My Kind of Town, Chicago Is…
We just got back from Raimi’s first trip to Chicago. We had a great time. It wasn’t exactly relaxing — bringing a toddler to the city brings a unique set of stresses — but I think all three of us were just really happy all week-end.
Raimi loved the enormous train model they have at the Museum of Science & Industry, and enjoyed seeing lots of airplanes. He was a little frustrated by the educational displays — he wanted to see an airplane take off and land instead of learning about altimeters. There were spinning lights in the circus display, which he loved to run around on, but he found the distorted mirrors a little scary.
When he’d discover something new at the museum, he’d turn to whoever was standing next to him — another kid, some total stranger looking at the exhibit — and say, “That’s an airplane. That’s an airplane.” Some people would smile, others wouldn’t respond, but he kept doing it — making sure everyone knew what they were looking at.
I think one of his favorite parts of the trip was going to the top of the John Hancock building. He got really excited when we got off the elevator and he saw that he could look down at the city and see buildings and buses and taxis and the lake from so high up. Before we went there, I pointed up at the building and said we were going to go to the top, and he said, “No, Mommy. That’s too high. I can’t climb up there.” But I explained we’d take the elevator.
He loved the aquarium, too, and we got to meet Kevin’s friend Matt, who was very fun and kind and took lots of good pictures of Raimi staring at fish and sharks. The Aquarium has a new exhibit about coral reefs, with really big sharks that swim over your head and rays that swim under your feet, so you feel like you’re underwater. Raimi really liked all the fish, but did NOT want to sit still for the dolphin show. He kept climbing up out of the seating area, so we ended up leaving the show and going down into the snack bar where he could munch on chips and watch the dolphins from below. He kept saying, “There’s a dolphin. There’s another dolphin.”
He got really excited to see seahorses and statues of seahorses, and also really enjoyed looking at the tanks of different colored fish. At one point, he saw a shark and said, “that one’s too scary.” In front of a tank filled with small lobsters, he said, “That bug has tennas.” (antennas)
The most relaxing moments were back at the hotel, where there was a water fountain that sort of shoots out dancing arcs of water. Raimi and Kevin & I sat on the carpet and watched it for quite awhile — Kevin kept saying, “oh no. it’s all gone… THERE IT IS!” as the water would shoot out. Pretty hilarious stuff, the way water can jump right out and surprise you.