The Nichols Go to Chicago- 4th of July

We spent the week of 4th of July in Chicago, which meant flying approximately 4 hours each way with our two little people.  I knew there would be some rough patches since Owen's waking periods are only around 2.5-3 hours, and he does NOT like falling asleep in my arms.  

There was a period of around 20 minutes where Owen was shrieking like a mad man until he finally passed out and took a 45-ish minute nap.  The rest of the flight we had to do a lot of entertaining, but it went smoothly.

Once in Chicago the fun started.  We visited several lake/river/park areas while there so Jack could run around and enjoy the outdoors.  He got to feed ducks:

One of the river walks we went to had a really great playground with a kid-sized zip line.  I was kind of surprised how well he hung on. 

The first half of the week was amazing weather in the mid-70s, so we tried to fully enjoy it while it lasted.

We spent one afternoon at the DuPage County Children's Museum, and I really wish it was located where we are.  They had a little infant area where Owen practiced standing at the bar.

Jack had the best time with all the mechanical activities they had.  He was obsessed with these walls where the pieces had magnets.  You stick them into different configurations so that the ball rolls down the track.  We've actually contacted the museum since we got back to see if they sell pieces or if they have building plans he loved it so much.  They don't though :(.

 Here's Jack in the wind tunnel:

They also had giant light bright boards where you insert the sticks to make a picture:

Their whole light section was really neat.  You could go in a room where an insanely bright light would flash and your shadow would freeze on the wall.

Who doesn't love these?!

There were two other track systems you could build that Jack loved.

A major percentage of our time was spent at this making different ball tracks:

 

We also rallied the troops and kept them up way past their bed time to see the fireworks at Lake Ellyn in Glen Ellyn, IL.  It was a lot of fun, and both kids enjoyed the show.  Owen lost it near the end from exhaustion, but he was a happy guy the majority of the time.

We took the train downtown one day.  We went to the bean and got a few pictures:  

 

We also walked over to the Buckingham Fountain since Jack is a fountain lover:  

It was a really hot day, so the water being blown on us by the wind felt really good. 

My parents took a few family pictures for us:

 Thanks to Yelp, we had some great dining experiences.

We also had a lot of fun just hanging out at my parents' house.  One of my mom's co-workers lent us baby items and toys for our trip.  Jack and Owen loved the bowling set.  

 

Fun on the floor:

My mom had some schoolwork to do while we were there, and she had a great study partner.

I wish that this picture depicted the truth of our entire plane ride home.  The guy across the aisle from us hated us and kept glaring, particularly at the end of our trip when Owen had a meltdown.  What do ya do?!

Owen was not the greatest sleeper the entire week and traveling is always a little difficult, but we had a really great time on our trip.  It was our first family vacation, so great memories.  Spending time with family, lots and LOTS of neighborhood park trips, and Jonathan and I having several date nights was a good way to spend our vacation!