Great Family Trip to Chicago

My office was closed down this week so they could do some building improvements so we used the time off to go on an early 4th of July trip.  We drove over to Chicago for two nights and hit some of the main sites.  I have been called a trip "national socialist" by my family before due to some of my scheduling choices but it paid off on this trip.  I got us up very very early(4:15 wake up) to get to us from home to the Field Museum at opening.  It paid off as we got to see many exhibits with less crowding.  Above we are enjoying the dinosaur fossils all by ourselves.

On the second day "we" enjoyed some shopping.  My daughter was I think awestruck by the American Girl Store.  She had been to the one in Columbus last year but the Chicago store is just so much bigger.  While the stuff for sale at the two stores is the same I think the experience activities here would be better.  I had stopped here before on a business trip and think I prefer this store to either the Columbus store or the New York City store.  My wife did state that she thought the staff at the Columbus store was much more helpful and friendly than it Chicago.  Ofcourse being an antisocial gamer type that does not always see like a plus to me.

Here is my son at the very strategically located Lego store right out the mall entrance from the American Girl store.  While a mall by my mom's house about an hour from us has a Lego store it is smaller than this one.  Ofcourse after the american girl store there was not much left in my wallet for more legos (not that I need any more as I am covered out till christmas for everyone).

On the last day I got use up, packed, and over to the Shedd Aquarium at opening.  My wife remember the downstairs play zone from a trip a few years ago and said we should go there first as it will get very busy.  Very smart on her part, as my son got to enjoy pushing all the buttons and turning the knobs on the play mini-sub pretty much by himself and my daughter got herself a solo dolphin encounter where they would come up to the glass and interact with her.

Really a great trip and I have to give thanks for John of Plastic Legions who went beyond the call of duty in providing me info about some local gaming stores.  None seemed to exactly fit what I was looking for and Chicago is a big town so I was not able to make it to any of them but he provided a great run down which I will keep in case I need to back for business in the future.