Today Kyle woke up at 6:10. I asked him if he had good sleep and he said yes. I asked him how No Feet was doing today and he said, “Good.” He said No Feet wasn’t scared anymore. We talked a bit about the amusement park yesterday and how much fun we had. Vacations can be lots of fun. We got up and took a bath and got dressed. Dad and Erika woke up and got ready, too. We headed out the door at 7:00 to find a place for breakfast. We went to Navy Pier and ate at Billy Goat’s Bar. Nothing was really open over there yet, so after breakfast we decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium. We got there about 8:30 and waited in the car for a few minutes and then made the long walk from the parking area to the museum. It was already hot.
We were first in line when they opened at 9:00. It took us roughly 2 1/2 hours to go through the aquarium - and that included the dolphin show. The kids really enjoyed it, though. Erika loved the starfish and pointed them out in every aquarium. Kyle loved the sharks the best. The turtles and crabs were a hit and the dolphin show was really good. Afterward, Dad went and got the car and picked us up at the door so we didn’t have to walk. Nice Dad. We decided to go back to Navy Pier. We rode the huge ferris wheel - 150 feet high. The kids weren’t scared at all - it was great. I loved it. It is probably much more beautiful at night. We could see out hotel from the ferris wheel and pointed it out to the kids. Kyle raced some little speed boats in the water. Erika wanted to ride the flying swings. I would have rode with her but she was an inch too short. We browsed a lot of the shops and had ice cream. The kids loved the “funny” mirrors by the funhouse. We decided to go back to the hotel room about 3 and go swimming.
The kids got changed and we went to the pool area. There were a lot of pool toys there and they had a great time playing with all the stuff. We went back to the room and told them they had to take a nap in order to stay up for the fireworks that night. I crawled in bed for a nap, too. About an hour later there was a knock at the door and someone from the hotel staff brought a huge tin of popcorn for the kids “to watch the fireworks.” We all slept a good 2 hours, but when they work up they were so excited about the popcorn. We munched on a little of it and decided to order pizza delivery for supper.
Sara, Kristen and the kids were on their way to the hotel to visit and watch the fireworks with us. We ordered enough food for all. The kids made it to the hotel in no time and soon our food was delivered. We ate and visited and laughed and had a good time. The kids were so excited for it to be dark. We put in a movie for them and it ended within 2 minuted of the fireworks starting - talk about good timing. We turned off all the lights and watched out our window. Beautiful! The fireworks were great and being with all the family was even better. They lasted about 20-25 minutes, but that was enough. We were all satisfied with that.
Sara decided to let the traffic get out and go a bit before she left so they visited a half hour yet and then they left. Dad walked them down and by the time he came back up the little kids were asleep. It was a good day.
