One of our family New Years Resolutions is to spend more fun time together and to go into The City more often to take advantage of the amazing places & events that are there.Several weeks ago, we looked online to find some FREE DAYS at the Chicago attractions, we noted a free day at The Field Museum on February 14th & decided to make it an official family fun day. Trevor made advance plans to take off work and we cleared our schedules. Thankfully, the weather cooperated as well & we didn't even have to wear big coats!!
The Field Museum is amazing!
We began our adventure in the interactive section geared towards kids between the ages of 2-6...it was a hit:
J loved hopping from one learning station to the next (yes. he's 2, his attention isn't quite advanced enough to really stay in one place very long), and we enjoyed hopping right along with him! Baby N loved being carried in the ergo carrier (ahem. love!) where he stayed, either being worn by me or Trevor--the entire day!
I had to take pics of this "NANNY CADDY" because I'd never seen anything like it, and I think it's pretty ingenious. Seriously.
We were prepared with pretty much EVERYTHING we could have possibly needed, thanks to Trevor packing our lunch and my packing of everything else times two. It was our first real day trip adventure as a family of four and we wanted to make sure we were covered--it was a great experience, we learned that WE CAN DO THIS!!
After we left the geared-toward-children area, we scoped out a few of the other exhibits in the museum...
...until we reached the highlight of our trip:
She is not really a she. Well she could be. We don't know, but since her name is Sue, we call her "she". Right.
Can I just say--awesome!
Trevor & I might have been as excited as (or maybe even more than!) J was. And he was really excited! We talked about the dinosaur exhibit during our entire hour drive, but we were sure to specify that they were dinosaur bones, not real live dinosaurs.*
Sue the dino did NOT disappoint. We were able to catch a mini tour as well, which worked out for us to learn more about the T-Rex. It wasn't really feasable for all of us to stand in silence listening to the tour guide, so Trevor & J walked around while Baby N & I (he was snoring) soaked up the information to then report to the rest of the family. I guess that's how you do it with a toddler, and it worked out pretty well.
We were lucky to receive a tip from one of the other families who were at the museum--that the Shedd Aquarium was ALSO hosting a FREE day (for general admission exhibits) as well! Luckily, they are both on the same "campus" so we didn't have to drive to another location (or pay twice the parking fees!).
We took a few pics on our walk from the museum to the aquarium:
The Aquarium.
I have no words.
It was amazing--the varieties of sea life--just. WOW. And we didn't even SEE everything!! It was much more crowded than the museum (maybe because the rooms were less open? or because by then it was later in the day?), so it was a bit of a challenge to maneuver the stroller but overall it was a really great stop to add to our family fun day.
J was pretty excited to "FIND NEMO" in one of the tanks of clown fish, I loved watching the seahorses chillin' out and Trevor thought it was cool to watch a diver feeding some of the Caribean tank sea life.
After The Aquarium, everyone was tired, so we walked back around the Museum and to the Stadium to the parking garage. We paid $19 for parking--our only expense for the entire day! It's sickening to pay that much for parking, but it was awesome to enjoy so many fun exhibits, all for free.
We decided to turn off the GPS and just drive around downtown Chicago before we jumped on the freeway to head home.
Here are a few things we saw as we drove around:
-Michigan Ave & the Magnificent Mile
-The Navy Pier
-Lake Shore Drive & Lake Michigan (with her floating ice chunks & dirty snow piles)
& - A store front on the Magnificent Mile
The city adventure was wonderful.
A full day of family fun: it was PERFECT.
And it made me want to live downtown SO BADLY.
Just for a year...
We got home, bathed the boys & put on our pajamas...ended the day with a romantic* dinner for two.
Best Valentine's Day Ever!
I'm sorry, I just can't end this post without a pic of the babe who melts our hearts every day...
who may or may not be turning 6 months old tomorrow.
Ok he is.
I may or may not be in denial.
Um. Yes.
Nathan Spencer Harper 02.14.2011 Playing on the floor while Mama & Daddy eat their romantic quesadilla dinner.
Notes:
*May or may not be a necessary detail for a child. However, when I was a little girl, my Dad promised I would be able to see dinosaurs in Vernal, UT all along our roadtrip from TN to UT in 1985. I have forever disliked Vernal since that visit. There were no dinosaurs, folks. Only bones. Only bones.
*We had our official Valentine's date night on Saturday which was fantastic! We had a wonderful babysitter come over, went to a fancy restaurant, and enjoyed some sweet time to ourselves. Trevor bought me the beautiful red tulips shown in the pic above--LOVE THEM!
3 comments:
Oh - these pics make me sad that it has been a year (to date, as a matter of fact - we spent Valentine's 2010 in Chicago) since we visited those wonderful places. Sue was a HUGE hit with our boys. The Shedd Aquarium is the BEST! Parking fees were *ahem* a bit crazy but it was nice that you could park in one place and wander to several sites.
What a fun day....I am so glad you are soaking up all you can of Chicago - such a fun place to be! Now for us to figure out how to get back there....soon!
Shara, what great pics! You look awesome! I really love your hair cut and color too! And your boys are total cuties, of course. :)
I really like your family pic that you have here and on fb! And that nanny caddy IS ingenious! Lastly, the story with Vernal and the dino bones is too funny. I'm taking mental notes never to say things like that to my kids! :)
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