Day 7 MOSI and the Jackson Polluck

The last two tickets in our City Pass was the infamous Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute of Chicago. Luckily the Art Institute is open late on Thursdays which worked out perfectly. The original plan was to head to the Taste of Chicago afterwards.


MOSI was huge. We got there at 11 and we left at 4. It has 3 floors filled with stuff and an extension that houses the Omnimax theatre and Space exhibit.


We toured a full size submarine, airplane and train just to give an idea of the size of this place. I gotta say when you have this volume of stuff and space. It should be laid out more organically but instead it was set up like a giant cross.


There was a play area for little ones called the Idea Factory which was great for Vivi. Lydia also liked this part but she was sort of caught between being too big for the baby area and too little for the children's factory part.


There were some great exhibits at MOSI one of my favorites was the interactive periodic table. I joked with Eliot that he's the scientist with the heart of a teacher and I'm the teacher with the heart of a scientist. The Last Reef movie was impressionably terrific but overall there wasn't anything that stood out that much. It did have a full size cafeteria and an ice cream shop. You can spend all day there easily but it will be unlikely that it would make the top of our list to visit again within the next 10 years.

We hopped a cab to Grant Park which houses the Art Institute of Chicago.

Eliot was looking at the Monets while I showed Lydia this George O'Keefe. I told her that when she was in my belly I fell in love with O'Keefe in New Mexico when we went to her museum.


Up until now every place we have been to has been interactive. People touch everything whether the children's museums or the aquarium or MOSI. It hadn't occurred to us to explain that things are a little different in here. I did mention that apparently this museum was a little quieter than others. She was okay with that whereas Vivian thought it was the perfect time to chat. Lydia had been to other art museums but she was a little younger.

We had just walked through the impressionists into contemporary art when Lydia jumped up and just poked a Jackson Polluck. Bypassed the protective wire and just poked it. Now I have to admit I have almost done such a thing once or twice with great art specifically in Europe, when I've just wanted to eat it up the magnificence. We explained to Lydia that we don't touch and explained to her why. Telling her that the art was one or kind and precious and can not be changed in any way or it wouldn't be quite so special any more. She was embarrassed and hide in her stroller.

Eliot and I chuckled later that Lydia had just touched a painting valued over 50 million dollars without even a hesitation.

We moved into another contemporary art room and it was a bit more progressive. We walked into a dark room with only a small desk and a laptop playing a short scheme of a student studying. Once again Lydia leaped up and went to touch it but we interceded this time. The guard laughed out loud as we explained to Lydia that it was art but she looked at us like we were nuts. Surely thinking we have a laptop at home, why is this art?

As we walked around I asked her what pictures she likes and which she doesn't. Explaining art is different for everyone. We arrived at the design and architecture area and things are on platforms. We saw a funky chair. I said "look Lydia that's a chair and add quickly but we don't sit on it." She looked at me and says "that's not a chair it's a clam"(Pictured below)





By the end she was taking notes on the audio tour. We saw some famous classics like the American Gothic by Wood, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Serat and Wheatstacks by Monet.





After 8 hours of museums we were exhausted. We skipped the Taste of Chicago headed back to the hotel to regroup. We rested for about 30 minutes and then took a short stroll to Jack Melricks for the Chicago's Best Wings voted 3 years in a row. Our second visit there this week but definitely awesome taste of Chicago.

Tomorrow Milwaukee!

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Day 6 Fish, Deep Dish and Fireworks!

The morning was divine after a full night sleep by everyone. Not being real particular about maintaining nap schedules there are a few more baby break downs than normal. Thus we decided to take a cab to The Shedd Aquarium for an easy trip there and then hoping for naps on our jaunt back which worked out perfectly.



At this point Eliot and I have visited 4 aquariums through our travels. My favorites are usually the same jelly fish, sea horses and turtles, but I have to admit that in also enjoy seeing some giant spectacular creatures that make you feel awe over the creations of the universe, this is why people like Shark Week because it's crazy and cool all wrapped up into none. I'm not sure the Shedd did this well.



We saw a 4D Dora and Diego movie that both girls loved and then we went to the aquatic show that was super lame. There was a dog doing tricks, seriously, I like dogs and all but not really the show I'm looking for at the aquarium. Being from Florida perhaps I see more sea life doing flips and such than an average middle American but come on, a huge disappointment. The layout was not organic at all to follow but I will say that I enjoyed our final look at the aquariums from around the world.



We walked to the Sears tower now known as the Willis Tower on our way we stopped at the largest circulating library in the US. We like libraries. The girls napped while we walked. Our City Pass got us a fast pass through the hour wait at the Tower which meant we didn't wait even a minute. I hate heights but I love these landmarks. My ears are still popping from being 103 floors up!



We swung by to see Cousin Sarah at work and then stop in at Due Pizzeria which was established in 1945. We had a couple of beers and a couple of deep dish pies and it was the best pizza. It was divine and not overly greasy at all as my previous experience with thick crust has been.









From there we took off to the Navy Pier for Summer fireworks which the girls loved and so did we. One of my most favorite things are fireworks.

Vivian fell asleep so we walked around and found a local band covering some covers. We stop for a short bit to let Lydia rock out at bit.

