Our first stop was The City Museum in St. Louis. We spent the afternoon there letting the kids climb in and through various places, running up and down ramps and sliding down several story tall slides. At one point Megan went into a crawl space and came up in the middle of an aquarium. She was startled by a large fish swimming by.
After the City Museum we drove over the mighty Mississippi River.
After spending the night in Decatur IL, we drove the rest of the way into Chicago. It was a very rainy trip. At one point Megan needed to use the restroom so we pulled off at the next exit and lo and behold we had turned onto Route 66! We finally made it to Chicago around lunchtime. We check into our hotel and then took the L into downtown for some sight seeing and the best pizza there is.
While we were downtown, another rain storm hit and gave us some spectacular views over the lake. The kids got to touch the lake at one point. After the lake view, we headed over to the Maggie Daily park for some fun and then PIZZA!
The next day started out at the Shedd Aquarium. WOW this place was AMAZING!! They had a baby Beluga Whale that wasn't even a month old yet. We had tickets to their special presentation featuring dolphins, a sea lion and a penguin. Everything was so neat and clean and the animals were simply amazing.
After the aquarium, we took a boat taxi over to Navy Pier where we boarded a different boat for a tour of the city lakeside. It was quite chilly out on the water with the wind blowing, but we had a fantastic time.
The next day we met up with my cousin Lise and got a personal tour of the Chicago Art Museum. Josh was awed by the armory, especially the cannon. I, of course, loved the horse armor.
After we said Goodbye to Lise, we hiked over to see the Chicago Bean. It was so shiny!! Megan had seen the accordion buses and had wanted to ride one. Lucky for her, the bus we took to the Hancock Building was one. She was one happy gal. We got side tracked at a mall where there was a huge Lego sculpture. After we got back on track we headed up to the 94th floor of the Hancock Building. The views were amazing. You could see Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin! Megan and Mark did the Tilt experience where you stand in a special window that tilts you out 30 degrees. NO THANK YOU!!
After we left the tower, we walked the Magnificent Mile. We stopped in several stores along the way. The kids loved Dylan's Candy Shop. Two floors of sweet, sugary candy!
The following day was spent entirely at The Field Museum. We got to see Maximo, the new Titanasaur. We also got to see Sue, the Tyrannosaurs Rex in her new home in the museum. There was so much to see there and we didn't even see all of it.
The next day we spent entirely at The Museum of Science and Industry. I remembered going there as a young child. The current exhibits were amazing. Again, we didn't get to see all of it before we ran out of time.
Our last day in Chicago held several different activities. First we went to the Sears Tower and went up to the 103rd floor. It was way more crowded than the Hancock building was! After we came back down we went to a beach so Josh and Megan could swim in the lake. After a short, chilly swim, be packed up and went to see the Blue Man Group. They were pretty amazing.