Family Vacation to Chicago

We survived our first sightseeing vacation with the kids! We've been talking about getting back into traveling again but needed to wait until the boys were just a bit older. We decided to find out if we had waited long enough, and it went pretty well! We decided that since Chicago was on our list of places we wanted to visit, and it had a lot of kid friendly things to do, that it would be a great place to try out. We are so glad Mimi was able to come with us too, and help out with the boys and ALL the driving! We came up with an itinerary that included 2 full days of sightseeing and one of them would be geared toward outdoor things and one would be for indoor in case the weather didn't cooperate. It turns out that the weather gave us exactly what we planned for since one day was supposed to be sunny and one day was 100% chance of rain. Since we wanted to get a few more outdoor things in, we decided to leave early on our drive day so we could see them before the rain started on the second full day. The timing worked out great and we were able to get to a park and ride station and ride the "El" into the city the first night we got there. It was really helpful to have 3 adults with both kids, 2 strollers (that had to be folded up to go up/down stairs and escalators), and 3 backpacks haha.

On our drive we saw this huge wind farm in northern Indiana and it went on for miles. There were hundreds of wind turbines. It was really incredible.

I've never driven into Illinois before so this was the first time I've seen the state line sign.

On our way into the city for the first time, riding the El.

We made our way to one of Chicago's most iconic spots, The Bean.

Putting the selfie stick to good use!

It is really such a strange piece of art.

Our crazy reflection in the outside of the bean.

And directly from the middle underneath, looking up. I'm the only one wearing bright orange.

And some other angle that I don't remember and can't figure out.

Along our walk, we could see a couple of the El lines.

It really is unique to see the metro just passing through the middle of the tall buildings and above the traffic.

The architecture in the city is really incredible.

Even the public library was ornate.

The next big spot we decided to see on the first night was the Buckingham Fountain. There really weren't many people around so we got to enjoy it almost to ourselves.

And of course some more selfies. I'm loving the stick for big groups!

And somewhat of a skyline shot but it was really dreary out.

And we even found a Hotel Blake!

After seeing a few things we decided to head back and check into the hotel, get dinner, and call it an early night. The hotel offered a complimentary pasta and meatball dinner with garlic bread and salad that was a perfect treat after a long day of traveling. 

The next morning we got up early, packed up the van, and made our way to the park and ride station again so we wouldn't have to deal with rush hour into or out of the city on Friday. Since we had gotten the whole thing figured out the first evening, it was pretty smooth getting into the city the next morning. We took a stroll along the river walk and got to enjoy seeing the city along the water.

There was some sort of front ahead of us moving toward the city as we drove to get on the El. This line of clouds stretched across the whole sky.

Our convoy on the right.

There were a lot of airplanes and helicopters in the sky, but we couldn't figure out what had made this interesting shape in the clouds.

And some cool little outdoor sitting areas.

The next thing we decided to do was to take the river cruise which was probably my favorite part of the trip. We sat on the top deck (obviously!) and got some really beautiful views of the city. The weather was absolutely perfect!

The Trump Tower is really a beautiful building and you can see it from so many directions. 

Passing one of our fellow cruise boats.

Learning about the history of the architecture was really interesting as well. It was crazy that a couple of these buildings had to be built with such a tiny footprint.

It was also fun to get to photograph a lot of the landmarks that I saw all over the internet. This drawbridge was one of them. I kinda love how the sun poked through at the exact moment that we were floating by.

The Willis Tower is also another incredible building to stand near the base of. It is just so huge!

It just dwarfs everything around it.

This building was pretty funny how it has a map of the river on it and has a "you are here" red boat.

The Skydecks at Willis Tower.

This seems to sum up Chicago to me with the water and the El passing right over top.

What a ridiculously huge building.

And the Trump Tower again that is just so beautiful from the water.

We even went out into Lake Michigan a little for a view of the skyline. Technically we learned that they have a lock system to regulate water flow from the lake into the Chicago River, so that is really where we were.

