Of course we had to stop by Cloud Gate (aka the bean) and take a million pictures. It’s such a unique way to view the reflection of the city (and ourselves). We were a little scared to touch it because you can see all the dirty hand prints, though it doesn’t show up in pictures. Nevertheless, it’s such a great spot to people watch, dance (there was music playing from an event nearby), and take lots of pictures. We walked all around and under, and the girls loved seeing how the distortion changed throughout the sculpture.

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For lunch, we walked to Avec. We didn’t have reservations, but we called the day before, and they said if we where there before they opened, we’d be able to dine at the restaurant. I highly recommend making reservations though. We ordered paella, a couple sandwiches, and their sesame coco bars for dessert. All of it was delicious, but the paella was my favorite. The girls loved the paella too. While we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch, their dinner menu sounds a lot more delicious.

Our kids are used to sitting down during meal time, and staying seated during the whole meal (it’s a lot of practicing at home), but I’m not sure this is the type of restaurant to take children if they are more exploratory during mealtimes. It’s a small space, and you sit close to others, so you really have to do well to keeping to your personal space.

On this ig post, someone mentioned making a stop to Do-Rite Donuts, and so we did. After our lunch, we walked over to the nearest Do-Rite location. There’s always room for dessert, right?! We picked up 3 donuts to share, and while we waited for our river tour, we all ate the donuts together. I thought they were yummy, but donuts aren’t my thing, so I tend to think all donuts taste similarly. They were all happily devoured, so Do-Rite seem to be doing things right.

After our architecture tour (and some freshening up in our hotel room), we headed to the Girl & the Goat for dinner. It’s another must make a reservation place, but we were there before they opened, so we were able to dine in. Oh boy was this place scrumdiddlyumptious!  We ordered raw oysters, roasted beets, hamachi crudo, grilled baby octopus, wild striped bass, duck tongues (the girls chose this!), goat carpaccio, goat empanadas, pinn oaks lamb tartare, and all the leches cake for dessert. We loved it all and wanted more, but our wallet was satisifed, though our tummies weren’t! And I’m still craving the oysters! If I ever find myself back in Chicago, I would definitely eat here again.

After dinner, we took a taxi to Millennium Park to walk around and enjoy some of the art sculptures. Of course, we took a million and one pictures at Cloud Gate (a separate post for that coming soon). Then, we walked over to Buckingham Fountain. The girls had fun running around and chasing each other here, until Glow ate it on the concrete. We ended the evening at the play garden at Maggie Daly Park. This is the coolest playground we have ever seen (a must go when in Chicago) and the girls had so much fun going up and down on all the slides and towers. There were a lot of protests when we said it was time to head back to the hotel.

After our very full day (see more of it here), it was nice our hotel was a 10 minute walk from Maggie Daly Park, and we were all showered and in bed in no time. Ben and I were both so impressed with Chicago. It’s a well thought out city and you can see the pride they take in it. It’s clean, well cared for, and caters well to families. They work hard to preserve the beauty and history, and you can tell that its residents really love their city. The only thing that freaks us out a little about Chicago is the driving, and this is coming from aggressive California drivers. Other than that, we wish it was closer, so we can visit more often.

Chicago, we really, really like you.

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We did a little bit more of the Big Bus Tour to start off the day, and then we got off at the Willis Tower. The short film about the creation of the tower was so interesting. You see these big buildings and rarely think about all it took to create these grandiose structures. I got a little nervous when they showed the guys at the very top during construction. It’s just insane to think that workers were scaling the tops of these things to make sure all the beams and whatever else is in place. I’m thankful for their work and that we can enjoy their creations from inside it’s walls and not the open elements. Whew!

Of course, we all were very excited to get on The Ledge. When I say we, I mean all the girls, but Ben. We slowly inched onto the glass, looked down, quickly got in position to take our pictures, and then speedily got off. My hands were so shaky trying to keep all girls safe. I know it’s not likely to break, but it’s that mind game with seeing the ground clear below you. Scary, so scary! We got in line a few more times to get some different snaps. For the last one, we finally convinced Ben to join us. I think you can tell what he’s thinking based on his face.

