Down by the river

Like I mentioned in the last posting, we were in downtown Chicago early enough that we had some alone time with the local wildlife, including the giant silver moose. Just behind the moose is the stone wall-fence that overlooks the river. We set up camp just below the moose, and stood waiting for the river elves to cast their magic dye into the water. Actually, I use the word "stood" very lightly since Zoe has an attention span of about 2 seconds, and a crack-like addiction to stairs, resulting in a very wiggly little girl. Sara and the stroller staked our claim at the river bank while I followed Zoe around as she ascended every stair along Chicago's riverwalk over and over again.

But Zoe really did have a good time. We got her the coolest little monkey backpack so she could help us haul all of our stuff around. The greatest feature of the monkey back pack is that it comes with a leash. Yes, I got my kid a leash. We figured we had to make a choice between looking like one of those strange "kid on a leash" couples, or having our child abducted by drunken leprechauns. The leash doesn't really work though because when I tried to tether her to stuff, like trees and railings, she just kept on walking in place, and I didn't want her to ruin her shoes. But check out those green hair dealies! Oh yeah.

Notice in the picture how we were the very first people at the river. I was worried that no one would show up, but boy was I wrong. You'll see in the upcoming pictures that this place was hopping only a few minutes after we got there. Also, notice in the pictures that the river is always slightly greenish and everyone who showed up to watch the festivities felt obligated by St. Patrick's Day ordinance 17(a) to say, "Wow, they don't even need to dye it because its already green!" Everyone.