The Chicago Trip
In short, Epic Good Time. Go visit Cheese Cousin (should you have one). She and her family are so much fun to hang around with.
Cast of Characters:
Cheese Cousin's two adorable children: The Naturally Caffeinated Kid and Bird Grrl. NCK is a stubborn type A personality. No I did not misspell Grrl, I didnt know this until seeing the two in action for extended period, but the Girl wrestles and can hold her own. I think this is partially because she has the NCK for a brother. Clearly they adore each other, in (like most siblings) small limited doses. And then they dont, and someone ends up in a time out.
First we went to the Chicago Children's Museum:
Where Bird Grrl checked out the Circus exhibit,
NCK Built a skyscraper and put sides on it
And Child Played with Water.
Then we went to Lunch before hitting the World's Largest Ferris Wheel:
Child was not feeling 100% (here he is practically asleep during Lunch) so we went home and played/relaxed until dinner time.
Jet Ski Man, Cheese Cousin's Husband, was at a work dinner, so we got take out-make your own pizza and Child fell asleep on me after only 1 bite.
The next day, Child was feeling better and we went to the Shedd Aquarium.
Where apparently, I took very few, very bad pictures. But there were jellyfish and penguins and a beluga whale and dolphins doing tricks. We had tentative plans to move over to the Field Museum (dinosaurs) at lunch time, they share a parking lot, but there was so much else we hadn't seen, it went on the list for Next Time.
The Aquarium was cool.
Outside was a beautiful park and we took a few pictures there too.
Unfortunetly Cheese Cousin looks pained in this picture which we did not realize at the time. She's really much prettier.
Then, yep, you guessed it, headed home and had pizza leftovers for the kids and the adults had some yummy homemade chicken spinach lasagna. Jet Ski Man was at yet another business dinner.
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and Chicago puts on an epic parade. We didnt go. Oh, I wanted to, but I thought standing in a crowd for hours was going to be a bit much for our group. Instead we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. Not very garden-y just yet, but the bones were there for something stupendous. Still, for what we wanted, unstructured tourist time where the kids could run and play, it was a great thing.
They are doing some kind of pond/lake remediation in the background. Follow the leader in the foreground.
In the Orchid House
Catching some rays
A moment of stillness for NCK.
Can you tell all the kids were getting tired??!?
Not pictured, one of my favorite memories from the trip. All the kids were playing in the driveway with scooters, bikes and chalk. Cheese Cousin made some lovely iced tea and we sat & talked as the kids went round and round in a scene of suburban spendor.
So, I'm going to start to troll the travel sites and when the fares get cheap again...we are totally going back!
Cast of Characters:
Cheese Cousin's two adorable children: The Naturally Caffeinated Kid and Bird Grrl. NCK is a stubborn type A personality. No I did not misspell Grrl, I didnt know this until seeing the two in action for extended period, but the Girl wrestles and can hold her own. I think this is partially because she has the NCK for a brother. Clearly they adore each other, in (like most siblings) small limited doses. And then they dont, and someone ends up in a time out.
First we went to the Chicago Children's Museum:
Where Bird Grrl checked out the Circus exhibit,
NCK Built a skyscraper and put sides on it
And Child Played with Water.
Then we went to Lunch before hitting the World's Largest Ferris Wheel:
Child was not feeling 100% (here he is practically asleep during Lunch) so we went home and played/relaxed until dinner time.
Jet Ski Man, Cheese Cousin's Husband, was at a work dinner, so we got take out-make your own pizza and Child fell asleep on me after only 1 bite.
The next day, Child was feeling better and we went to the Shedd Aquarium.
Where apparently, I took very few, very bad pictures. But there were jellyfish and penguins and a beluga whale and dolphins doing tricks. We had tentative plans to move over to the Field Museum (dinosaurs) at lunch time, they share a parking lot, but there was so much else we hadn't seen, it went on the list for Next Time.
The Aquarium was cool.
Outside was a beautiful park and we took a few pictures there too.
Unfortunetly Cheese Cousin looks pained in this picture which we did not realize at the time. She's really much prettier.
Then, yep, you guessed it, headed home and had pizza leftovers for the kids and the adults had some yummy homemade chicken spinach lasagna. Jet Ski Man was at yet another business dinner.
Saturday was St. Patrick's Day and Chicago puts on an epic parade. We didnt go. Oh, I wanted to, but I thought standing in a crowd for hours was going to be a bit much for our group. Instead we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. Not very garden-y just yet, but the bones were there for something stupendous. Still, for what we wanted, unstructured tourist time where the kids could run and play, it was a great thing.
They are doing some kind of pond/lake remediation in the background. Follow the leader in the foreground.
In the Orchid House
Catching some rays
A moment of stillness for NCK.
Can you tell all the kids were getting tired??!?
Not pictured, one of my favorite memories from the trip. All the kids were playing in the driveway with scooters, bikes and chalk. Cheese Cousin made some lovely iced tea and we sat & talked as the kids went round and round in a scene of suburban spendor.
So, I'm going to start to troll the travel sites and when the fares get cheap again...we are totally going back!