Shedd Aquarium

Last week, the Colorado Gorschs were here for a visit. This summer we were blessed with free family passes to the Shedd Aquarium, but couldn't squeeze into their July visit... We decided to save it for this visit instead. Last Monday we loaded up (our pilot and our truck!) and headed to the windy city. We had great weather (at least for the beginning of the day...) We spent over 6 hours in the aquarium exploring. We took a break for our picnic lunch and spent sometime outside looking at the lake and the city skyline. We enjoyed the dolphin show and explored some more until it was time to go. We wanted to try a walk downtown, but by the time we left it was pouring rain (and we had some tired, cranky kiddos!) Instead we sat in traffic for a very long hour and made it to Cracker Barrel where we were promptly seated right by the fireplace-yeah! It was such a fun day!

(The above picture was the best we could get of all 5 kids! It was fun to see Jaren's excitement at seeing the skyline. It was also fun to watch the kids wrestle on the pavement--I think some other tourists enjoyed this spectacle as well! With Uncle Nathan's help, they created a "wrestling move" called "The Dirty Diaper"--it was frequently requested for the rest of the week.)

Waiting in line at the entrance...

The kids were excited to find fish right away--Emmy's request was a polka dot fish! I was excited (and thankful) to have Aunt Cori's help wearing Macey!

Macey loved exploring the different types of coral that were on the walls. Jaren's question: "Are these real corals that have been preserved or models that feel like real coral?" I love his love of learning!

Sitting down to watch the dolphin show. Shedd was doing a dress rehearsal of their Christmas show to open later in the week... complete with dancing girls (not so thrilling), Christmas songs, a dancing frosty, parading penguins (live ones--that was fun!), and Santa descending from the ceiling riding in a boat. Kinnick was so excited to see Santa. He kept saying "Santa on a boat!" all day (and continues to say it!) The only downfall--this was his first time seeing Santa this season and he now gets mad when Santa is not on a boat! We have tried to tell him that Santa rides on a sleigh and he furrows his eyebrows and exclaims "No, Santa on a boat!"

In the last 2 years, they've done lots of renovations at the Shedd--including a big "Polar Play Zone" in the lower level. There were lots of interactive exhibits. This was perfect b/c we went here last and it really helped keep the kids attention as they were getting tired.

Here Sadie is telling her dad how she got to touch a real live starfish... The starfish incident went something like this :

Museum Man: "Touch the starfish lightly with 2 fingers, do not try to move it." (Complete with demonstration)
Me: "Look Sadie this is how you touch it." (Complete with demonstration)

Sadie: "Like this?" (Picking up the starfish and giving it a toss)

The museum man was so flustered he didn't say anything. I promptly grabbed Sadie's hand and said, "Time to look at something else!"

Kinnick snoozed his way through the polar play zone...

They had a very fun penguin play area!

Sadie refused to put on the penguin costume, but enjoyed the sliding and climbing fun.

Playing in the submarine...

Looking at the beluga whale--they were fascinated!

When we left, it was pouring rain. We rain (as fast as we could with 5 children) back to the parking garage... best pic of the day, soaking wet!