Vacation! Chicago! (Day One)

From the Harrises, we continued on to Chicago. Neither Matt nor I have really ever visited Chicago (I went twice very briefly while my brother lived there), so were excited to go and take in some of the kid-friendly Chicago sights. It was an easy drive from St. Joe's. As soon as the City of Chicago welcomed us via sign, a City of Chicago driver welcomed us by cutting us off and then giving us the finger. Despite this rude (hilarious) start, we loved the city.
On the first day, we went straight to the Lincoln Park Zoo, per my brother Matt's suggestion. It's one of the last free zoos in America. It was a perfect day, although we did see why Chicago is the Windy City. And the zoo was beautiful.

Tunneling like insects.

On the carousel.

Annie was all about the giraffes the entire day.

The tanks were packed with fish, and Kate loved every one of them.

And Matt thought this meerkat relaxing was hilarious.

After the zoo, we went to our hotel to take a little rest.

And to check out the rooftop deck.

Then, we headed to Navy Pier. I don't really know what I was expecting, but Navy Pier was so fun. I want to go back without the kids to do fun adult stuff there, too!

First, we rode the gigantic ferris wheel. Matt was nervous.

And then I was nervous, too, because the girls kept moving and trying to get a better view. The view from the top was amazing. I highly recommed a ride.

Annie loved it! She talked about it all night.

Then, we went to eat at Billy Goat's. The restaurant is famous because of the SNL skit about it.

The food was actually not that great, but Annie enjoyed a hot dog.

And Kate is clearly possessive of her food. I cannot look at this picture without laughing out loud. I think it's my favorite picture from our whole trip.

We continued out to the end of the pier.

This is an anchor from a USS Chicago at the very end of the pier. Annie thought it was a great climbing toy.

Kate.