{"id":322,"date":"2016-06-27T13:41:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/27\/fun-with-family-in-chicago\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T02:46:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T02:46:23","slug":"fun-with-family-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/27\/fun-with-family-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun With The Family In Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chicago<\/a><\/div>\n

I think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. \u00a0Maybe a vacation by a pool or a beach with someone to bring me food, drinks, and books at regular intervals. \u00a0Instead, I am home with five million loads of laundry to do and an empty fridge. \u00a0Such is life.<\/p>\n

Basically, this vacation was for the kids. \u00a0After my husband’s family left we started on a mad dash of doing everything the kids wanted in the city. \u00a0We had made a lot of promises about things we would do when next we went to Chicago and the kids remembered every one of those promises. \u00a0It was a lot of fun to see them having so much fun.<\/p>\n

Our daughter’s top pick was the zoo. \u00a0She loves animals and the zoo makes her happy. \u00a0I know many people are not crazy about zoos and the idea of animals in captivity but, like so many things, there are two sides to every story. \u00a0Zoos also do a lot for endangered animals and they can be very educational. \u00a0Brookfield zoo is a particularly nice zoo with large enclosures for the animals and a huge emphasis on providing mental stimulation for the animals.<\/p>\n

\"bear<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"penguins\"<\/a><\/div>\n

One of the highlights of our zoo trip was when we were given the opportunity to feed one of the animals. \u00a0Our daughter was being very amused by a gerenuk, a type of long-necked antelope. \u00a0It kept trying to eat the fence and she was laughing and making a big fuss over the animal. \u00a0One of the zoo employees saw her, we were the only ones by that enclosure, and he stopped and asked if we would like to give the gerenuk a treat. \u00a0He took us into the employee-only section of the enclosure and told us a bit about the animals and let us hand feed the gerenuk. \u00a0Both kids were thrilled. \u00a0Actually, my husband and I were thrilled too.<\/p>\n

\"feeding<\/a><\/div>\n
\"feeding<\/a><\/div>\n

Our son requested a trip to the aquarium. \u00a0He loves the ocean and ocean animals. \u00a0The Shedd aquarium is very nice but the lines to get in were insane. \u00a0Once we were in many of the exhibits were very crowded as well. \u00a0Still, it was a hit with the kids.<\/p>\n

\"aquarium\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"aquarium\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"girl<\/a><\/div>\n

On the third day the kids asked to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. \u00a0This was hugely successful. \u00a0It has always been one of my husband’s favorite museums in the city and he greatly enjoyed showing it to the kids. \u00a0I think we spent over five hours there and did not manage to see everything. \u00a0There are displays on weather, on the human body, and on airplanes. \u00a0There is a replica of a coal mine and a huge model train display. \u00a0There is a mirror maze which freaked me out. \u00a0I followed my son through the whole thing. \u00a0He thought I was crazy and he insisted on doing it a second time. \u00a0I kept imagining how perfect it would be for a murderer. \u00a0Maybe I read too many books. \u00a0There is an exhibit on space and you can tour a submarine. \u00a0The list just goes on and on.<\/p>\n

\"Museum<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Museum<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Museum<\/a><\/div>\n

Chicago has some fantastic activities and the kids had a wonderful time. However, I do think it is a little ridiculous how much these things cost. \u00a0Most of them have a base price and then you add on other activities once you get in. \u00a0Then you also have to add parking and food. And don’t forget the gift shops around every corner. I can easily see how the price could be prohibitive for many families. \u00a0I think that is unfortunate.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get much reading done while we were gone. \u00a0We were just too busy doing other things. \u00a0I had hoped to come across a few bookstores but that did not happen either. \u00a0It is getting harder and harder to find bookstores these days. \u00a0There seem to be a few big chains but that is it. \u00a0I find that unfortunate as well. \u00a0I will leave you with a picture of the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. \u00a0I know it isn’t a great picture but it is the best I could do while stopped at a red light. \u00a0Chicago traffic is crazy. \u00a0Don’t you wish this was your library?<\/p>\n

\"Harold<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. \u00a0Maybe a vacation by a pool or a beach with someone to bring me food, drinks, and books at regular intervals. \u00a0Instead, I am home with five million loads of laundry to do and an empty fridge. \u00a0Such is life. Basically, this vacation was for the kids. \u00a0After my husband’s family left we started on a mad dash of doing everything the kids wanted in the city. \u00a0We had made a lot of promises about things we would do when next we went to Chicago and the kids remembered every one of those promises. \u00a0It was a lot of fun to see them having so much fun. Our daughter’s top pick was the zoo. \u00a0She loves animals and the zoo makes her happy. \u00a0I know many people are not crazy about zoos and the idea of animals in captivity but, like so many things, there are two sides to every story. \u00a0Zoos also do a lot for endangered animals and they can be very educational. \u00a0Brookfield zoo is a particularly nice zoo with large enclosures for the animals and a huge emphasis on providing mental stimulation for the animals. One of the highlights of our zoo trip was when we were given the opportunity to feed one of the animals. \u00a0Our daughter was being very amused by a gerenuk, a type of long-necked antelope. \u00a0It kept trying to eat the fence and she was laughing and making a big fuss over the animal. \u00a0One of the zoo employees saw her, we were the only ones by that enclosure, and he stopped and asked if we would like to give the gerenuk a treat. \u00a0He took us into the employee-only section of the enclosure and told us a bit about the animals and let us hand feed the gerenuk. \u00a0Both kids were thrilled. \u00a0Actually, my husband and I were thrilled too. Our son requested a trip to the aquarium. \u00a0He loves the ocean and ocean animals. \u00a0The Shedd aquarium is very nice but the lines to get in were insane. \u00a0Once we were in many of the exhibits were very crowded as well. \u00a0Still, it was a hit with the kids. On the third day the kids asked to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. \u00a0This was hugely successful. \u00a0It has always been one of my husband’s favorite museums in the city and he greatly enjoyed showing it to the kids. \u00a0I think we spent over five hours there and did not manage to see everything. \u00a0There are displays on weather, on the human body, and on airplanes. \u00a0There is a replica of a coal mine and a huge model train display. \u00a0There is a mirror maze which freaked me out. \u00a0I followed my son through the whole thing. \u00a0He thought I was crazy and he insisted on doing it a second time. \u00a0I kept imagining how perfect it would be for a murderer. \u00a0Maybe I read too many books. \u00a0There is an exhibit on space and you can tour a submarine. \u00a0The list just goes on and on. Chicago has some fantastic activities and the kids had a wonderful time. However, I do think it is a little ridiculous how much these things cost. \u00a0Most of them have a base price and then you add on other activities once you get in. \u00a0Then you also have to add parking and food. And don’t forget the gift shops around every corner. I can easily see how the price could be prohibitive for many families. \u00a0I think that is unfortunate. I didn’t get much reading done while we were gone. \u00a0We were just too busy doing other things. \u00a0I had hoped to come across a few bookstores but that did not happen either. \u00a0It is getting harder and harder to find bookstores these days. \u00a0There seem to be a few big chains but that is it. \u00a0I find that unfortunate as well. \u00a0I will leave you with a picture of the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. \u00a0I know it isn’t a great picture but it is the best I could do while stopped at a red light. \u00a0Chicago traffic is crazy. \u00a0Don’t you wish this was your library?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2820,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/2820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}