2018 :: week 23

May 27

Sunday was my 35th birthday, and Sunday birthdays are a mixed bag. Tony was gone from 8:30-5:30pm and the nursery was extra hot and humid, so it was no different than any other Sunday in that regard. We ate dinner at my parents' house, and feasted on salmon, beans, corn and rice. My dad made his famous apple crisp for dessert and carefully put 35 candles on top. He was lucky he didn't get burned trying to light them all! Age is such a funny thing. I'm clearly not a young adult, but don't feel like I've quite hit middle age. Doesn't middle age depends on how old you live to be? Whatever it is I feel like I am at a sweet spot in life. I still feel young and have energy to do things with my kids, but am wise enough (or at least have enough life experience) to not sweat the small stuff. I found this post I wrote ten years ago right before I turned 25 and it made me smile remembering . Oddly enough we went to Chicago ten years ago too!

May 28

The neighborhood pool opened Sunday and the kids really wanted to go. They understand why we don't go to the pool on Sundays, but it didn't help that it was very hot and several friends texted to see if we were going. It was a good opportunity to reiterate what we do and don't do on Sundays. On Monday afternoon the kids were chomping at the bit to go swimming. After we went to the ward Memorial Day picnic we headed over for our first swim of the season. Due to a horrific accident at a local water park the state recently amended its safety regulations about water slides, etc. At our local pool they removed the high dive and replaced it with a low dive (now there are two low dives) and require you to be 48 inches tall to use the slide. The kids were very bummed when they found out about the changes, but with a few days to process the news they're doing okay.

May 29

In the morning we did all our chores in preparation for our trip to Chicago. In the afternoon we were back at our happy place! It has been fun going to the pool this year now that Lauren knows the other kids her age in our neighborhood and Elliott likes being in the water.

May 30

Wednesday morning we got up early and caught the train to Chicago! Tony had a conference to attend and the kids and I decided to tag along. We had talked about taking a trip via train for years and this seemed to be the perfect opportunity. Due to a few delays en route we arrived just in time for rush-hour, which made getting to our hotel more stressful than anticipated. We walked by Millenium Park to check out the Bean (Cloud Gate) and then went to Giordano's for some delicious deep-dish pizza. It started to rain while we were eating so we took an uber back to our hotel, then Tony took Will and Lauren swimming at our hotel. I was disappointed we weren't able to walk along the Riverwalk like we planned, but the kids were excited to get to go swimming and take a dip in the hot tub.

May 31

Thursday was a busy day. While Tony was at his conference the kids and I went to the Field Museum.  It was very similar to the Museum of Natural History that we visited in Washington DC with the kids last fall and they kept wanting to see things we saw there. They are both in large marble buildings with exhibits featuring hundreds of taxidermy animals. The highlight of the trip was the thirty minutes we spent in the music room in the Crown Family Play Lab (geared for kids 6 and under). There were drums and other instruments from around the world and the kids rocked out! In the afternoon we checked out of our hotel and checked in to our Airbnb. That night we hit up the Navy Pier. On Thursday evenings the Chicago Children's Museum (located on the pier) is free. The kids had so much fun! Once we finished dinner we only had an hour and a half to play and we stayed for every last minute. After the museum closed we debated between riding a few rides or going on a water tour. After much debate we decided to ride the rides. Will and I rode the swings while Anthony rode the carousel. It was a perfect summer evening!

June 1

The temperature dropped about twenty degrees overnight between Thursday and Friday. We had planned on going to the Willis Tower, zoo and beach, but with the significantly cooler weather we changed plans. The Willis Tower was a no-go because the cloud cover meant zero visibility and we didn't have warm enough clothes to visit the zoo or beach. Instead, we spent the morning at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was awesome! If you have kids and are traveling to Chicago and can only go to one museum this is the museum I would recommend. Lots of inviting, interesting kid-friendly exhibits. Our favorites were the U-505 submarine, the science of storms, train station, farms and heading west. After the museum we found an Old Navy and stopped by to buy long sleeved shirts. When I was packing for the trip the weather was forecasted to be in the 80s and 90s. That evening we went to a Chicago White Sox game. Poor Elliott was exhausted and slept through most of it.

June 2

Saturday we were all exhausted. We packed a lot into our three days in addition to staying up past our bedtime each night. We slept in a bit, cleaned our airbnb and then played at Harrison Park for a few hours. The kids had fun climbing and swinging and running around. Lauren worked on her monkey bar skills and Elliott got filthy. We checked to see if the Willis Tower had any visibility and they didn't, so we took a water taxi on the Chicago River--which was extremely windy--to pass our final minutes in Chicago before heading to Union Station to board our train home. The ride home was faster than the ride out (hallelujah!). We had a great trip with lots of adventure--riding the train, relying solely on public transportation and uber to get around town, and staying in an airbnb in a less-frequented part of town.