Every July there is a national IP interview conference in Chicago where law students interview for internships for the next summer. Andy got accepted for one interview, so we planned a little family trip to Chicago, since it's just 6 hours away (assuming that your children don't need to stop for potty breaks every 45 minutes as ours did)!!! We first went downtown for Andy to register and asked the valet at the hotel (with massive parking fees) to recommend some yummy Chicago-style pizza. He sent us to Giordano's, and it was super yummy! We would definitely go there again!
Then we walked around downtown Chicago for 30 minutes or so after dinner, even though we were all completely exhausted!
So much to see! We got to pet the horses from the touring carts and watched a guy play his drum set with his college-tuition bucket on the ground. As it got later, the streets became more crowded, and I felt increasingly uncomfortable, so we took off to our hotel!
Each morning I took a picture of the kids, so just in case something happened to them, I could remember what they were wearing and have a picture to show the police. So...I was a little bit worried... :) We had planned to take public transportation to/from the city, but after mapquesting everything, found that one of the places I wanted to go was 2 blocks from Andy's interview! So, we took dropped him off and I DROVE IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO to find a parking space near the Children's Museum.
Fun, fun place. We could have stayed so much longer - although I seem to say that at all children's museums! Here is Emily creating a pizza for Mommy - complete with lots of crushed red peppers! That's my girl!
There is an awesome rope-climbing apparatus that made me terrified. This part the girls are walking across is suspended in the air about 30 feet. Ben went once and that was enough for him. Annie ran through like she was on concrete, and Emily was somewhere in between.
We spent a good 45 minutes playing with the tools they had for the kids to build/take apart. I think we could have stayed there all day. Annie and I tried to make a ladder, putting nuts in bolts to hold it together. She did awesome! Ben worked the entire time to take apart the house that was a demonstration. Emily would sort his pieces for Annie to re-use. It was great!
Andy had finished and walked to meet us. We left the museum and walked into the main building area to find a pirate show just beginning. It kept us all entertained for a good 20 minutes!
Lunch was at Bubba Gump's! Andy was in heaven peeling his own shrimp and popping them in his mouth. I had chicken fried chicken; the kids shared fried shrimp. It was really fun to do the trivia on the kid's menus to see how much we remember from when Forrest Gump came out so many years ago!
Then we walked around Navy Pier - inside and outside.
We happened to walk along where the same pirates were doing an outdoor show. Emily had gone to say to hi to the girl pirate after the previous show, and I don't know if she remembered us or not, but she grabbed our family to 'assist' her in teasing one of the other pirates. We were 'the strange family that kept moving forward and backward throughout the crowd,' according to the Captain. It was great and the kids were in heaven!
Beautiful, it was just beautiful. If it weren't for all the crazy amounts of people and the insane traffic (and the winters), I think I could live in downtown Chicago!
What sweet little girls I have! We just sat for a little while eating churros and watched the boats.
We went back to the Children's Museum (have I mentioned before how much I LOVE my museum pass????). The kids and I went right in with our bracelets, but Andy had to go through the member line. We were waiting and waiting for him when he came through with a bright pink necklace. It was an 'Unaccompanied Adult' sign; he had to take one of the kids back to the entrance with him to prove that he did have a child in the museum. As odd as it seemed at the time, I thought it was great they take such care with who they let in!
Somehow, the hotel we ended up with had two double beds. I was sharing with Ben. Guess how much sleep I got...after I moved him onto a sleeping bag on the floor?!?!
This was not my favorite. We were trying to decide between the Field Museum (where Night at the Museum was filmed) or The Adler Planetarium. Brochures advertised the planetarium as this cool kids exhibit for ages 3-8 - notice the ad on the wall. We figured we would do this now and the Field next time we went up that way. (Both were free with our pass.)
Yea...not so much. We walked in and were the only people with kids in the foyer! We walked through several exhibits (quickly) that were way over the kids' heads! We finally found the little explorers ONE exhibit and enjoyed ourselves there for a little over an hour before venturing out of the building. Definitely not somewhere I would have paid to go with children unless they are
completely obsessed with moon, rockets, planets, etc. We did have fun dressing up as astronauts and walking through space, and the baby is growing as evidenced by the baby bump!
Right outside the Planetarium - we ate lunch on the other side. Beautiful city - just WAY too many people living there!!!
Emily had such a blast chasing the seagulls.
