Trip to Chicago October 15, 2007
We took the kids on a whirlwind trip up to Chicago this weekend. We drove up Friday night and stayed at a TownePlace Suites in Lombard. If you’ve got a bunch of kids like us, getting a 2 bedroom suite at a place like this is great. It has 2 bedrooms, a pull-out couch in a living room, and a small kitchen. The cost is really only slightly more for the significant increase in comfort.
We actually stayed at this exact same hotel back in January, the last time we tried to do this trip. You may recall that last time we made it all the way up to Chicago to discover that Ella had a ridiculously high fever and was very sick. We spent a tortured night there and had a long and horrible drive back. Anyhow, it was definitely a better trip this time.
We got up Saturday morning and headed straight to Shedd Aquarium. We got there just as it opened and had no problem parking or getting in. By the time we got in they were having their first show at the big center aquarium which was a diver that would show you stuff. The big center aquarium has a huge turtle, sharks, and a ton of really cool big fish. Then we wandered around all the different habitat aquariums. Some of the favorites were the sea horses / sea dragons (Mary’s favorite), the jelly fish (Truman’s favorite), frogs, etc.
Then we headed down to the big oceanarium area and saw the sea otters and got ready for the dolphin show. By this point, the kids were all tired and hungry and just barely hanging on. Truman started throwing a fit, so I took him out of the show and down a level, to where you could see the dolphin tank from underneath. That was actually more interesting. Man they swim fast.
After the show we grabbed lunch which helped everyone get in a better mood. Then we took another trip down to the lower level and saw the baby Beluga whale (very very cool) and the penguins, who were a lot of fun. Pics here.
After the aquarium we drove around downtown a bit trying to find a good place to park. The kids napped (which they desperately needed). We were headed to the American Girl store, which apparently is some kind of weird cult that I don’t need to know anything more about. Lots of very well-dressed little girls carrying their dolls around (dressed the same way). Mary and Ella headed into the temple and us boys headed to the Disney Store. Truman scoped out some Power Rangers he wanted (the girl Rangers, heavily on clearance – score!) which he later played with for about 5 hrs straight on the way home. Apparently the girls did not fare so well. Ella threw a fit in the AG temple and scared a lot of prim girls so Mary had to remove her from the store. These things happen.
After all that excitement we headed for home. It was a long drive but mostly passed without incident. Beck slept a good chunk of the way, Truman was in Power Ranger heaven, and Ella pretty much just chilled. All in all, a good trip.
