Day 2 Chicago

I booked the hotel room for one more night and following a free hot breakfast we headed to Navy Pier. Kaylin really, really wanted to do some maze thing she found in a brochure. Ugh. After our wait at the Sears Tower I was nervous about how busy Navy Pier would be. It wasn't bad at all. I found out that the Chicago Children's Museum was on the reciprocal list for our Lakeview Museum membership so we flashed our card and got in free. We hadn't been there in several years and I was sort of surprised to find that little had changed. Gene and Logan spent a very long time constructing a Sears Tower out of precut and drilled pieces of wood while Kaylin built a chair and I sat on a bench and balanced my checkbook and deleted old photos from my camera and watched some guy fish. We then spent a short time checking out the old exhibits and realizing our days of Children's Museums are more or less over. I would never pay to take the kids to this place again. Not nearly enough for their age group. It is all about toddlers and preschoolers.

The food court tables were packed so we took our lunch up to the Crystal Gardens (or whatever that room of fountains and palm trees is called) and found a table no problem. We ate and relaxed and the kids played and ran around. We all wanted to go back to the awesome Lego store so we grabbed a cab and headed back to Michigan Avenue. This time we were more focused on the boxed sets (rather than filling cups with Pick-a-Brick) and I found some amazing clearance deals on some cool sets. Kaylin did the build your own minifigs while Logan and I shopped the sales and picked out the best stuff. We left happy and satisfied and I'm pretty sure we will somehow manage to NOT go back today! Although they did have the new Toy Story Legos and I still have Christmas money... But seriously, that is probably my favorite store ever!

We then walked several blocks to the Hershey store. That was Logan's brochure find and the thing he really wanted to do. They had this thing called the "factory tour" where for $15 we got a paper "factory worker" hat (like a Steak and Shake hat) a photo ID badge with a lanyard and a bucket of assorted chocolate from this machine the kids had to turn several cranks that made noises and turned on lights before chocolates poured out of the machine to fill the bucket. It was pricey, but soooo worth it for Chocolate Boy. I didn't think he'd take off his ID badge to sleep last night! Kaylin had the choice of her own "factory tour" or doing the maze when we got back to Navy Pier. She chose the maze.

We headed back to Navy Pier via the longest route the cab driver could formulate (eye roll) and Gene and Kaylin headed for the maze. I had read some really negative reviews about this attraction (ridiculously overpriced and very short.) Plus, it was loud and dark. Logan probably would have enjoyed it, but we convinced him otherwise. Logan and I paid for parking and got ice cream. We found a free Chicago map and plotted our course back to the hotel. Kaylin loved her maze. I didn't get too many details. Whatever, time to head back to the hotel and play with Legos! We played with Legos, swam for an hour, ate dinner and played with Legos. It was a good day.

The plan for today is the Field Museum (again free with our Lakeview membership) and then head home. I think today's New Year's Eve. I can't remember for sure :) Happy New Year!