Chicago Day 2: Double Decker & 1/2 Billion Dollar Park

Our second day in Chicago was probably my favorite. How could it not be? I woke up to Nation doing a naked window dance for all neighbors.

I'll just keep it real. Below is a picture of what happens when you have to wait for the Chicago On/Off sight seeing bus. We didn't know how using a stroller would be so we decided to use two baby carriers [Ergo & Boba] for the younger two and let Nation walk. 

I think we put in about 12 hours of kid carrying that day. What a work out. Using the [already paid for] bus for three days proved to be an easy way to get around the city instead of paying for a taxi. If it was less than a 2 miles though we usually just walked.

We learned lots of interesting things about Chicago...even if we did hear them a few times [a few different ways] from a few different tour guides.

Did you know Chicago isn't called the "windy city" because of it's wind?

Did you know Chicago stands for smelly onion?

Did you know Chicago is home to the first of many things, including McDonald's and Dunkin Donut's?

Did you know that innocent [boat tour] tourists like myself once had 800 lbs of Dave Matthew's Band poop dumped on them when DMB emptied their septic tank on a bridge in downtown Chicago? Don't feel too sorry for them, they won the case for 6,000,000.

Naptime on the big red bus.
Our family of 5 owned the back row on the top deck.

Navy Pier is the largest tourist attraction in all of Illinois. Once home to the world's first ferris wheel. It use to be so large it took 2 hours to go all the way around, and each cart had a mini bar.

We had lunch at the "world famous" Billy Goat's. Which turns out to be a burger shack that isn't so world famous I think. Turns out, it's just a place that brags they don't serve coke & fries. We had ice cream to redeem the meal.

My ice cream

Funny mirror showing me rocking the side pony tail. I try not to, but with a baby on back that sucks your hair...it's a must.

Solomon walked a lot, but sometimes we carried him if he got tired.

This park was fabulous. And it should be, they spent 1/2 billion to make it.

This tall water screen [Crown Fountain] randomly shows a persons face and then water shoots out from their mouth. Fun for the kids, creepy if you ask me.

Everyone calls it The Bean, but it's really called the Cloud Gate.

I'm not sure what I was doing

This happens a lot...running, falling, fighting, wrestling.

If only Moses looked

We finished the night with the playground & a quick dinner.

One thing I felt we did well was knowing when to call it a day. To avoid major melt downs in fancy Chicago shops & restaurants, we just grabbed quick foods and often headed back to our hotel early to put the kids down. I enjoyed take out and hotel movies over stressfully entertaining overly tired children in public.