Chicago Children's Museum

The weather this weekend in Chicago was not stellar so we spent Sunday at the Chicago Children's Museum on Navy Pier. Jack loves this place, and what's not to love??? It has 4 floors of hands-on exhibits!!! It was so fun to see Jack's imagination take flight. Here Jack and Dada are fishing for carp!

Jack also went camping and climbed in a tree house, repeatedly sliding down and climbing back up!

Our future archaeologist dug for T-Rex bones.

He found one!!!!
The museum has this awesome water exhibit where kids learn about the forces of water by creating damns and water pipes. The best part is that they supply raincoats!
As we were walking back to our car, we stopped by the fountain in front of the Pier so that Jack could play in the water. He was slightly intimidated but eventually cooled himself off :)

If Mama Did This, She Would Vomit!

Jack gets a real thrill out of spinning in circles until he falls over. He then gets up and tries to walk, inevitably running into walls and furniture. We've been trying to capture it on video for a while but Jack is so narcissistic that once he notices the camera, he just wants to see himself on it and stops doing whatever it is we are trying to document. That is why in the clip below you will repeatedly hear him say "Jack"--he is asking to watch himself!! He normally starts spinning when he gets really excited about something or is very happy. He often does it right in the middle of the park, when Dada comes home from work, or after he eats a yummy meal. Mama really wanted to show a clip from the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin to accompany our home video but I couldn't find the one I was looking for. For those of you who know the movie--you the know the scene where the kid puts a bucket on his head and repeatedly runs into the wall?? Mama and Dada are pretty sure that is what is next on Jack's "to do list"...

Fruits of Our Labor!

We don't have a big garden in our backyard but we are trying to grow some tomatoes and peppers. Here is our first harvest of the season!

Uncle John and Aunt Joanne

Jack's great aunt and uncle came to visit for one night this week because they were picking their grandson up at the airport. Jack was so excited to see them (even though he had only met them one other time over a year ago) and he was even more excited when he saw that they brought him a book about farms! Jack insisted that both of them sit at the kitchen table with him while he ate dinner so they could also read his new book.

Uncle John also helped Jack eat dinner. He played some pretty cool games with Jack like hiding his peas in the flowers and doing the "airplane" with the spoon. Of course, Jack tried to get Mommy to do the same games with him at every meal for the next 2 days!

Our Bad Weather Backup!

Sunday was a rainy day in Chicago, but it didn't bother us! We are members at the Shedd Aquarium so we can go for free whenever we want. Jack was so excited about going to see all the "pish" and even got to sit on a turtle like Squirt in Finding Nemo!
Mama and Dada gambled and decided to take Jack to dolphin show and prayed that Jack would sit still. Turns out he LOVED it and clapped and yelled every time a dolphin did a trick. He insisted on getting his picture in front of the dolphins after the show :)

Mama Forgot the Swimsuit

Jack's favorite park in our neighborhood has a splash park. It was recently upgraded and now has a lot more water than it used to. Jack used to love running through the puddles and playing in the water but after the upgrade he seemed very intimidated by it and really showed no interest anymore. Sooo, Mama stopped bringing Jack's swimsuit to the park. Of course thats when he decided that he wanted to play in the water again--fully clothed!!
(sorry for the bad picture--it was taken on Mommy's phone)

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had a fantastic weekend! We hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and celebrated with those that you love! We filled every day with lots of fun activities including a cookout at our house on Independence Day, playing at the park, exploring downtown, and we capped it off with a day at the beach (that's right, we have beaches in Chicago--beautiful ones at that!). This was Jack's first trip to the beach and he LOVED it. He went straight for the water and refused to leave.

We finally managed to convince him to play in the sand for a few minutes so Mama and Dada could sit down!


HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

The Terrible Two's Struck Again!

Yep, we've been hit again! The Terrible Two's snuck in when we weren't looking! On Friday morning while Mama and Dada were cleaning up from breakfast, Jack kept himself busy. When we came into the living room, we discovered that Jack had taken 16 keys off of Dada's laptop and spread them throughout the living room! He then just repeatedly pointed at the computer and said "Bad Bad Bad!!!"

He also dunked a washcloth into the toilet and then cleaned his face with it!!!!

My Kind of Town-Chicago Is!

Dada's Aunt Nell and Uncle Jeff were in the city for the weekend so we met them for brunch on Saturday morning. It was Jack's first time meeting them! We were eating at a southern/cajun restaurant, thus the beads! Also, Jack is very into wearing his sunglasses and he is too cool to take them off indoors!

After brunch we decided to walk around by the river for a little bit. Here are Mama and Jack in front of the Wrigley Building. Trump's new tower is on the left.

Jack and Dada posed in front of Marina City, or as Mama affectionately calls them "the corn cobs"
Jack and Dada decided to lay on the grass at the Vietnam Memorial and look up at all the tall buildings.

YELLOW!

As I've mentioned before, yellow is Jack's favorite color, by far! He knows several other colors but for some reason he is over the moon about yellow. He points it out whenever he sees it, which is all the time considering most of the taxis in the city are yellow! Mommy and Daddy never really realized how many things in this world contain the color yellow until our little man made it his life long mission to point it out! Of course he had to get a yellow balloon at Trader Joe's . Mama thinks this picture could be used as an advertisement :)

Jack begged Mama and Dada all weekend for another yellow cookie so after his nap yesterday we headed back to the bakery. As we walked in, Jack started yelling "yellow yellow" and clapping his hands. There was almost a minor catastrophe when there were no yellow cookies in the case but luckily the yellow cupcake saved the day! (Notice the nice red scratch/bruise on Jack's forehead which resulted from Jack's head hitting the sidewalk before anything else when he tripped on 4th of July! Poor guy!)

The Zoo with Luke!

We spent Thursday morning at the zoo with Luke and his mommy Stephanie. Luke and Jack are best buds and Mama and Steph are great friends too! Even though Luke is almost 8 months older than Jack they are the same height and LOVE hanging out together. Jack asks for his "Lu" almost everyday! Here are Jack and Luke chasing each other in front of the gorillas...

Jack and Luke were obsessed with the popcorn truck and kept asking if they could drive it.
Jack loves watching the polar bears swim in their pool. We managed to get a picture as one swam by!


After the zoo we all headed to John's Place for lunch, followed by a mandatory stop at Sweet Mandy B's bakery for cookies. Of course Jack had to get a yellow cookie because its his favorite color!!!