Chicago - VIDEO

July 22, 2009

Brandon had to head to Chicago for a conference, so we all decided to tag along. We headed to Chicago the night before and stayed right outside the city. We headed into Chicago at about 8:30 the next morning. While Brandon was working, the boys and I went on a few adventures. We were only there for one day, but it was a very busy, fun filled day!

After we dropped Brandon off we headed to the Shedd Aquarium. After $16 parking and $40 admission (and that was discounted!) we were in. We got there right when they opened, so we stayed ahead of the pack most of the time.

The boys loved the jellyfish.

Logan LOVES sharks. He wanted to look at them over and over.. We came back to this part of the aquarium 3 times!

Jacob.. drying his shirt.. funny kid.

Beluga whale

The aquarium had a lot of fun things to play in/on. Jacob spent a lot of time in the submarine.

There's a little backhoe in front of the submarine.. You control it from inside to dig for rocks and treasure.

There was a really cute penguin playground right beside the real penguins.. complete with penguin costumes. The kids loved it.. Logan absolutely loves penguins.

Caught sitting on his eggs. LOL.. :)

Macaroni Penguins

Water play station with shells and starfish.

After the aquarium we headed downtown to eat.. I debated getting pizza, but I took the kids to Giordano's last time we were in Chicago and I wanted to get them something they would really enjoy in a place that would be easy and kid friendly. Jacob voted for McDonald's. That idea was quickly voted down. While driving around, looking for a parking garage that would fit the beast, we passed Rainforest Cafe. That sounded like a great idea.. Not only that, but there was a parking spot on the street right in front! Instead of paying $25+ for a garage, we paid $4 for street parking. Awesome.

After we ate, we headed to Navy Pier to try and keep busy. We were all tired, my shoulder was killing me, I had an excruciating headache, and everyone was ready to rest a little.. But what do you do in downtown Chicago with kids and nowhere to go?... Keep pushing on.

After paying $20 to park at the pier (these people really get you!) we went to walk around. Jacob saw the Ferris Wheel on the way in and wanted to ride it. Seriously? Yes, seriously. He begged. It was built in 1893, is modeled after the very first Ferris wheel, and is 150 feet high. It's no London Eye, but it was still not something I was thrilled about. What we do for our kids...

We bought our tickets and waited in line.. Once we were up to the gondola, I discovered that the cars weren't as safe as I had thought.. There is plexiglass behind and beside the seats, but not over the opening of the doors.. Those are made of bars that the kids could have easily escaped out of. And this is advertised for kids of all ages??

I was on edge the whole time. Jacob was pretty ok because I told him that if he moved he would fall out and die. Logan didn't care about my threats, so I tried to keep him still by holding him and turning on Wonder Pets.. (I love my iPhone.) At one point I thought we had to be near the top.. I turned around and looked to discover that we weren't even halfway up.. That felt like the longest 7 minutes I have ever experienced. I was thrilled to get my feet back onto the ground again.

Next Jacob found something else he wanted to ride. It was like a power tower for kids. It was really cute and he loved it.

Once our rides were done, we headed down the pier to get some snacks.. As I was trying to decide what to do next (Children's Museum, which is at the pier.. Basically no other ideas) Brandon called to let me know he was ready to be picked up. I was overjoyed. We finished our snacks, headed for one last potty break, paid our parking at a machine, and headed out to get dada.

After we picked him up, we headed the wrong way out of Chicago, missed our exit, had to sit through traffic, pulled off in the ghetto to get gas (I'm surprised we didn't run out.. It was on empty since the aquarium.. but where do you get gas downtown??) finally got on our way and hit a huge rainstorm. Brandon turned on the wipers and they started going crazy. They decided to go at different speeds, ran into one another, and got stuck. We pulled off, untangled the wipers (I keep saying we, but this was all Brandon) and kept going. It happened again a few minutes later, but this time we lost a wiper.. Hmm.. we needed our wipers, but if we kept running them they would run into one another. So Brandon got the brilliant idea to take the passenger side wiper and pull it so it was sticking straight up and wouldn't touch the window. It was hilarious. Our little gimpy (wiperless) wiper, pointing straight out moving back and forth..

We finally made it home a few hours later... I was happy to be home, out of the rain, with my feet safely on the ground. The kids were happy to be in their own beds and dream of their adventure filled day.