Chicago

Once Christmas and New Year were over, it was hard to keep staying home from school every day.  The older two didn't mind but Christian and Peter and I were going a bit stir crazy.  "We should go somewhere," Christian suggested.  "Where should we go?" I asked.  "Let's go to Chicago!" he suggested on a whim.  Suggesting to me that we should go explore a big city is like suggesting to Kelly that we should go motorcycling. It takes very little persuasion.  Within 24 hours I had the hotel booked and the 3 day itinerary planned.  I couldn't convince the older two to come along, but the three of us (sadly Kelly had to work) had a blast.

The only thing Christian knew about Chicago was "The Bean,"  aka Cloud Gate in Millennium Park.  So we had to go there.  He was so cute there.  He had imagined the bean the size of a couch, so when he saw the size, he was like a little kid at Christmas with his amazement.  This entire trip Peter refused to smile or hold still for a picture.  He would run away, make faces, hide his face, etc. etc.  So it kind of looks like Christian was alone on this trip, but look for the black and white camo jacket in pictures.  Kind of like "Where's Waldo," you can try to find him.

In the winter they have outdoor ice skating there, so we watched that for a while.  Peter loved that, so much that he forgot to run from the camera.

We got a membership to the Field museum while we were there so that we could go for a little while each day and so I can get in free to the museums around here (deal made between science museums).  That was perfect because the subway was a direct line from our hotel to the museum and so we spent a couple hours there each day and Peter never got overwhelmed.  It was so full of interesting things, like the giant t-rex Sue, special exhibits on animals colors, Egyptian mummies, and whole areas of hands-on-stuff for kids.  Plus, with its location out on the peninsula in lake Michigan, the skyline views from there were fantastic.

                                                    

We also took the bus to the Lincoln park zoo.  Fantastic zoo.  I can't believe it's free!  So fun to spend the morning there.

We rode the city bus along Michigan avenue too see the shopping district (Miracle Mile), walked along Lake Michigan, swam in the hotel pool every day (although Peter hates swimming so he only played on the edge), had sushi and deep dish pizza to our hearts' content, walked around at night to see everything lit up, rode the L (the elevated train) just for fun, and almost got caught up in a drug deal on the subway! haha!

(Notice Peter's decapitated body?  He pushed his face up in the cover so I couldn't get a picture of him.  Little stinker.)

It was a great trip and we're so happy we went.  It was Christian's first time in an American big city and he was really educated on some of the aspects of life that he wasn't aware of - how the homeless and dirt poor live right among the richest of the rich, how packed and high everything is - Detroit skyline and downtown are NOTHING compared to Chicago, and he got quite good at navigating public transportation.  I think he could have learned it quite well if we'd had a few more days.  We also got to interact with a lot of different people which varied greatly from his usual white suburban neighbors and he did very well.  He's an adventurous, enthusiastic kid and he's a lot of fun to take places because he's always up for adventure and fun, and he never complains about something being boring or too far or too hard.