Chicago Adventure 2012

This past weekend we took the boys to Chicago.  We built it up by saying that we were going on an adventure.  They were so excited!  We had a great weekend and crammed a lot of activity in a short amount of time.  The boys did surprisingly well!  Seth and Noah had their moments of not listening and wrestling in inappropriate places, but overall they were great considering we hauled them all over the place from activity to activity.  They enjoyed the tall buildings and being 'up so high' in the hotel room.  They didn't seem at all intimidated by the people and traffic.  I was so proud of them.

We arrived in Chicago early afternoon on Friday.  After checking into the hotel, we took a cab to the Willis Tower (aka Sears Tower) to view the city from the Skydeck.

The boys in their first cab ride.  Noah (in blue) became acclimated to big city living very quickly.  Every time we said we were going to go somewhere he'd say "Let's get a cab" even if we were just going to walk.  He was disappointed when we would have to tell him that we were not going to 'get a cab'.

View from the Skydeck at Willis Tower.

The boys out on the ledge.  They did not hesitate one second before stepping out there.

After checking out the city from the Skydeck, we went back toward our hotel for dinner.  We had a delicious meal at Grand Lux and then came back to the hotel for a quick swim before bed. 

Saturday morning, we went to the Shedd Aquarium.  We took the advice of many people and got there early.  So glad that we did!  The line was already very long to purchase tickets.  Luckily, we already had our tickets and only had to wait for the doors to open.  We got right in and were able to start checking out the exhibits immediately.

Don't the boys look like they were super excited to go to the aquarium?

Seth passed the time the way he usually does.  Noah gave us his best smile.

Our view while waiting to get into Shedd.  Not too shabby.

We went to the first aquatic show of the day.  We didn't get many pictures because of the dark lighting where they have the show (beautiful setting, though!).  A lot of our pictures didn't turn out well in Shedd because of the lighting.  I'm not smart enough to figure out the proper settings on our fancy camera, either.  Some nice woman who worked there gave us some direction on which setting to use, but unfortunately she gave it to us on our way out the door.

We got several self-portraits before the began, though.

Seth & Chris

Me & Noah

Silly faces!

Touching sea urchins and starfish.

I think our favorite exhibit was the one with the Beluga whales.  The boys sat on a ledge and the whales swam by touching the glass.

The jellies exhibit is currently on display.  It was incredible to see so many different kinds and sizes of jellyfish.

Obviously not jellies, but a couple of the the pictures that actually came out somewhat clear.

I'm not ashamed that we got the cheesy tourist photos!

After we left the aquarium, we took a water taxi over to Navy Pier.  It was a nice way to travel and the breeze off the lake felt great on the hot day.

Who needs a boat big enough to carry a helicopter?  These guys.

Chris & Noah on the ferris wheel.

Me & Seth

Seth

See!  Not ashamed.

During our time at Navy Pier we ate lunch, shopped and enjoyed people and boat watching.

After Navy Pier, we took a trolley ride back to the hotel and then walked to the Weber Grill Restaurant for dinner.  After another yummy meal, walked around the city a little more.  As we were walking back into the hotel, Seth hung his head and said "I'm SO tired".  Chris replied, "Then we did our job".  We took another quick swim and then took them to the room to crash.

Sacked out.

On Sunday, our last day, we got up bright and early and headed to Millennium Park.  One quick funny about breakfast:  We went to the restaurant in the hotel for breakfast and when I asked Seth if he wanted bacon and eggs, he said "No, just bacon".  I told him that he needed to have something to go with his eggs and he said "Do they have hotdogs here?".  Not exactly the breakfast of champions.

Noah on the left, Seth right.  Apparently it's too much to ask to get them to both give me nice smiles at the same time.

Cloud Gate

Seth

Noah was pretty worn out.

Can you find us in this picture?

Crown Fountain

After Millennium Park, we walked toward the Field Museum and checked out the sites along the way.

Buckingham Fountain

Cherry chillers made the walk a little more bearable.

Field Museum
We didn't go inside this trip because it was time to go home and the boys were pretty tired.  Next trip.

We took one last walk around Shedd Aquarium before going to our car for the trip home.

As we were leaving, I asked the boys what they liked the best about our adventure and they both yelled "SWIMMING!".  Not what I was expecting.  Noah even asked me "Mommy, will you build Seth (pronounced Sef) and me a pool so we can swim?".

I'm so glad that the boys are old enough that we can go on adventures like this weekend and many many more.

-Shelby