Over Christmas Break, around the start of the New Year, we decided to take the kids to Chicago for a couple of days. We haven't traveled far with the kids before -- our schedules seem to always be busy -- and the idea of packing up a family of six for any great length of time has never been too appealing for me. But, now that the kids are a little older, we wanted to try to do this a little more often.
We left on New Year's morning and headed straight into downtown Chicago for lunch. Steve and I chuckled to one another as we were pulling out of our driveway, contemplating on placing bets on WHO would be the first to ask how much longer it would be/when would we be there ... and HOW LONG. It look less than 10 minutes before Jimmy was asking!
We enjoyed some simple Chicago style pizza, but all agreed that it is a bit
much for us. The restaurant was quaint and the service was great, but the kids really just prefer pizza without too much cheese/breading/sauce on it -- more the standard style up here.
After that, we drove around for a little while. The traffic wasn't very fun (and it wasn't even a normal work day) and parking was challenging and expensive. But, a highlight was getting out and letting the kids see "The Bean." It is a sculpture downtown where flocks of people love to come and take pictures; the girls remembered it from when they traveled to Chicago with Steve's sister for Sophia's 5th birthday.
We asked a random stranger to take our family picture and I am so glad that we did:
Down below, there was an ice skating rink. You could rent skates or bring your own and the rink stays open during the Winter.
Some of the older buildings in the background:
The famous Millennium Park:
It was definitely chilly, but there was no snow, so we were able to navigate around pretty easily on foot:
We all agreed that we would love to come back in the Summer and see more of the city. At this point though, the kids were getting a little bit tired and wanted to check into our hotel.
That evening, we simply snacked and enjoyed complimentary beverages from the hotel and then the kids got to go swimming in the indoor pool. Me? I sipped on my drink and read several chapters in my novel. It was a win-win for everyone.
The next morning, we were up bright and early to eat breakfast at the hotel and then to head to our main destination on this trip -- The Shedd Aquarium.
We purchased a family pass for the whole year so that we can go as many times as we would like. Realistically, we may only go one more time this year, but it was certainly a better deal for us with a family of six. We were the first ones in line when they opened at 9 am and that allowed us to see so many of the exhibits before it became crazy-busy within the next two hours.
This was at the very beginning of the Aquarium and the kids were in awe already.
I am pretty sure that this was Samantha's favorite fish in the entire establishment. She loved it small, almost nonexistent tail, compared to the size of its body!
I mean, everywhere you turned, there were more and more water species than you can imagine.
Check out those sharks!
Both Jack and Sophia spent an undue amount of time in front of this glass aquarium.
I was mesmorized by the jellyfish. With the blue background, they were just incredible to watch.
So delicate and dainty.
We timed it perfectly to watch the Beluga Whale show:
And the dolphins!
They moved by command and whistle -- walking on water and jumping in the air.
Touching live starfish:
Later in the afternoon, after eating lunch in the cafeteria, we settled in for two shows in 3D. The kids loved this because, not only were the shows so real, they also had effects like rumbling seats, bubbles and real water shooting out at us when we least expected it!
We gave each of the kids a penny and used a machine to flatten them into four different souveniers for them to remember this trip by.
Up close and personal:
Such a perfect backdrop:
We continued on and toured the area with turtles, sea horses,rivers and the Great Lakes.
Jack couldn't resist ...
By now, we had been in the Aquarium for more than 5 hours and the kids were showing signs of being tired and ready to go. So, our last stop was into the Gift Shop where we treated each of them to an item of their choice -- and a beautiful magnet for our refrigerator at home. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.
After that, we loaded up into our van with everyone comfortable for the ride home. It was pretty smooth sailing -- we even stopped at a Mexican restaurant for dinner -- and pulled into our driveway just in time to unload and tuck everyone into bed ... We were really only gone for about 36 hours, but it was just perfect getaway for everyone. And, then, I think we'll take a little bit longer of a trip when the weather warms up and we can see a few more of the sites that Chicago has to offer!
