Here she is, ready to go!
It worked out pretty well because we left to go trick or treating at the same time the neighbor girls came out with their parents, so we were able to walk along with them, which more than delighted Ella.
After many blocks, a few meltdowns (not by Ella though), donning of the glowbracelets, bags of candy getting heavier and heavier, and Ella asking "When is it time to go home?" it was finally time to call it quits for the evening.
We had a great time, and what made it a million times better was that the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Last year we went out for just a few minutes, and Ella had on her huge coat, gloves, and hat. It was freezing, and not really much fun to be outside. This year we didn't even need any extra layers. Definitely a rarity that we thouroughly enjoyed!
Then, on Saturday morning we were up bright (well, dark actually) and early, so that we could be dressed, packed, and ready in time to catch the train to Chicago. Considering the fact that we could ride the metra train an unlimited number of times for $5 each (and Ella was free) for the entire weekend, we thought that would be a great way to travel down to the big city and would be a fun and somewhat cheap day out.
Ella had a ton of fun on her first trainride. Of course she commented on and questioned just about EVERYTHING. But I think she provided a lot of entertainment to those seated around us. Once we arrived in Chicago, we found out that they had trolley busses that ran for free and would take you to any of the major areas and back. So our cheap weekend became even cheaper. Woo hoo!
We ended up on Michigan Ave, and had to go into the American Girl Store. It was pretty crazy and busy in there, so not as much fun as it could have been to browse, but it was definitely an interesting place to be. Dave called it a whole separate culture. And I would have to agree.
We walked around, found a restaurant that served the deep-dish Chicago-style pizza, and looked in a few more stores. Then we got back on our trolley, rode back to the train station, and boarded the train back home. When we finally arrived at out stop, I told Ella that she was becoming a train expert. She replied "When I grow up, I want to be a train expert." A young woman in the aisle started laughing out loud and had to tell us how cute and entertaining Ella was. Yep, that's our Ella!
