Candy Cane Tunnels

Before we even got to Winter Wonderland Dexter was talking about candy cane tunnels. He said he saw them on a commercial. Sure enough, there were candy cane tunnels.

Sure enough, Dex was all about running through them.

Curious, Cautious, Carefree

Dex wasn't so sure about the tilt-a-whirl at first but it being a favorite of Mommy and Daddy's, we insisted he try it.  He really studied it while we waited in line.

He was cautiously optimistic about it once we got on.










As soon as we got our first good spin going, he was screaming with excitement. As soon as we got off the ride he wanted to get right back on but we convinced to try some other things and promised we would be back for another tilt-a-whirl round.

Pretty Impressive

I have to admit that the Winter Wonderland was more impressive than I expected.

There were tons of rides and attractions for the kids.

And some surprisingly beautiful decorations like a Christmas tree decorated in tea pots and tea cups.

Big Blue Slide

Dex took numerous turns on the big blue slide. Each time he made it to the bottom, he jumped up and down exclaiming, "I want to do that again!" Everyone standing around was cracking up at how excited he was. He's finally going down on his bottom rather than his belly!

I Look Funny!

On our way back to Winter Wonderland, Dex noticed his distorted reflection in a fun house mirror. "I look funny!" he shouted.

"Yes, you do." we replied.

Lunch with Parrotheads

Despite Dexter's disappearing hunger, after the giant rocking horse we headed down to the other end of Navy Pier to enjoy "cheeseburgers in paradise" at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. Ben and I are not Jimmy Buffet fans but thought we should splurge on the cheeseburgers (and those cheeseburgers did not disappoint!). 

Dex enjoyed the atmosphere (map painted on the ceiling, lots of color, TVs playing parrothead gatherings and Jimmy Buffet performances). Dex used our camera to take a picture of us. The darkness in the shot is the shadow from his finger in front of the flash.

Making the Best of Unexpected Changes in Plans

Dexter had planned to have a play date with Tabitha on the last day of 2013. Dex had set up all the games and cars that he wanted to play with her (Mousetrap was the featured game). He had been talking about it for days. He was so excited the night before that he could barely contain himself. When he woke up in the morning, it was the first thing he mentioned. I honestly think Dex was more excited about the play date with Tabitha than he was about Santa. Sadly, about an hour before she was to show up, Tabitha's mom called to say they had the tummy bug. Dexter was devastated. Now our whole day was open and our child was a mess. Luckily, we thought of the Winter Wonderland at Navy Pier!

We arrived at about 11am and told Dex he could ride one ride before we had lunch. During the drive in, he said, "I am so hungry, I am the hungriest I have ever been in my whole life." Interestingly, this "extreme" hunger disappeared as soon as he saw the rides.

The first ride he wanted to try was a giant rocking horse. He managed to climb up by himself.

He loved the ride and was able to see all the sites of the Winter Wonderland from way up there.

He also climbed down by himself. The disappointment of no big game day with Tabitha was temporarily forgotten.