We own a vacation home in Florida, but we live in the Chicago, Illinois area.

You know the song, "My kind of town Chicago is ....."

It really is a great City! Friendly and Clean. With nice weather in summer (although it can get hot and humid at times) but all in all worth a trip.

Plenty to do!!!! And plenty to do for free (or next to being free)!!!

I listed some links for you (don't know if they are all still good, but click and see)

Check out:
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/home.do

Your kids will love it. It is a kid friendly town!!! There are seasonal events, i.e., July 4th and the week before is the Taste of Chicago - where you can sample food from hundreds of restaurants and free music by well known bands.
(this year:
http://entertainment.metromix.chicagotribune.com/top/1,1419,M-Metromix-TasteofChicago-fromintrostory!InputReview-72612--1,00.html )

Baseball
Chicago Cubs ( http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/m...x.jsp?c_id=chc )
Chicago White Sox ( http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASA...x.jsp?c_id=cws )

Football (ours)
Chicago Bears ( http://www.chicagobears.com/ )

Soccer (your football)
Chicago Fire ( http://www.chicago-fire.com/ )

Basketball
Chicago Bulls ( http://www.nba.com/bulls/ )

See the Museums, Lake Michigan Beaches, Architecture, Concerts (Blues, Rock, Jazz), Pubs, Dancing, Night Life, Navy Pier
http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/
http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Tourism/ThingsToDo/Museums.html
http://collaboratory.nunet.net/museums/pages.cfm
http://poweredby.10best.com/list.pro...9/CG_1/SID_51/

When in town, pick up the Chicago Reader (free newspaper) for a weekly list of what is happening around town
http://www.chireader.com/

And then there are places just outside the City, like Oak Park (this is actually where we live) with it's Frank Lloyd Wright Architecture and the birthplace of Earnest Hemmingway (actually he hated Oak Park when he lived here, but too bad, he's dead now and we claim him)
http://www.oprf.com/

Come see Chicago, Al Capone and all the gangsters are gone .. you'll have a great time!!!

Email if you are serious when you are coming and I'll let you know what is up in this great city.