We had a late arrival in Chicago due to train delays but hit the ground running on Sunday. Our first days in the City were filled with visits to the great museums.
This type of museum is Leo's happy spot - he loves seeing all of the critters from bugs to the Lions of Tsavo.
My parents have an old picture of me from back in 1981 in front of these Field Museum elephants. Love to see my own kiddos in the same place.
There is just so much to see from exotic animals...
...to creatures we see every day!
We appreciated all of the stuffed things and the tributes to birds and animals that are no longer with us.
We stopped at a Trader Joe's on our way to the museum and brought in a lil picnic lunch to enjoy with the elephant seals.
The Field Museum is over a hundred years old and it is the most beautiful building. On this day they had a high school orchestra playing in the lobby.
We all smiled at our daily photos of Ranger!
The Storm kiddos had a special treat at the museum - they hopped on a Virtual Reality ride. Everyone gave this experience 2 thumbs up.
Next up - a pivot to dinosaur land!
Look at these giant jaws!
Stegosaurus for the win!
T Rex is always a favorite.
Of course we said hello to Sue.
Here is our Lucy - one of our favorite modern humans by Lucy the early hominid.
Here is our entire crew! Love visiting the Field.
It was the very end of March so we were just starting to see some early flowers and buds on trees pop up. Springtime in the city is the best.
You can't visit Chicago without a stop for pizza! Yum!
Our hotel was just down the street from the most delightful French bakery.
We did have a free breakfast at the hotel but it was spring break, full of guests and a total zoo each morning so you better believe that we popped by this establishment a couple of times! It made us even more eager for our upcoming trip to France. :)
On Monday morning we zipped to the South side of the City and visited the Museum of Science and Industry.
The children loved the hands-on approach at this museum.
Our first activity of the day was a tour of the U-505 German Submarine. It was very interesting!
This was a highlight for Grandpa Ken too as he is fascinated with all things WWII.
Let's just say that the sub was a tight squeeze, cannot even imagine how cramped these quarters much have felt to the German soldiers who once lived down here for months at a time! Eeks. There were only 2 bathrooms and 1 of them was actually designated as a pantry for the first half of the trip so all of these dudes were stuck with just one toilet. Wowza.
Leo pretended to drive the sub - Jesus take the wheel!
10 out of 10 recommend this exhibit - just very well done and so informative!
One new exhibit that we were not aware of until we arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry was Crafting Character - The Costumes of Paul Tazewell. The big kids were pumped as this guy was the designer for many Hamilton and Wicked costumes.
How cool to see these in person. That mannequin on the left was Thomas Jefferson and the right is Hamilton. The purple suit was inspired by Prince and makes Jefferson a rockstar while the green suit was supposed to symbolize Hamilton's ambition + rise to power. The money-green color is for his financial genius and eventual role as the first Secretary of the Treasury.
You know that Leo adores all things King George. ;)
And don't forget about Wicked! So fun!
Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled museum programming of airplanes,
Engine viewing,
And trains!
This was the Storm kids' first time to the Science & Industry Museum and they were huge fans. They said that it was even better than the Field!
Great museums - happy kids!
Chicago Trip Part 2 post coming soon. :)