So did Ben and Annie! I think our picnic lunch was their favorite part of the entire trip! It was fabulous; Andy and I just sat is in the soft green grass and watched the kids run around 'feeding' the birds while we listened to the boats/water around us. It was a great trip and hopefully one we can repeat in the next year or so for another long weekend!
Then we walked around downtown Chicago for 30 minutes or so after dinner, even though we were all completely exhausted!
So much to see! We got to pet the horses from the touring carts and watched a guy play his drum set with his college-tuition bucket on the ground. As it got later, the streets became more crowded, and I felt increasingly uncomfortable, so we took off to our hotel!
Each morning I took a picture of the kids, so just in case something happened to them, I could remember what they were wearing and have a picture to show the police. So...I was a little bit worried... :) We had planned to take public transportation to/from the city, but after mapquesting everything, found that one of the places I wanted to go was 2 blocks from Andy's interview! So, we took dropped him off and I DROVE IN DOWNTOWN CHICAGO to find a parking space near the Children's Museum.
Fun, fun place. We could have stayed so much longer - although I seem to say that at all children's museums! Here is Emily creating a pizza for Mommy - complete with lots of crushed red peppers! That's my girl!
There is an awesome rope-climbing apparatus that made me terrified. This part the girls are walking across is suspended in the air about 30 feet. Ben went once and that was enough for him. Annie ran through like she was on concrete, and Emily was somewhere in between. 
We spent a good 45 minutes playing with the tools they had for the kids to build/take apart. I think we could have stayed there all day. Annie and I tried to make a ladder, putting nuts in bolts to hold it together. She did awesome! Ben worked the entire time to take apart the house that was a demonstration. Emily would sort his pieces for Annie to re-use. It was great!
Andy had finished and walked to meet us. We left the museum and walked into the main building area to find a pirate show just beginning. It kept us all entertained for a good 20 minutes!
Lunch was at Bubba Gump's! Andy was in heaven peeling his own shrimp and popping them in his mouth. I had chicken fried chicken; the kids shared fried shrimp. It was really fun to do the trivia on the kid's menus to see how much we remember from when Forrest Gump came out so many years ago!
Then we walked around Navy Pier - inside and outside.
We happened to walk along where the same pirates were doing an outdoor show. Emily had gone to say to hi to the girl pirate after the previous show, and I don't know if she remembered us or not, but she grabbed our family to 'assist' her in teasing one of the other pirates. We were 'the strange family that kept moving forward and backward throughout the crowd,' according to the Captain. It was great and the kids were in heaven!
Beautiful, it was just beautiful. If it weren't for all the crazy amounts of people and the insane traffic (and the winters), I think I could live in downtown Chicago!
What sweet little girls I have! We just sat for a little while eating churros and watched the boats.
We went back to the Children's Museum (have I mentioned before how much I LOVE my museum pass????). The kids and I went right in with our bracelets, but Andy had to go through the member line. We were waiting and waiting for him when he came through with a bright pink necklace. It was an 'Unaccompanied Adult' sign; he had to take one of the kids back to the entrance with him to prove that he did have a child in the museum. As odd as it seemed at the time, I thought it was great they take such care with who they let in!
Somehow, the hotel we ended up with had two double beds. I was sharing with Ben. Guess how much sleep I got...after I moved him onto a sleeping bag on the floor?!?!
This was not my favorite. We were trying to decide between the Field Museum (where Night at the Museum was filmed) or The Adler Planetarium. Brochures advertised the planetarium as this cool kids exhibit for ages 3-8 - notice the ad on the wall. We figured we would do this now and the Field next time we went up that way. (Both were free with our pass.) 
Yea...not so much. We walked in and were the only people with kids in the foyer! We walked through several exhibits (quickly) that were way over the kids' heads! We finally found the little explorers ONE exhibit and enjoyed ourselves there for a little over an hour before venturing out of the building. Definitely not somewhere I would have paid to go with children unless they are completely obsessed with moon, rockets, planets, etc. We did have fun dressing up as astronauts and walking through space, and the baby is growing as evidenced by the baby bump!
Right outside the Planetarium - we ate lunch on the other side. Beautiful city - just WAY too many people living there!!! 
Emily had such a blast chasing the seagulls. 
So did Ben and Annie! I think our picnic lunch was their favorite part of the entire trip! It was fabulous; Andy and I just sat is in the soft green grass and watched the kids run around 'feeding' the birds while we listened to the boats/water around us. It was a great trip and hopefully one we can repeat in the next year or so for another long weekend!
