Chicago: The Fun Stuff

 

If you read my post yesterday you know that we packed far too much into our short trip to Chicago.  The upside to this is you get to benefit from our adventures.

Day 1

Our first adventure, as I mentioned in the food post was to Lincoln Park.  We started with lunch at the Green Market.

I just read an article in a very old Bon Apetit (I think I am about 4 months behind in my magazines) about cooking tourism - renting a place in a food-centric city so you can make the most of local foods.  Great farmer's markets always make me wish I could scoop up a little of everything and make delicious meals.

Our next stop was supposed to be the Lincoln Park Zoo, but Thatbaby fell asleep moments after we got in, so we detoured it over to the Lincoln Park Conservatory which we felt he would have less interest in.

Doesn't this look like something straight out of Alice in Wonderland?

While Thatboy and I were frolicking in the ferns, Thatbaby woke up.  So we headed out of the flora to check out the fauna in the zoo.

The last time Thatbaby went to the zoo he was 6 months old and not as interested in the animals.  This time, he loved seeing all of them.  He tried to pet the rhino and laughed at just about every animal he saw.

Day 2

Thatbaby was similarly enthralled with the Shedd Aquarium.  He liked that he could get very close to the fishes and they were moving around.

He loved watching the jellyfish.  Thatboy and I were really looking forward to this "special exhibit" but to be perfectly honest, it was the worst jellyfish exhibit we've seen.  We loved the jellyfish in the Georgia Aquarium, and even the ones we have here in the Birch Aquarium.  This was disappointing.

When I was pregnant with Thatbaby, we visited the Vancouver Aquarium and saw the belugas.  He went crazy in my stomach kicking when he heard the whales.  This year he got to see them himself!  A tip for those of you with small children, if you bring your kid in a stroller, you get to use the "accessible" entrance which has a much shorter line.

Following our time at the aquarium, we went to  check out the Chicago Art Institute.

We saw the Lichtenstein exhibit, and a fantastic Asian art exhibit, as well as some classics.  Thatbaby got a big kick out of the museum.  He was chattering away the entire time we were there.  I'm sure people LOVED us.  But he wasn't trying to be disruptive, he was just sharing his love of art.

Day 3

As I mentioned yesterday, we did the Architectural Boat Tour, which is supposed to be a "must do" in Chicago.  I think we would have enjoyed this much more if it had just been Thatboy and I.  Thatboy spent the entire time below deck with a fussy Thatbaby,  And according to my cousin who accompanied us, we did not luck out in the docent department.  I learned more from the tidbits he was feeding from the side.

After the boat tour my cousin took us on a tour of Millennium Park. 

We got to pose by "The Bean,"  listen to opera at the Pritzker Pavilion (designed by Gehry), and splash around in the Crown Fountain.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon letting Thatbaby crawl around and eat grass.