Thornburg Family Chicago Vacation Day 2

(If you want to start at the beginning, go here: Day 1.) 

So after a somewhat rough night getting our kiddos used to sleeping in a hotel, we got up and started the day quite early on Thursday.  Andrew got up and said, "I'm going to breakfast with the kids."  I said, Alright?? He did not realize that it was 5:50 am Chicago time.  They hadn't even opened the continental breakfast yet!  Whoa, time change. 

 After breakfast, we headed out.  We decided to go to Navy Pier and take a ferry to the Shedd Aquarium.  While we waited on our ferry, we rode the famous Ferris Wheel.  Now I'm not afraid of heights, I'm just deathly afraid of falling.  This ferris wheel definitely freaked me out a little.  It is SO HUGE. 

 The kids loved it.  They have no fear.  #ferriswheelselfie

The day was beautiful! It made for excellent pictures.

 Everything was extra bright and very cool looking.

 The skyline looked especially brilliant that day.

 

After we got off the ferris wheel, we watched the swings for a bit.  

For some reason, this was a big hit with Charlotte.  She couldn't get enough of these swings!! She LOVED them.

 Just look at her face!! She was mesmerized!

 Tommy and I went on the Merry Go Round.  #merrygoroundselfie

As we left Navy Pier, we checked out this cool fountain.  Tommy said this is the biggest fountain I've ever seen!! Ha!  

 It was finally time for the ferry.  Tommy enjoyed the boat ride.

 #familyboatselfie 

 More skyline pics! SUCH a beautiful day!!

We met up with Aunt Cait and headed to the Shedd Aquarium.  Andrew and Tommy walked around like this for awhile before I realized that we really need to buy him pants that fit. 

 We got a CityPass and it gave us entry to the Jellyfish exhibit.  Wow. Those are just the coolest creatures. 

 Charlotte was sleeping so I had to keep her moving or else she would wake up.  It was a quick trip through the jellyfish for me.  But I still thought it was super cool.

 Tommy loved seeing the baby belugas so much that he couldn't stop to smile for a picture.  

 Charlotte woke up in time to check out the coral reef exhibit. 

Charlotte also loved playing with Tommy's toy named Chompy. :) 

 After the aquarium, we took a walk around it and got a family picture.  Photo credit to Aunt Cait.

 I had to take a picture of the skyline as they were walking.  Seriously, we couldn't have asked for better weather.

This is a statue outside Shedd.  Apparently Mr. Shedd had THAT kind of relationship with fish.  Hmm...

We walked to the Field Museum from there to see the dino bones.  I fed Charlotte out front and this was my view.  PUBLIC NURSING, OMG.  But that's why I have lots of blankets and scarves where ever I go.  It was tricky but it worked.

 After a busy day, we came back and went swimming again.  This picture cracks me up.

 This picture also cracks me up.  Charlotte uses her middle finger like her first finger and it's hilarious.  Everything she touches, she uses her middle finger.  It's so strange.  I love it.

 I sent this picture to my mom and said, "We go all out to take our kids on a family vacation and all they want to do is swim in the pool."  I believe I was preaching to the choir. :-)
Also, with the wind blowing and temps being 65-70, we didn't think about sunburns but they happened.  Boo. :( Lesson learned. 

 That night, we thought it would be a good idea to take the kids to the Hard Rock Cafe.  That's a kid-friendly place that would cater to food allergies, we thought.  But we failed to remember that it's the Hard ROCK Cafe and they play music insanely loud.  Our kids did not like this.  

Charlotte handled it ok.  As long as I kept feeding her baby food, she was good.

 However, Tommy wasn't too happy with the atmosphere.  This was the only picture I got of him. :) They did handle his food allergies wonderfully though.

Sidenote: Andrew and I each got a 12 oz 312 beer (local Chicago beer).  Guess how much those beers were?
Those beers, I kid you not, were $12.50 each.  OUCH.  I had half a beer left and Andrew goes, "You better drink that! That's 6 dollars worth of beer!"  Ugh.  Not a good choice for dinner.  Lesson learned here too.

 After dinner, we walked around watched the boats on the river.  The kids really liked that. 

Day 2 was mostly a success! On to Day 3!