Chicago Day 3

We were up for another unplanned day of adventure on Sunday!  We knew Roy had to get an earlier start at the conference, so we were off down Michigan Ave while it was still pretty early and chilly - and empty!  We had wanted to take the kids out on the water, but the timing (and price!) of the boat tours wasn't optimal, so we settled for a little excursion on a Water Taxi instead.  We knew the kids would just be excited to get on a boat!

It was still very chilly when we got off the Water Taxi and the kids had eaten a bunch of snacks and weren't hungry for our thoughts of a super early lunch in Greektown, so we just went into Union Station to warm up.  Grandma and Papa have gone through this station when coming to see us in NYC, so that was a bit of excitement to picture them there on their travels!

It turned out that it was part of the Open House Chicago, so we were able to see the fancy lounge, a restored barber shop, the old cafeteria, and the soon-to-be restored ladies' lounge.  Leighton was fascinated to hear about how these areas had been forgotten about for years and where the women and children would wait and that the tapestries would be restored! 

With all of the on/off of jackets and cardigans on the trip, Riley was very proud to learn to do hers all by herself!  She likes to remind us that she is five now and can do it all!

Leighton had been waiting a few days to get a look at Willis Tower, which he had read about in his Little Passports.
 

Then it was time to get back on the Water Taxi.

Roy had to get going to work and I needed figure out lunch for the three of us and get some of the kids' 'to do list' items ticked off.

1. pictures with the other painted horses we had seen the first day but were too far away from at the time:

2. pictures with the 'cactus' sculpture:

3. Pictures with the art outside the Contemporary Art Museum we had passed when it was dark:

4. Pictures with the bikes we'd seen all over the city:

5. A visit to the American Girl store that we had passed many, MANY times:

6. A visit to the Art of Dr Suess store we had seen a few times:

7. A visit to the Hershey store.  The kids found some favorite items, but we didn't buy anything because somewhere between all the photo ops, we had made our way to a Walgreens to get the kids some Chicago souvenirs already!

8. A visit to the Disney Store.  We ended up at the coloring table for a looong time, and I was SO thankful to just sit down for a while!!

9. We popped into the Hancock Building hoping to get pressed pennies, but you had to actually pay to go up to the top to access the machine.  But, the kids had fun with some hats in the gift shop!!

And by then it was time to meet Roy for dinner!  We went to Mity Nice Grill.  We had eaten there twice and loved it on our last visit, but the food and menu wasn't as great this time around.  It was still a very nice, family-friendly place to eat though, which is always much appreciated.