Christmas in the City

We left early this morning for Chicago with all of the Heinisch children in tow plus Hannah-Marie.  Our first stop of the day was the Adler Planetarium.  I had been talking about visiting it for several years, but something always changed our plans.  I had not been there in twenty years and it had been more than that for Doug.  No one else had ever visited it and we were happy to finally have the opportunity.  We were even more pleased when we found out that I was admitted free as a teacher and we also received a discount for everyone else's admission.

The Planetarium had changed quite a bit from Doug and my last visit.  We enjoyed walking through the astronaut exhibit and learning more about the planets.  There were also areas to explore about astronomy in the past and a science lab to walk through.  The end of our visit was spent in the 3-D theater watching a film on the dwarf planet Pluto and it's surrounding area.  We all found it extremely interesting.

After the Planetarium we walked through Millennium Park.  There was an awesome skating park where we enjoyed watching others on the ice.  We then took pictures at the Bean before heading to Giordano's.  We fortunately made it in just before the crowds arrived and were seated immediately.  The pizza was delicious and we enjoyed the conversation around the table.  After we ate we walked up and down Michigan Avenue.  It was crowded, but that didn't stop our fun.  We did some last minute Christmas shopping at the Disney Store and Crate & Barrel.  Cal found an awesome Michael Jordan shirt at the Nike store and everyone picked out candy at Dylan's Candy Shoppe.

Once the shopping was finished we drove to the Lincoln Park Zoo to enjoy their Christmas light display.  Cal and HM were not able to go with us last year and were impressed with all of the animal lights and displays.  Meg was able to meet up with a friend from camp who lived in the city.  That was a wonderful surprise.  We made it through all of the park taking breaks to warm up with hot chocolate and some inside shopping.  The weather was cold, but bearable enough to spend two hours enjoying the decorations.  We were all thankful for a warm car to drive home in and appreciative of our day together.  It was a fantastic way to kick off the holiday weekend.