Chicago Part II

Our second week in Chicago was a little busier than the first. We had Adam there and so we went and did a little more. The first stop was the Naperville Children's Museum. The kids and I had been there a couple times over the years visiting Kelle and they had just as much fun this time as they have in the past. I think their favorite part was the water play area, but they all ended up SOAKED. Poor Alyssa was absolutely drenched. My kids spend a fair amount of time playing in the water and being wet after so they weren't too bothered.

Paul in the music area

My sweet girl

It's typical that she found whatever animals were present and turned them into a family.

Paul was pouring water all over himself (like I said, they were soaked)

We were lucky to have a few warm days while we were out there so the kids were able to play outside. One of those days we went to the park and then over to a river to throw rocks. There was a little play thing at the park that was a dolphin. Samantha thought this was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. We have at least 10 pictures that she took of the dolphin. Every time she sees the picture she'll tell me, "remember that dolphin, wasn't it beautiful?" Throwing rocks in the river was a lot of fun for the kids too. The part we stopped at happened to have some shells in the water. Since Kelle and I told the kids they weren't allowed to go into the river they spent the majority of the time trying to fish out the shells with sticks. It proved to be quite the experience. Andrew told us after that he thought the shells meant more because he'd taken the time and effort to fish them out.

All the cousins before church

One of our favorite places that we ended up going was to the zoo. The Lincoln Park Zoo is really nice, especially for being free. Adam kept telling me that he thought the animals were actually robots since they were all so active. I have never seen all the big cats move as much as they were. The male lion was pacing right in front of the viewing window. It was really incredible. We also heard the male and female lion roaring at each other. I couldn't believe how loud they were. Paul's favorite animals were the otters. They were super playful and kept doing back flips off the glass. He was AMAZED and thought they were putting on a show just for him. I think he would have stayed all day if we'd let him.

Paul "sleeping" on a play structure at the zoo

Samantha and Grant smiling for their lunch. Kelle told Samantha she actually had to smile and look at the camera (two difficult things for her to manage) if she wanted lunch.

Our family with the Chicago skyline in the background, the sun is in our eyes so Paul wouldn't look.

After the zoo we were able to walk to see Lake Michigan. The kids had never seen it so we wanted to give them the chance. They were only there for a couple minutes when Paul threw a handful of sand in Samantha's eyes. Luckily Adam was there and was able to take her back to the car. She didn't seem too disappointed that she didn't get to spend more time at the lake either which was nice.

He sure does make me laugh

One of the kids' favorite activities was jumping on the trampoline. They were SO excited because one night while Carter and Andrew were gone Adam took the kids out to jump after they were all ready for bed. It was fun to watch them having such a good time together.

On our last day in Chicago we decided to go the "tank park." They had 15 or so tanks that were actually used in battle that the kids can climb all over and see up close. It was really cool. They also had a really neat museum that I would have loved to see without kids. Even with the kids I really enjoyed it. My favorite part was actually on the way home. As we were driving Samantha was trying to talk to Grant and every time she would start talking he would say "I don't care." Kelle tried to tell him not to be rude so he started whispering "I don't care" every time she'd start to talk. We were laughing too hard to get him to stop. The kids noticed we were laughing so Kelle told them that I had told her a funny joke. Of course the kids wanted to know what it was. The only thing I could come up with was, "why did the chicken cross the road? To sit on an egg." Dumb. Now Samantha tells me that joke at least once a day and can never figure out why it's not making me laugh that hard. She will also remind me, "remember how funny that was when you told that joke to Aunt Kelle?" 



Paul listening to one of the presentations. All the kids had to have two phones, one for each ear.

I am so glad we drove out there and can't wait to see everyone again. My kids already ask if we have enough money to go again, and if we have enough, could we go on a plane?