Day 1: The Museum

Sunday was our first full day in Chicago. The kids (ahem ... Declan ....) were up bright and early. Mike and I hid in bed for a bit and then we all headed down to take advantage of the free continental breakfast at the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised by the breadth of options and everyone found something they were happy to eat.

After breakfast, Mike's buddy Kyle - who lives in Chicago - came down to meet us at our hotel. The boys caught up a bit (it has been years since we've seen Kyle in person) and then the six of us adventured out see see a bit of downtown and have lunch at Portillo's. While no one had the famous Chicago dog, we all enjoyed eating at such an iconic Chicago place. We had to cross several busy roads on the way there, so everyone was assigned a buddy. Including Kyle. He and Dec played it cool while we were on the sidewalk, but were super good hand-holding buddies when needed.

After lunch, Kyle headed home and we found our bus stop to make the trek over to The Field Museum. The trek even included a bus transfer - fancy choreography for our first bus adventure. We managed to transfer correctly and ended up right outside the museum entrance. It's in the same area as Soldier Field (where da Bears play) and a monument to Special Olympics. We took a moment to check out the Special Olympics eternal flame and send a virtual wave to cousin Nate.

Our MN Science Museum membership got four out of the five of us into the museum for free. We think it should have gotten all of us, but chose not to fight it. To our delight, Auntie Emmy (who also made the trip to Chicago for a few days), cousin Parker, and his wife Maggie joined us. While the childless people probably thought it was a lot, Mike and I found the five adults to three kids to be the best museum ratio ever. Basically anytime we out-number the children is a big day!

We saw a bunch African animals, some mummies (and other Egyptian artifacts), and most importantly, DINOSAURS. There was also a group coloring activity in the Kids Lab, digging for dino bones, and a group piggyback adventure. We stayed for a bit after Auntie, Parker, and Maggie left - and although we were there for four hours, we didn't come close to seeing everything! The good news was that we had a blast - and were all very ready to be done. How can museums make your feet so sore!!?!?

We caught the bus back to our hotel ... sort of. It was our one and only time taking the bus the wrong direction. We only went about five minutes out of our way before correcting our path - so a pretty mild mistake. We got off about three blocks from our hotel (and didn't need a bus transfer this time!). The kids and Mike chilled out a bit while I made mac and cheese in our kitchen. [Our hotel offered a complimentary grocery service. I dropped my list off at the front desk that morning and our groceries were sitting in our room when we got home. And we only were charged for the price of the groceries. It was basically magic!!!]

After a quick dinner, we headed to the hotel pool for an hour. It was significantly quieter and less busy than the night before and we were all happier. The kids jumped and splashed and cannonballed and bobbed and did all the things. We got back to the room and while I showered everyone up, Mike made a quick walk to Trader Joe's to get us some adult beverages. After the kids went to bed, we enjoyed some cider and tv in our tiny living room and it almost felt just like home.