Yum-O!

In our neck of the woods it is customary for all of the summer's coolest festivals to be crammed into the two weeks before the 4th of July. (You know, that lazy time in the middle of summer when no sane person makes any plans...) Since I am a glutton for punishment, I force my kids to participate in all of the festivals as well as the weekend full of BBQs we already have planned for the big holiday. (As if they don't LOVE me for it.)

So, yesterday we took the train to the city for the Taste of Chicago. I started to realize I am pretty much nuts when the kids were whining and taunting each other with a good 20 minutes left to Union Station. Ah, the joys of parenting. Fighting because 'his foot touched my seat' and 'he's staring at me' and just because Lucy feels like it. (I'm sure the sight made my aunt, who got to enjoy this lovely display of my well behaved children first hand, miss the days when her own girls were young!)

Thankfully, the TOC did not disappoint. Booth after booth of delicious food, Nate and I alone could put our family in the poor house in a matter of hours. We consumed samplings of hot dogs, cheesecake, potstickers, meatball subs, pizza, sweet potato fries, veggie tacos, fried ravioli, hot links, ice cream, cheese filled breadsticks, tater tots, chicken fingers, hush puppies, and watermelon in about 2 hours. (That doesn't even count the things our co-conspirators, Patti & Linda, had!)

For a group of foodies like us, this is by far the best fest Chicago offers!

Free trolley from the train to the taste...AWESOME!

Front row seat, of course.

E kids takin' a break...I enjoyed all 30 seconds of it!

Need I say more.

Watermelon, again.

My hard work paid off!