The Erickson crew took our show on the road last week. We drove to Chicago on Monday and spent three days enjoying the windy city. We made a pit stop in Wisconsin Dells on Thursday and enjoyed waterslides, card games, and adult beverages with my sister and her family.
Soren here, chiming in (all blue type is me) w/ my 2 cents as an edit to this post after it went live. You see, I'm of the opinion that this post isn't Anne's best work. She agreed, and asked me to chime in. One thing to note: It's not entirely Anne's fault if her original post was lacking. Margot is acting like a full-fledged 2-year-old this week, complete with crazy tantrums and Elsie rarely takes naps anymore (read: naptime is Anne's prime blogging opportunity). So if Anne is off her game, we can hardly blame her.
Chicago lived up to its windy city reputation when we were there. Soren had to chase after two hats. Elsie spent lots of time hiding in the stroller.
Not the most compelling photo, but certainly tells the story. What's with the twisty leg in the upper-right corner? Oh, that's me. Nevermind. Might be time to teach Anne how to crop photos ...
Don't blow away Margot!
In case you were wondering since Anne neglected to inform you, this photo was taken at Navy Pier, where we spent half a day keeping the girls busy inside because the wind was intense the threat of rain was imminent. Somehow, we spent about an hour looking at an impressive collection of stained glass ... WTF? I guess all that NPR is turning us into a new brand of weirdo ...
Margot being super silly in her pack and play. Both the girls did surprisingly well sleeping at the hotel. Although the city noises, especially police sirens, were a little troublesome for E.
Nothing to add here except Margot is crazy ... usually in a good way.
Family dinner at
Gino's Pizza....yummy deep dish pizza.
I have no idea why Gino's Pizza is highlighted. I asked Anne and she doesn't know either. I asked her if she tried to link to the Gino's Pizza website. Her answer, "No, but that would have been cool." See, totally not on her game with this post, right? But, you get what you pay for ... 
Picnic lunch while we were on the road. I didn't mean for this picture to get on the blog post, but here it is and I can't figure out how to delete it and I'm running low on my patience and time, so you get to see this random pic. You know what else you get? Random, inconsistent spacing before and after photos, inexplicable centered text from time to time, etc. It might be time for us to upgrade our blogging software. Wait, what was I saying about "you get what you pay for?" Nevermind.
Anyway, other things we did in Chicago: Went swimming daily in the hotel pool, ate Chicago dogs and Italian hot beef sandwiches in the hotel room, learned that takeout in the hotel room is much less stressful than bringing a 20-month-old to a restaurant, taught a 3-year-old that it's not just OK but actually a really good idea to learn how to go to the bathroom during long road trips away from home. Oh, and we spent the better part of a day at Shedd Aquarium, which is awesome. But you'll see none of that here. Not because we don't have photos. But rather because we're not going to post them. Always leave 'em wanting more ... that's our motto, I guess.
Elsie loved the boat ride! She didn't however love falling out of the canoe. I wish I had a picture of that scene. Soren, Elsie, cousin Gabe and Uncle Nathan all went overboard. Elsie high-tailed it back to the cabin and the boys took another go at it and enjoyed the canoe. 
Elsie and Gabe battle the rain while waiting for a turn to do the turtle races. They look so NOT impressed by what we are making them do in this picture. I had to include this picture because this is how I imagine them looking during their teenage years when we make them go to small towns and do odd things like turtle racing.
Best Friends Margot and Stella take a stroll around the mini-golf course. Margot and Stella are 20 days apart and when together are either the best of friends or the worst of enemies...there is NO in between. Honestly, these two were either hugging or throwing punches. We all find it very entertaining!
Soren and his ladies.
This is a first...all four cousins looking at the camera and smiling! I never thought this would happen. (note that is is June 20th in the picture and the kids are wearing pants and jackets. crazy MN weather)
Here we are packed like sardines and ready to roll. Can you find Soren? I didn't make him sit back there the entire car ride. Also, no worries - the baby in the middle is a doll, not some random third child not buckle into a proper car seat.
