Our Downtown Day
I finally went through the pictures from our day in downtown Chicago last Saturday. It was our early Valentine's gift to the boys - a trip to the aquarium followed by a visit to Navy Pier and Build a Bear. Brian had a boy's night out last Friday and stayed in a hotel with some of his friends. The boys and I got up early on Saturday, drove to the city and picked him up. We were totally camera happy that day so....here are about a gazillion pictures!!
Mommy and Logan with the city in the background as we walk ALL the way around the building to the stroller entrance (they were doing construction so we walked through the basement in the back).
How cute is this?! Most of the areas in the aquarium were dark with posted signs that said "no flash photography" so I didn't get many good shots.
Mommy and Aiden
Here are the boys looking at the giant tank in the main area of the aquarium. There is a diver in the tank cleaning coral and feeding the fish. You can hear Brian call him scuba Steve. Aiden kept squealing with delight whenever a fish would swim close to him.
We collected stamped pennies all day (well...we got one from here and one from the Pier). I bought all three boys a "penny passport" book at the aquarium gift shop.
They offer valet parking on Saturdays and, with three kids to tow around, we couldn't resist. Here, Logan and Daddy wait for the return of "the super van".
Arriving at Navy Pier. Interesting fact: Brian proposed to me on a dinner cruise that leaves from this pier....on a boat called the Odyssey....and now I drive a Honda Odyssey.....life is funny ;)
After we parked at the pier, we noticed that Aiden and Brady were sleeping. Brian went inside to check out the crowd while I readied the stroller. Logan was ancy in his car seat so he elected to climb inside the trunk and play with his Leapster until we were all ready to roll.
The little boys still fast asleep in their seats.
Bray was so tired that he didn't even wake up when I transferred him. I haven't had a sleeping baby in this stroller since B was tiny! He slept like that for another 1/2 hour or so while we strolled around.
Lunch: McDonald's in the Pier food court (fancy, right?). Logan and I had checked out the newest happy meal toys on line a few days before they came out and he was super excited to check out the digi games. I was curious about the hello kitty watches (yes....there is a 12 year old girl stuck inside of me....and she likes hello kitty....and choco cat....and twin stars too....)
Daddy got a hot dog and I had some tacos....
....and the toy from Brady's happy meal. Yes....I made Brian get 2 boy meals and 1 girl meal. Really though...Brady can't play those electronic games! I have worn this watch several times since. My friend Anne wanted to know how long I'm going to be wearing it. I said "until I don't want to wear it anymore"....Anne does not have an inner 12-year-old girl!!
This is the Crystal Garden area of the Pier. It's like a green house with beautiful tropical flowers. There are also a lot of fun water fountains like this one....where 4 streams of water "fly" through the air between 4 different fountains arranged in a square. Brian held each of the boys up to touch the water. I'm a rule follower so I took pictures and pretended that I wasn't with them. ;)
We left Build a Bear as our last event so we wouldn't have to haul them around for too long (they come in these big "house" boxes that are bigger than Aiden!). A originally picked out a black bear, but Logan picked a puppy so A picked a different puppy. Logan had wanted to make a cat, but the only one there had pink feet and ears....and "pink is for gurls!!" My big idea, and the reason I so wanted to go to Build a Bear, was for the "sounds" that we put in them. You can buy these little things that go inside your new pet's paw or foot. (you know....so when you squeeze the animal's paw, you hear a sound?) Some of the sounds are funny sayings and some are animal noises (like barking or meowing). There is one called "build a sound" where you can literally talk into a little recorder that they lock, tape up so it doesn't re-record, and put inside your pet. Brian recorded one for each doggy. They say something like this: "hi (Logan or Aiden) it's daddy. I love you and I miss you!!" My thought was that the boys can have their puppies with a message from daddy that they can play when he is traveling for work.
Here they are with their un-stuffed dogs. (Bray didn't get a doggy because Brian wants to wait for him to pick it out himself when he's a little older).
Logan went first. Here he is getting ready to help fluff his doggy. See the pedal on the floor? They step on that to make the fluff come out while the girl sitting in the chair maneuvers the animal around on that silver bar to evenly distribute the fluff.
It's hard to see, but Logan is holding his puppy's heart. You pick one out of a little heart-shaped bucket thing on the fluff machine. They say "I heart you" on them. The girl had each boy kiss the heart before she stuffed it inside of the new puppy.
After the puppies get stuffed, they get a bath (of puffed air). There are even little brushes that they kids can use to brush fluff off of their new pals.
Then.....it was Aiden's turn.
Here is Aiden kissing his puppy's heart.
He even helped stuff the heart inside.
Puppy bath!
As a final step, you take your new friend to the computer banks, scan their tag, name them and get a birth certificate. Logan's dog is called the "scruffy puppy"...Aiden's was something like "brown sugar puppy". Logan went ahead and named his new friend "scruffy puppy" (don't call him JUST scruffy because it's scruffy PUPPY). Aiden wasn't sure what name to pick. He kept saying all kinds of nonsense that I couldn't understand. Finally, he said something like "Scrumble" so that's what I went with. We ended up with Scruffy Puppy and Scrumble.This is me and Aiden creating Scrumble's birth certificate
YEAH! The doggies are done! Logan picked out a Chicago Bear's uniform for Scruffy and Aiden picked out a Bull's uniform, complete with a little basketball that can be attached via elastic band, for Scrumble.
The best and final part of the day was having cookies and milk OUTSIDE! Logan & Aiden weren't even wearing coats! It was gorgeous! I was February 6th! ...in CHICAGO! It was amazing!Look at the cookie face!
Soaking in the sun!!
"Give me more cookie....now!"
Here is a (shaky) video of us all dancing along with Brady (seriously...he started it!) I think Brian was dancing too....with the camera :)
Daddy even scored some balloons for the boys! Aiden was overjoyed! What a day!!!!
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About Me
- Renay
- Stories about BRLAB: Brian & Renay, two relatively sane parents, and our three adorable, but active boys: Logan - 9, Aiden - 7 and Brady - 6. I started this blog to document our adventures and milestones for those family members who are far away and can't always share the fun in person. This blog has become my way to keep track of everything in the lives of my growing boys - from the super big stuff that seems the most important to the small things that probably really ARE the most important. I always include tons of pictures because I plan to make a book out of the blog on a yearly basis. Time flies by so fast, I can only hope that these posts will help us remember all the wonderful and silly times we have together as a family.
3 comments:
Logan's pup is the same one Adam picked out for T when we graduated ND. Looks like you guys had a blast!! We need to a trip into the city!
So fun! And exhausting, I'm sure! The aquarium is SO on my list!
What an AWESOME day!! Those boys are so lucky! LOVE your new watch - and seriously - who doesn't have a 12 year old girl inside that loves to come out to play! Especially when Hello Kitty is involved!
LOVE the Build a Bear puppies! That is just the most precious idea - and to have Bri's voice recorded is perfect! Hope Bray gets his before too long.
The dancing is just too cute!! Bray is growing up WAY too fast!
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