The Fun Side Of Chicago

So you heard about the crazy side of Chicago, and now it's time for the fun stuff.  Because we did have a lot of fun playing tourist.

Thursday we went to the Aquarium.  We saw lots of fish.  Lots of lots of fish.  So many fish that near the end of our visit, Joy said that she never wanted to see another fish again.  And we spent the rest of the trip teasing her that we were going to go back to the Aquarium which made her throw up her hands in the air and yell, "NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"  The rest of our party enjoyed the fish a lot more.

Waiting for the Dolphin show with Dolly the Dolphin and Bubbles the Fish

Touching a real starfish.  They're spiny.

Standing in front of the shark tank

Friday we went to the Dead Museum--I mean the Field Museum.  Growing up we always called it the dead museum because everything is, well, dead.  For years we have talked about Sue the T-Rex and how we would one day take the kids to see a real dinosaur skeleton.  They were suitably impressed.

Joy and Sue

Saturday we went to my favorite museum, the Museum of Science and Industry.  All I can say is that it is nothing--nothing--like I remember it from nine years ago.  It was way cooler.  In the other two museums, the kids had to drag the parents away from exhibits.  At the S&I, we had to drag the kids away if we had any hope of seeing everything.  So many things to play with.  Things that shot tennis balls across the room.  Tubes that sucked up balls like the deposit tubes at the drive thru at the bank.  We went to a science experiment show and learned about liquid nitrogen and got to eat ice cream.  We watched another experiment where they dropped a pumpkin and a water balloon from the third floor to the second--they both went splat.  If we only had time to visit one museum in the future, the S&I would be it.

Lizzy in the wind chamber--80 MPH

David in the human hamster wheel

David and Hubby playing mind ball--the quietest brain wins

David making a party horn blare with liquid nitrogen

We ran into my uncle and cousin by accident at the museum

Saturday night we threw a party.  We went to my favorite restaurant ever, Barracos.  I dream of eating their pizza.  I want to scoop it up and move it to Michigan.  Before my kids got to try the deliciousness of Barracos pizza, they asked me if it was my favorite restaurant.  I said I couldn't say that as it's been years since I've sampled it.  Maybe the recipe has changed.  Maybe my taste buds have changed.  I am happy to say that my memory lived up to reality--the pizza was amazing.  But I digress.  We all went out for a big family dinner to celebrate the birthdays of my Grandma, my Aunt, my Niece and David.

Yummy pizza with my big Italian family

Sunday it was time to say our good-byes and head for home.  But I wasn't quite ready to just go home, so we swung by the Brookfield Zoo first.  I grew up going to this zoo more than my own local zoo.  Despite that, I had no memory of the zoo looking the way it does beyond one of the restaurants.  It makes me wonder if they've changed up the whole zoo since I've last been there.

My kids were very disappointed upon learning that the dolphin shows were cancelled due to the birth of a new baby dolphin.  We thought well, at least we'll be able to see a baby dolphin, if not the show.  But the baby was not on display.  Maybe when we make it to the zoo again in another eight years, we'll be able to see the dolphin show.

But we did get to see some really big dinosaur replicas.  They moved and roared and were pretty cool.  We even learned that some dinosaurs, like juvenile T-rexs, had feathers.  Nothing like a big, feathery dinosaur to brighten your day.

Fluffy raptor--So scary:)

Eek!!!  Don't eat me!!

They had these signs up.  I asked Joy, what do Herbivores eat?  Plants.
What do Carnivores eat?  Meat.  What do Omnivores eat?  Hamburgers!

Waiting for Dad to buy a real Chicago hot dog (it looked disgusting)

We all had a great time with our family in Chicago.  It was fun to see our out-of-town relatives and share our old haunts together again.  We had our share of adventures--both good and not so good--but they all added up to one awesome vacation.