A Special Day in the City

Last Saturday, Wally, Luke and me spent the day in Chicago to celebrate Luke turning 5!  When I asked Luke the night before if he wanted to spend the day with just the 3 of us, his response was "Why?".  I always hope for a great reaction, but this kid is so even-keeled!  Hopefully we get a little more excitement out of him when we tell him we are going to Disney.

In any case, we went and he did end up having a great time - we all did!

We parked at Water Tower Place and walked about a mile to our first stop. It was chilly, but Luke didn't seem to mind and we just had fun walking along and looking at the buildings! Our first stop was lunch at Rainforest Café.  This was Luke's first time there and he loved it!











Cha Cha!



My cheeser!



They even sang Happy Birthday to Luke!



Nothing like some dirt & worms!



He thought it was cool to wear Daddy's scarf!



Our next stop was a walk through the Disney Store and then we headed to the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer the Musical!





The show was so cute - even Wally and I really enjoyed it! The theater is just perfect for little kids - not a bad seat there! After the show, we made one last stop to the Lego store.





It was such a fun day and I think we all needed a special day with just the 3 of us!

Navy Pier

A couple of weeks ago our family of four headed to Navy Pier.  I think it is safe to say that we all had a great time!  The Children's Museum there is so fun and even Paige could enjoy herself.

Ready for some fun!





Circus Room!




















 



Firemen's Room!








Construction Room - we built a house!



Paige helped too!









Water Room!






 

 

Painting his name!




Digging for fossils in the Dinosaur Room - Luke's favorite!



After a couple of hours in the museum, we grabbed a table and ate our picnic lunch.  Luke and I were a little freaked out by the pigeons that would come right over to us.  Paige kept dropping food, and I admit I was freaking out and ate with my feet up!  After lunch, we took a walk over to the rides.




Luke has never gone on a ferris wheel and always says he doesn't like them and doesn't want to go on them.  Well, he must have had a change of heart because he really wanted to go on the ferris wheel there so he could see all of the big buildings.  Now, I am not a fan of ferris wheels.  I can do huge, upside down roller coasters, but I have never been a fan of ferris wheels.  But...Luke was insistent that we ALL go on the ride together so I sucked it up and we held on to the kids tight!  And honestly, it wasn't that bad.  We all enjoyed it!















We hit up the carousel together - Paige's first time! 





And Luke rode the lighthouse.  He is getting to be so big and brave!  You could hear his giggles as the ride went up and down.  It was awesome!












After all the fun on the rides, we headed back in to the Children's Museum to explore some more.  (I love that you can go in and out as you please!)  I thought for sure Paige would crash in her stroller for the second half, but this girl doesn't like to miss much and she was out and enjoying herself once again!

The Outdoors Room!










The Town Room!





The Invention Room - Luke was very intrigued by this computer game.  You had to figure out a way to get the monkey to his backpack in the treehouse.



Before we left, we stopped for some ice cream.  Unfortunately, Paige didn't make it.  She finally gave in to her sleepy eyes!  Good thing she doesn't know what she missed because she loves ice cream (and cupcakes and cake and cookies - ha!). 

We thought we would take a stroll along the lake, but it started raining pretty hard.  It was a gloomy overcast day and the rain finally came so we headed home.

It was a super fun family day that ended with the opening ceremony of the Olympics!