Our family had the opportunity to travel to Chicago this past week and WOW! What an experience! Sam had a week long training seminar in Schaumburg, so we decided it would be fun to go along. The kids and I planned out our activities and were so excited. Little did we realize, Chicago is really not a kid-friendly city.

The first day in Illinois, we decided to stay close to our hotel to get familiar with our surroundings. Lucky for us, Lego had a Discovery Center 1 mile away. I have to say, it was VERY pricey for what we got, even with $5 discounts on every ticket it was still over $60. However, it gave us something to do and a learning experience: Trust previous visitor reviews!

That night, we hooked up with Sam after class and went to the movies to see "Up!". We had a blast! Up until right when the movie started, we were the only people in the theater. By the end, there were only 2 other groups of people, but our kids were the only kids. Nothing like pretty much having the whole theater to yourself!

On Tuesday, we got up early to venture to downtown. Thanks to Elicia and Susie's advice, we decided to take the Metra train in. The kids loved it! We did miss the first train because we forgot to get the parking spot number to pay the meter. This, however, gave us some time to go over some rules and make plans on how 1 mom and 4 kids were going to work the adventure ahead. We had some very hilarious conversations on the train ride for that 1 hr trip. My kids were the only kids on the train, and I think Natalie was driving the business men around us crazy as she insisted on counting to 100 until she could do it by herself. We got some pretty evil eyes, but I was very proud of her. When we were almost downtown, Natalie looks up at me and asks, "Mom. What planet are we in now?" I could not help but laugh. One lady asked us where we were from, and I said, "Dallas." William, sitting next to me, tells her, "No we're not. We're from Texas." I guess we will be learning Geography next school year. LOL!

Our plan for the day was to visit the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. I thought we could just walk from Union Station to the museums since the map made it look like such a small distance. Wrong! When all was said and done, the kids and I walked, with two strollers and a bunch of stuff, 6 MILES!

They are NOT made for pedestrians! As soon as the cross-walk sign changes to "Walk", and you step foot into the road, the sign changes to "Don't Walk." The kids and I literally had to run across every road we had to cross.

The museums, however, were very worth the adventure! The Shedd was beautiful, but packed full of people. We did not enjoy the massive crowds, so we spent most of the day in the Field Museum learning about birds, animals, mummies, native cultures, and dinosaurs. Not only were the exhibits incredible, the architecture of the building was breath-taking! By the end of the day, we were EXHAUSTED! Brianna's comment to me, after much horn honking and almost getting run over on multiple occasions, "Mom, Chicago is beautiful to look at, but I prefer Texas!"

Wednesday, we decided to get a bus pass after arriving downtown, and we took the water taxi to Navy Pier. The kids really wanted to go to the Chicago Children's Museum. When entering the building, my kiddos were in heaven. We ended up staying ALL day. They learned about safety, played instruments, made fountains, created new inventions, sculpted their faces, painted mirrors, and much more. It was a blast. 12 Thumbs Up!

Thursday we spent in Schaumburg again. We went to the mall for a little while and just tried to recover from Tuesday and Wednesday.

Friday we ventured to see the Chicago Temple and took a picnic to a park in Mount somewhere. It was a nice relaxing day. The temple was really pretty, and reminded us a lot of the Dallas Temple.

The park was great, and gave the kids some much deserved time to just run around crazy with no restrictions (Other than: "Do not end up in the lake!") We were also very excited to see a whole flock of Canadian Geese and their gosslings. Brianna and Nate decided to write about them and draw them in their nature journals.

Then, it was time to get Sam from his final class and head out of town. We enjoyed the trip to an extent, but for me, I think the kids and I will be staying behind from now on when Dad goes out of town for business.