We celebrated Iris's half birthday on March 2nd. Normally, we wouldn't but since her teacher was celebrating summer birthdays at the kid's half birthday, we decided to take advantage and give Iris the friend birthday party she's never had. (It's difficult with her birthday falling before the school year and Labor Day). We had a pool party at the Y and she had a great time.
We hunkered down in March, enduring more snow and cold.
But finally, some excitement: Spring Break. We decided to stay a little closer to home, and took the kids down to Chicago. We spent three full days in the city, letting the kids decide our itinerary.
Day 0: Arrival
We arrived on Wednesday afternoon at the hotel in Skokie. I was in the midst of a bad cold/sinus infection, so I declined joining the others in swimming in the hotel pool. We drove over to Wheeler, to visit with our college friend Kyle, his wife Delphine, and 2.5-year-old daughter Louison. The kids played nicely, and we had a nice time catching up and eating deep dish pizza. :o)
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| Hello, friends! |
After taking advice from Kyle, we drove downtown, parked, and walked along Michigan Avenue to the John Hancock building. The kids wanted to go up, so we did the 360 Chicago experience. We got there just after it opened, so it was nice and quiet. Great (albeit hazy) views. We stayed about an hour and a half before the kids got bored.
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| Looking north toward home |
We ate lunch at a nearby French cafe. The kids were so-so about the haute cuisine. (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). They really wanted to go swimming next, so we headed back to the car. Because we had the Tesla, we stopped on the way to charge it. It was the Brewers opening day, so we followed along with the game while we waited. Finally, back to the hotel. We all went down to the pool this time. The kids swam until Iris whacked her head doing a flip. At that point, no more swimming. She got a nice egg-sized bump but was otherwise fine. We went to the nearby outdoor mall to get some dinner and wander. The kids enjoyed the outdoor play area. Back to the hotel for a quiet night.
Day 2: Shedd Aquarium
I gave the kids a list of many of the museums and experiences available to us in Chicago. The Aquarium was one they agreed on, so that's where we spent Friday. Again, we drove down and parked. We walked along the lake shore (chillier and windier today) until we reached it.
Had to wait in some lines, and the place was sooooo crowded. Why do people bring babies in strollers to places like this?? It might have been because of the crowds, but the kids were less enthralled by the aquarium than I thought they'd be. Oh well. We did walk around just about every exhibit. And, we ran into another family we knew, of all things. That was pretty funny.
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| Waving at dolphins |
Day 3: Museum of Science & Industry
Last day in Chicago. Both kids were excited to go to the MS&I. We spent several hours walking through the different exhibits (ooh, mirror maze!), going to the Tornado Alley movie, and letting the kids get souvenirs they watched get made on an assembly line.
Day 4: Brewers Game
Since Milwaukee was on the way home and the Brewers just happened to be playing an opening weekend series against the Cardinals there... We took advantage and took ourselves out to the ballgame. My folks joined us for the afternoon game. It was so cold and windy - thank goodness for the roof! We had great seats, stayed for the whole game, and saw a great come-from-behind win. Because the parking lot needed to clear out before we left, we let the kids do the run-the-bases thing. They both enjoyed that, despite the very long line. We had an uneventful drive home after that.
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| Go Brewers! |
Awesome Things: American Gods season 2, thundersleet, 80° days, melting snow.
Felix: 9.5 yrs & Iris: 6.5 yrs