After lunch, we took a nice stroll through the city before our Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise. The guides for this are legit and ours was an excellent wealth of our information. It is a 90 minute tour and we learned all about contextualism, mid century, art deco, modernism, and whole bunch of other fancy architecture terms. It was such a relaxing tour and the weather was so nice (compared the super cold days before). The girls are young, but I love exposing them to stuff like this because you never know when something is going to leave an impression on them and inspire them later. Ben and I definitely had a deeper appreciation for the art of creating buildings.

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For L Day, we lunched by the lake. Then, we shared a lollipop as we read our library books. When we got home, we cooled off with the lavender limeade light saber pops we made that morning.

I laid out on the blanket enjoying the shade, while Soul and Glow collected rocks and shells. They kept trying to do skip rock on the water, but it never worked, and the rocks ended up making big rock plops instead. We came home with a giant stick and lots of little shells to add to their nature collection.

The very next day, which was our last day together before the big girls came home, we called it M&M Day! I made some cookie butter milkshakes and we cuddled together in bed and watched a movie.

We’ve since done M&M Day with the big girls too. I have a feeling we will be doing lots of M&M days, and will do it on Mondays. I want to find some movies that will go along with what we will be learning during the school year, and we could do this together on Monday afternoons (after all the learning lessons/work is done). I think it will be a good Monday motivator.

Eek. I cringe a little knowing that my brain is starting to get back into school mode. Oh summer, why must you go so fast?!

After our letter D-Day, I surprised the girls with P-Day! We had a picnic at the park with pepperoni pizza, pink lemonade, and pie from I Like Pie. The girls spent time playing at the playground, then I busted out watercolor, and the girls and I painted together.

While I was laying on the picnic blanket and staring up into the trees, I heard the girls giggling together on the playground, and I wanted to freeze that moment. It felt like the essence of summer.

We’ve been having such a lovely time together. The beginning of summer was quite busy here with flooring guys coming in and out, so we were stuck at home a lot, but I think all our letter adventure days are making up for it. If it’s been light around here, it’s because we are out having fun and enjoying the sun (still sharing plenty of pictures here).

I’ve been brainstorming other letter adventures we can do. I’m thinking A can be a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific, antiquing (maybe this is more for me), and ice cream at A La Minute (again probably for me). Honestly though, they love antiquing and A La Minute just as much as I do. Well, Glow, probably not so much the antiquing as seen here. Anyone have any other letter day adventure ideas?

On Monday, we had ourselves an adventure and declared it “Letter D-Day.” We started it off by picking up some fancy donuts from The Crumb. I chose a peanut butter chocolate, Soul wanted Oreo, Glow decided on chocolate raspberry, and then we picked an orange creamsicle to share. In the end though, we all shared what we chose and got to have a little bit of each flavor. My favorite is the chocolate peanut butter and orange creamsicle.

After, we headed to the desert. Of course, when in Palm Springs, we must always stop by the Ace Hotel to photo booth. The girls were so excited to get their own photo booth strip of just the two of them.

For the next D stop, we went to the Cabazon Dinosaurs. We walked around a bit, took some photos, and they got a kick out of going into the dinosaur’s belly to the gift shop. I had the girls pack their scooters, so when the crowds thinned out, they scootered up and down the sidewalks. They had so much fun pretending the dinosaur was chasing them.

Our last D stop was for date shakes, which is another must when in Palm Springs. It wasn’t exactly a high nutrition day, so we got one small shake to all share.

Donuts, desert, dinosaurs, and date shakes made for a really delightful adventure. We had so much fun with our letter theme, and if you follow me on instagram you might already know this, but we decided to call Tuesday “P Day!” I don’t think I can keep up this letter adventure everyday, but I want to try and conquer a few more letters before the end of summer. I have some ideas swirling about that I think the girls will enjoy.