And a couple from my cell.

After stopping for a picnic lunch at the Navy Pier, we let the boys have a turn to do something fun and we made our way to the Children's Museum and they had an incredible time! There were so many things to do and we ended up having to limit time at each section so we could see them all.

Brett had to get his hard hat and safety goggles to drive the bobcat.

Of course water activities are a favorite of Blake's.

After that, we hopped in line to go on the Centennial Wheel to get a really great view of the city.

Our little car was big enough to hold 6 I think. It went around slowly the first time as they loaded up all the cars. Then we went around for 3 continuous revolutions. By that time, we were all ready to get off.

The skyline to the north of Navy Pier. The Chicago 360 building is another popular spot to get a great view of the city from up high.

The skyline to the south. This gives you a better view of the lock system where we were on the boat.

And looking due east out over the rest of the pier and out into Lake Michigan.

After that, we caught the hop on hop off bus at the pier and rode it halfway around the loop as a way to get to the Willis Tower.

Poor Brett was so exhausted that the beautiful weather and cool breeze knocked him out.

Once we got to the tower and went through security, we found out that it was going to be a 2 hour wait to get to the Skydeck so we decided that we couldn't make it that long with 2 tired kiddos. And let's be honest, everyone was hungry at that point. So sadly, that was one of the big things we were hoping to experience in Chicago but I guess it's on the list for the next time we make it back there.

For dinner that night we tried out some authentic Chicago deep dish style pizza from Lou Malnati's and it did NOT disappoint. It was very unique because the cheese layer was below the crushed tomatoes, but it was probably the best pizza I can ever remember eating. And as an added bonus, somehow I didn't end up with heartburn (and cheese ALWAYS gives me heartburn)! 

The next day was our indoor day and we decided to drive since it was a Saturday and wouldn't have to deal with rush hour traffic. As forecasted, there was rain all day long. We were as prepared as we could be with our ponchos (from Niagara) and umbrellas. Unfortunately, the grownups were all pretty wet from the knees down most of the day. The boys did really well because we kept them off the wet ground. 

We parked in a garage nearby and we went to the Field Museum first. We got to see dinosaur bones and a ton of native american stuff that the kids didn't really care about, haha. I think their favorite part was getting to pay $.50 to smash a design onto a penny... if you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about.

Blake got to use a microscope which was pretty cool.

The boys had a blast with the magna-tiles.

This awesome shirt that I couldn't convince Chris to buy as a souvenir so I got a picture instead.

Next we tried to go to the Aquarium, but the line was was out into the parking lot and it was pouring down rain so we turned around and went to the Adler Planetarium instead. The boys had a great time playing with everything space and astronaut related. We weren't going to be able to see the show in the main theater because of a time conflict so we considered seeing another show in a flat screen theater but we passed on that because the boys were more interested in playing than watching a movie about stars. (If we ever go back I'd like to get to see the show on the main dome screen.)

This was incredible to see up close. It's hard to believe that 2 people survived in this capsule for almost 4 days in space!

Lastly, we headed back to the Shedd Aquarium where the line wasn't nearly as bad as before and looked around at all the fish and sharks while Brett napped in the stroller. 

Blake's favorite part was this submarine that had a TON of buttons and switches. He was in heaven.

The last thing we did was watch the aquatic presentation which had the dolphins jumping out of the water and doing tricks. Brett woke up just in time for us to get into our seats (an amphitheater made out of pebbles - ouch) and the boys really enjoyed the show. It was the best part of the Aquarium, but to be honest the Georgia Aquarium was just so much better in every way. 

That night for dinner we tried the Chicago style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwich at Portillo's. I think I was so hungry I didn't get a picture of either. Both were good, but the pizza the previous night was more mind blowing. 

On our way back home after a very busy but really fun couple days.

The boys were pretty tired of traveling by day 4 (I really couldn't blame them) but we made it and I think everyone is looking forward to our next adventure!