Sweet (Michael's) Home, Chicago

Hammered out a couple of firsts already this month when I piled all the kids in the car and drove them to Chicago to visit my brother, Michael.

Michael, childless and single, lives a fabulous life next door to Derek Rose (okay, next door in that he is one building over and about 70 stories down from him; still, they would technically be invited to the same block party if people in Chicago did that sort of thing). He graciously opened his apartment up to us for three very fun nights.

We hit Navy Pier where we rode the ferris wheel and watched fireworks. We played our way through Millennium Park, hitting the Bean and the double fountain with the faces that spit out water on our way to the Field Museum.

We arrived next at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears) to explore life far above the big city.

Just as we were about to hop in line for the ride to the Skydeck, Michael claimed he needed to move his car he had parked remotely (he gave us his parking spot in his building) and would not be able to join us at the top.

Possibly true, but we still gave him a hard time for chickening out of the 103-story lookout.

I considered ditching the kids and going with him, as I am terrified of heights, but the kids would not have it.

Here is what a 40-year-old acrophobic looks like when hovering over Wacker 103 stories in the air:

Here is a great idea for Birkenstock's next ad campaign: Get high with Birks! (still fine-tuning the wording on that one)...

We had a blast looking out over the city but grew concerned when we witnessed a spider attacking the Hancock Building across downtown:

Luckily we escaped unharmed.

We also hit Wrigley, a second round at Navy Pier, Giordano's, and the new Katy Perry movie (go see it, trust me!) before ending our trip with a cocktail at the top of the Hancock.

Thanks, Mick!