Indiana. So it was a convenient meeting spot. Plus we have great friends who live in the city with a toddler the same age.

Chicago flights can be hit or miss due to O'Hare Airport. We have been delayed, lost luggage every time, and an airline attempted to re route us without us knowing. So I'm always a bit hesitant flying through or from this airport. Plus the traffic going to and from the airport is terrible to say the least. Enough complaining...onto our trip.

Hotel:
This time around we decided to stay at the Westin on Michigan Ave, its a great location. Hubs and I know the city so well, we just wanted to be in a central location. Plus we booked a month prior and already hotels were sold out.

Places to eat:
Chicago is known for Steakhouses, our Thanksgiving dinner is at David Burkes Prime house (kids 5 and under eat for free).  There are some other places that just bring back memories, I loved brunch in Chicago this city has some amazing brunch restaurants. Here are some other options close to Michigan Ave:

Eataly (63,000 sq foot Italian oasis)
L'appetito (great hidden Italian cafe at the bottom of John Hancock) 
Eggspirence and Pancakes Cafe (breakfast)
Cafe Iberico (tapas)

Things to do:
The holidays have such great friendly activities, but living in the Chicago I avoided the tourist spots on every holiday and weekend. I even worked at the Museum of Science and Industry which is still my favorite museum in the US...but its a mob scene.

Museum of Science and Industry, love love this Museum. The holidays are stunning, there are over 50 Christmas trees from around the world and one large tree in the Rotunda. It also snows in the Rotunda 

Children's Museum at Navy Pier, this is a great Children's Museum plus the location on Navy Pier is unique too. Some other fun things at Navy Pier: Open performace space the main area that always has short kid friendly theater shows ongoing throughout the day,Indoor Botanical Garden,  and theAmazing Chicago Funhouse Maze.

Santa El Train, you have to watch the youtube video. The El train is decked out with Christmas lights, the train is wrapped with Christmas paper on the inside, and elves hand out candy canes...the best part Santa's sleigh is on a flat bed car between two train cars.

Festival of Lights, this is such a great magical and fun parade on Michigan Ave. It is worth standing in the cold and navigating the crowds. The parade is weekend before Thanksgiving so we are missing it this year.

Chriskindlmarket, another great outdoor market..beware there's always a crowd. However its a great German market. You get a cute little boot souviner cup with your purchase of hot cocoa.

When the Carseat Doesn't Work on the Plane Anymore....

I have always been an advocate for bringing our carseat on the plane, DMC loved it and slept great from 2-2.5 yrs on over four trips including an international trip Seattle> London>Nice and then back to Seattle. I even had a great carseat cart that was like a mini stroller.

Whelp we are getting to the point where DMC legs are too long for the carseat, but the height is still great. So we are moving on now to travel booster seats. I've found some options, but we have not tried any yet on the plane. Most booster seats are for 4 yrs and older. DMC is 2.5 yrs so we are still on the border between the carseat and booster.

           UPDATE: We brought the carseat along this time (Chicago trip) and it fit fine in the                economy plus seating. DMC is pushing 31lbs and booster seats are 40lbs >. 

• CARES Harness (FDA approved) 

• Mifold (booster March 2016, approved Global Carseat Regulations)

• Bubblebum Inflatable Booster 

• Booster Backpack (European Child Restraint Standards)

Phoenix, Arizonia

Phoenix, Arizona

Flight Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Trip Length: 4 days

Age: 10 months & 22 months

We've been to Phoenix twice with DMC for weekend trips in March, thats when the rain starts getting to us Seattlites. We need to feel and see the sun. Phoenix has been a great family friendly weekend vacation spot for us. We always just hang at the pool the whole weekend and eat great dinners outside, DMC thinks its cool to eat outside at night.

Phoenix is a great family friendly city and short flight, we definitely will be back for weekend sun needs.

Where we have stayed:

Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort, this my favorite resort we stayed in. Everything was very walkable, variety of restaurants, large rooms (living room and bedroom), and very family friendly.  The lazy river was alot of fun and quite long, DMC loved sitting in the tube with his Dad.

JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge

This was a beautiful resort however it didn't seem that family friendly. We saw other families but the pool was a bit smaller and the lazy river was shorter. The rooms were very nice as well.

Restaurants nearby:

Aunt Chilada Squaw Peak (Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort)

• Family friendly
• Out door seating
• Bocce Ball area
• Live Music

Rico's American Grill (Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort)

We ate there for breakfast and dinner, it was family friendly. When we ate dinner our waiter handed us some glow in the dark bracelet and necklace for DMC, he loved it.

Stone Grill (JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge)

This was one of the best breakfasts I've had at all of the hotels/resorts we have stayed in, Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits (gravy and scrambled eggs). DMC ate free from the breakfast buffet which was a nice perk.

Activities for the Hotel Room

As our toddler continues to grow I have been not only bringing activities for the plane, but also the hotel room. For a majority of our trips we have been using our books, plane activities, ipad apps, and toy cars for play in the hotel room. We tend to travel to places with beaches and pools so we spend a lot of time outdoors. However for Thanksgiving and Christmas we will be traveling to places with snow. So I have started to brainstorm a bit more about hotel activities especially during the winter season.

Our little guy will play anywhere as long as he has a toy car, construction truck, or train. I found this great travel car mat that will give him a 'defined car play area'. Plus it fit in your suitcase and is super light Alex Little Hands Play Mat

I also always bring a reusable sticker book that has come with us on every trip since DMC was 1.5 yr old. The reusable sticker book has four different scenes (construction, airport, train, and under the sea theme) Melissa & Doug Reusable Stickers 

We are still going strong with our Playdoh Firetruck...this comes on the plane and DMC still plays with it in the hotel. This was a gift for his second birthday and has been on three flights already.

The construction trucks that we travel with will fit in your purse (there's 5 of them), so they tend to come to restaurants with us as well. DMC loves them so much they live on the train table at home too. Another bonus he uses them on the plane to play with playdoh.
Caterpillar Mini Machines 5 Pack

DMC is really interested in interactive books especially hidden flaps, here are some great interactive books that always come with us.
Thomas the Train magnet book
The Busy Train book (this book is a train track with a small train inside)
Thomas the Train hidden flap