Chicago Weekend – Part 2

On Saturday, we were all up pretty early so we got dressed, had a quick breakfast in the hotel and started walking toward Shedd Aquarium.  The Aquarium was about a 2 mile walk down Lake Shore Drive from our hotel.  The weather was nice and we enjoyed seeing some of the sights as we walked.  We arrived at Shedd right when it was opening and there was already a line forming.  Luckily we had bought the CityPass (see my shameless plug complete with a link to the CityPass website in Chicago Weekend - Part 1) and we were able to skip the line.  The aquarium was really neat and the kids loved seeing all the animals.  We saw the Dora 4D movie, it was only 12 minutes long which was the perfect length for their attention spans and it was included in the CityPass.  The kids really liked the movie and thought it was fun that they got squirted with water during certain parts of the movie.  Even Cate was entertained by it.  Claire sat and watched the whole movie with her 3D glasses on, but Matthew & Cate refused to wear the glasses.  We also watched the dolphin show.  I think Jeremy was a little disappointed (he was hoping for FLAMING HOOPS OF FIRE and such) and the kids were a little squirmy but overall it was fun.  I think we’ll definitely come back to Shedd Aquarium when the kids are older, they’ll get much more out of it if when they understand a little bit more. 

Strolling the streets of Chicago with our giant stroller :)

Heading to Shedd Aquarium

Checking out the stingrays

"Look at that snake, Daddy!"

They were pretending to be snakes...

Waiting for the dolphin show.

We made a quick detour to Soldier Field while looking for somewhere to get lunch for the kids.

Next we headed to the Field Museum.  I think the museum will also be better when they’re older but they really enjoyed the kids’ area and the dinosaur exhibit.   We got kicked out of the kids’ area after awhile because Cate didn’t have any shoes.  Which was sort of funny but a little embarrassing.   She isn’t walking yet so I haven’t been too diligent about putting shoes on her which is how we left them in the van when we valet parked it.  I was not going to get the car out of valet just to get her shoes, so we just rolled without them.  But I digress.  Matthew's favorite part of the museum was the music room where he could play the drums and other instruments.  Cate also enjoyed the instruments and just being out of the stroller.  Claire liked the kids' dinosaur area where she could play with the little stuffed animal puppets and sit in a dinosaur nest.

                 Cate needs more cowbell ;)                            

Following the dinosaur's footprints.

Sharing a baby dinosaur with Cate!

Awesome parenting!  One of my kids fell out of the nest ;)

We're baby dinosaurs!

When we got out of the Field Museum the weather started turning a little bit nasty and a big storm was rolling in.  We decided to get a cab back to the hotel since we heard it thundering off in the distance.  Jeremy remembered seeing a whole line of cabs on one side of the museum so we hurried over and flagged one down.  Of course I had an awful time folding up the stroller because I was trying to hurry and had a hard time fitting it in the cab. I had filled the bottom basket with stuff because I didn’t plan on having to fold it up until we got back to the hotel.  Sigh.  I finally got the stroller situation under control and we all got in the cab.  We were only in the cab a minute or two when it started pouring and thundering.  The $10 cab fare was probably the best money we spent on the whole trip!  When we got back to the hotel there was a clown making balloon animals.  Claire got a butterfly, Matthew got a sword and Cate got a doggie.

We regrouped a little at the hotel and the kids had a chance to rest for a bit.  After about an hour the rain let up and we decided to walk to Millenium Park.  The kids liked the big reflective structure and we got to take some pictures there and in front of the fountain.  I got reprimanded by some random lady because I stopped to take a picture of Matthew and my stroller with Cate in it started rolling away.  I felt bad, I guess I should learn to use the brake more.  (But that lady didn't need to be so judgemental!  It's all I can do to keep our little circus on track!  I'm bound to make a mistake here or there!)  It was raining a little but we just put the hoods up on the stroller so the kids would stay dry.  We walked to the Skydeck which had a really long wait, but since we bought the CityPass we were able to jump right to the front of the line.  We had to wait a bit to get back down but it was neat to see the view from up there.  The kids slept through this activity, Claire got up at the very end. 

Matthew saw all the other people laying on the ground under the structure so he thought that's what he was supposed to do ;)

This is what happens when you let 2-year-olds loose near a big reflective structure!

What a ham!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for pizza.  All the big name pizza places were packed since it was Saturday night so we went to a smaller place.  The pizza was good and the kids enjoyed sitting on the stools in the restaurant. 

When we got back to the hotel we decided that instead of staying the night and trying to get the kids to go to sleep in the hotel again we would just head home and they could sleep in the car.  This seemed to be the best solution because if we would have driven back in the morning they would have been awake the whole time and probably bored.  We made it home and everyone was in bed by about 1:30 EST.  The weekend went by quick but it was a nice chance to get away and have some fun with the kids.