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Day 5 The Field and The Bean

Once upon a time there was a lush green field and it grew a precious jewel of a bean, but this isn't the story in Chicago. We walked to Millennium Park which was an incredible green space to take our request tourist Bean pictures. We took a zillion, here is the one I like of the girls being exactly their age. Not sure why I try to get them to look the same direction every time but I can't help it. I love a perpetual challenge I suppose.




Afterwards we had a couple Chicago dogs and Strawberry Limeade and strolled through the rest of the park down to Museum Campus.




Just as a light sprinkle was threatening to start we popped into The Field Museum of Natural History. It was a nice museum, however I will lay it on the table that I don't care much for museums of old stuff dug up or ultimately stolen from a native group of people out on display as our, white people, way of repenting for the atrocities of yesteryear. It also is lost on me the thrill of seeing dead stuffed animals lined up behind glass, to me a magnificent museum is filled with art. Art is the truest reflection of the human spirit and it touches me to the depth of my soul when I look at a giant oil painting that looks so real and intricate that you can imagine the drop of sweat the painter dripped on the edge while creating it. You can almost smell the effort and passion that is shaped out of stone. That to me is worth admiring, so now that that is all out there, The Field was a nice museum not as nice the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan but still a nice museum.




We purchased the City Pass we hope to make good use of it in the next couple of days. Just at The Field it was worth it because apparently they nickel and dime you normally for a series of special exhibits.




One of them being the underground adventure which was sort of neat because you had to walk through a couple of rooms with funky mirrors which were supposed to represent you shrinking to tiny size which I think Lydia was a little worried about until she realized that we had not actually shrunk.




These pictures are contraband because not only are they additional charged exhibits but no pictures can be taken. However I took the calculated chance with no flash to capture this iridescent moment.




My favorite areas was the exhibit on Senegal where I learned there are no jungles in Africa and I liked a good portion of the Americas because they has a lot of cool looking totem polls.




We hopped a cab back and rested for a short bit before we had dinner at the rainforest café which I have to say was really cool for kids. We wore frog hats, had a rainforest scavenger hunt, sat next to an aquarium where every fish was named Nemo and every time someone ordered a specific dessert the servers would parade out and scream VOLCANO! It may seem nutty and it was, but Lydia loved it! She ate a good portion of her dinner in that chaos which was a delightful surprise. Afterwards the girls fell asleep on the walk home and we strolled down the Magnificent Mile for some casual window shopping.




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Day 4 Windy City

The girls have a cold. We started out the morning by going to an urgent care office because little Vivi simultaneously sounded like a trucker and has no voice. Nothing worse than a horse baby. The doctors were great they checked out Lydia too whose prognosis was that she was on the mend and that Vivi simply because she's smaller may need some antibiotics in a couple of days if she doesn't feel better. They gave us a script which actually will take until tomorrow to fill because the med is so new that no one has it in stock.




Afterwards we had a little lunch and walked to the Navy Pier. Chicago has all the coolness of a big city and the warmth of the Midwest. We have really enjoyed it. We popped into yet another children's museum. This one definitely had several unique exhibits but not as much as other places.
Lydia and Eliot built houses for a bit while Vivi napped.




Later on in the Spring Meadow area Vivi woke up and found herself in a lily pad.




Lydia drove a tractor.




Vivi went fishing.




After the discovery fun we walked around the Navy Pier. Enjoyed the views over Lake Michigan.




Then our favorite Midwesterners on their way home from their own epic road trip vacation decided to meet up with us for a quick visit. The kids ran around and splashed in the fountain.




I hadn't packed a bathing suit in our backpack and Lydia insisted on having one. So I threw on her Vivian's onesie that I had tucked away. Lydia is so slender I knew that wouldn't be a problem but I was surprised it fit height wise.




Sarah Gaurkee, Eliot's cousin whose a student in Chicago met up with us and we went to dinner together. We love her spirit of travel and adventure and youth. It was so great to catch up with her. Sadly we missed our photo op with her but we plan to visit her at work to make up for it.
Vivi and I left dinner early because Vivi had had it. She was cranky and sleepy and needed to cuddle up and go night night, which is exactly what we did.




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Road Trip 2013 Day 3 Enough!!!

Vivian has completely lost her patience. Everything I give her to entertain her has been thrown to the official Vivian No Man's Land space between her seat and the door. Nothing makes her happy these are the items I have tried that I remember but there could be more.



1. Blankety
2. Sesame Street book 1
3. Banana
4. Sesame Street book 2
5. Empty water bottle
6. Stacking cups
7.Sesame Street book 3
8. Full water bottle
9. Straw
10. Bottle
11. Sippy cup
12. Eliot's cell
13. Cookie
14. Cereal
15. Abby caddy figure
16. B Bugs
17. Lydia's doll
18. Mermaid
19. Another book
20. Baby face book
21. Cereal container
22. ??



On the other side after watching 4 movies, snacking, and playing Lydia has also reached her height of car time. She on the other hand isn't a discarder but rather a hoarder. Every time I look over she pulling something else out of her seat. Whether princesses or pretzels she's set for toys and snacks at least she is self sufficient. At the moment she is working on her original monologue entitled "why mommy doesn't eat the lion?"


The last time we did a major road trip we never drove more than 5 hours today we have driven almost 10. There was an accident in Indiana that rendered us motionless for at least a full hour. I even unbuckled Vivian and changed her diaper.



Finally, the magic combination for Vivian was the return of her beloved mouse blanket and then her bottle. She clapped with joy. When she was done she threw both items back over the edge.


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