In past years we have tried to take advantage of fun, cheap things happening in Columbus on Columbus Day. But this year we decided to get out of town and take advantage of this holiday's discounts in Chicago! Since we don't have a lot of time left in Ohio, we are trying to do the things we don't think we'll get the opportunity to do once we leave.
All of our activities were centered around whatever was free! The Lincoln Park Zoo is always free, the Shedd Aquarium had free general admission on Monday and Tuesday, as well as the Adler Planetarium. There were other places we could have visited (Field Museum), that we were sad we missed, but we only had about a day and a half to get in what we wanted to do.
We left Columbus early Monday morning and went straight to the zoo!
This was the best part of our trip! The animals were so active and fun to watch! This is what greeted us when first came in: (the girls were speechless!)
After that we went to an ape and then seal "training session" (as good as a show to us!), and saw the animals we don't get to see here in Columbus: giraffes, a polar bear (coming soon to Columbus!), a dwarf hippo, a panther, a puma, a leopard, and a jaguar, plus the others that we know and love: penguins, sun bears, flamingos, rhinos, and gorillas.
The best was at the end when we stopped to watch the langurs--the little ones were chasing each other, taunting the older ones by grabbing their tails and tapping their heads, swinging away and trying to catch each other. Mierae was beside herself with laughter, and entertained the other viewers with her pure enjoyment! It was a great day at the zoo!
Afterward we walked to a restaurant recommended by staff at the zoo: Lou Malnati's Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza (Giordano's was too far away).
The girls did really well at the restaurant (even though Mierae was asking to cuddle in the middle of dinner), and we were happy to have checked off two things from our list that night.
Tuesday didn't go as well as Monday. It took us an hour and half to get into downtown to go to the aquarium, and we got to the parking lot ONE MINUTE after the early bird pricing ended!! Argh! When we got to the Aquarium we found out that not everything was free--that it was a "discount day." So to see the dolphins, sharks, and beluga whales we were so excited about was going to cost our family an extra $50. We got in to see the regular exhibits as we thought about paying the extra money, and ended up glad that we hadn't. It took us at least three hours to do just the general exhibits, and we did get in on a fish tank feeding, and saw a river otter.
The kids were tired and cranky as we left to go to the planetarium down the street. Both venues are right on the coast of Lake Michigan, so it was gorgeous, but it was freezing! (We learned that Chicago isn't called the windy city for nothing!)
When Mierae ended up pinching her thumb in the entry doors and getting a blood blister, we knew we wouldn't last much longer! We half-heartedly went through the planetarium exhibits, enjoying a few things like looking through telescopes and watching a movie about the Gemini 12.
But we were happy enough to leave and give the kids a museum break. We called our hotel for that night and found out that the pool we were counting on was actually an OUTDOOR pool! At that point, the kids having fallen asleep one minute after we left the parking lot, we decided to head home. No Children's Museum and walking Navy Pier or going to Millenium Park for us! But, it was okay. We knew we would be limited by what our kids could handle, and at least we saw the city!
The happy ending to our day was not that Eric and I were falling asleep as we were on the last leg of our trip home, but it was on our stop in Lafayette, Indiana. We found a Chick-fil-A (who doesn't love this restaurant?) that had a PLAYLAND! The kids were so excited! But what's more, it was kids' night at the restaurant, and they had a free Lowe's kid's craft for the kids to make right there, plus free kids meals with adult combo meals! We couldn't have been happier right then! (Eric even asked me after we left if he should teach at Purdue.) :)
We hope to visit Chicago again someday, but for now, we're going to stay home for a few more months. :) (Next on the list is New York!)
6 comments:
sad blood blister and blustery weather...
my favorite is the gals building their Lowe's craft.
We'll be happy to have you home again!
we love Chicago! glad you guys saw so much!
Glad you were able to get away, and that at least part of the trip went well. Yes, Chicago is SO cold and windy!!! (We went there when Ethan was 6 months old and we didn't bring anything that was warm enough.) Sorry you weren't able to do everything you were planning on originally!
You guys have all the fun don't you? Tyler wants to visit Chicago someday and go see the Cubs play. It looks like fun but a little cold. That is awesome about the lions "welcoming" you to the zoo. That rarely happens and the girls' reactions were classic. Just down right speechless like you said.
Free Kids Meals? Now that makes any parent happy right?
Jolie's hair is getting so long! I'm glad you guys were able to get away for a couple days. Chicago looks like fun!
You guys are so lucky being able to find all that free stuff all the time! You'll have to share your secret about how you do it. Daphne will be old enough in no time that we'll want to start doing things like that too I'm sure...What a fun little getaway for your family though! As always, way cute pictures! :)
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