Really, this day was plenty eventful, but almost all of it was just visiting museums. I took a lot of photos of the things at the museums that I enjoyed, which is almost 100% of what these photos will be. Little notes on things we saw, maybe a few notes on what we did, but mostly, just pictures I took of cool shit at the museums we went to.
Our first day in Chicago was The Museum of Science and Industry!!!
This is just one of the best entrances to a museum around.
Here we are! Getting ready to enjoy several hours in the Museum of Science and Industry.
Rhyann opted to investigate the museum on their own. Which kind of bummed me out, but I understand not wanting to have to lag behind for their dumb mom that takes photos every four seconds, and I also appreciated that Rhyann probably needed a few hours on their own. So I told them to have a wonderful time, and if they wanted to meet up with us, they could.
Derek, Alex, and I went our separate ways. Here we are!
Alex let me take a photo of her on her own, which is rare. But I loved her outfit, and she looked totally adorable, so I was pretty insistent that I get a photo of her. Yay!
We went to the farm industry area first, because DUH, I wanted to see the chickens!!!! I love seeing the chicks!!!
I am a grown ass woman, and I will still talk to tiny animals like they're precious little magic spirits.
Up next was the great train story, which, according to the museum's website, takes you from Chicago to Seattle via a great train adventure! Derek loves this part of the museum.
Hubba hubba, what a tooshie!!
That skirt was one of Alex's thrifted finds in Ithaca, and she seriously looks so fucking cute in it.
Derek and Alex, marveling at the GREAT TRAIN STORY. Every time I'm here, I always think of the scene in the Addams Family where Gomez is distraught over Fester, and Pugsley says, "he's playing with his trains again!" I laugh about it for several minutes, I always remark on it out loud, and Derek is always ashamed to be married to me.
What a great train story.
So this was a little piece of history I didn't know! I looked it up, and it's wild, but that version seems really state sponsored and pretty tame. I feel like there's something foul and sinister afoot there, and I want to read THAT story. When I saw this, it reminded me that I had to chat with Alex about how museums are not necessarily honest about the versions of history they share, so inventions and things need to be taken with a grain of salt, and are best researched to ensure that proper credit is given where it's truly due.
In fact, I was just reading that the real first electric car was invented in Germany. Called a flocken elektrowagon, which is just objectively a great name. While it is described as a glorified baby carriage, it still counts, and I demand to see a vroom vroom German stroller at the MSI. ACCURACY MATTERS.
We didn't end up going to see the Lego exhibit (Derek, Alex, and I saw a Lego exhibit in Hawai'i and felt like if you've seen one, you've seen them all), but that didn't stop Alex from making a new friend.
This is right next to THE GREAT TRAIN STORY, adding to the ambience of greatness and trains, I suppose. I wanted Alex to hang off of it the way movies show people hanging off of San Fran trolley cars, but Alex said absolutely not. And instead clung to it like it was actually moving and she was in danger of falling off of it.
Nest stop, Buffalo!
Nobody would stick their face in these dirty face holes with me. I was Jack's sad face.
We headed across the hall to check out the weather station, which is my personal favorite part of MSI. After the chickies, of course.
These Lego friends were legit everywhere around MSI.
Derek, making wind! He's really good at it. He does it at home, too.
Derek and Alex, playing with the tornado machine.
The Tesla coil! And this experience is fucking LOUD. You can hear it going off every thirty minutes all around the museum, which is an impressive feat, as MSI is fucking massive.
The more you know! If McDonald's really wants to maximize profits, have I got a great business idea for them.
Ye Olde Medical Equipment. It reminds me that there's an old psychology museum here, and I've been really wanting to go visit it, but it's several hours away.
This is seriously my favorite gallery at MSI. I could spend hours playing around with all of the weather and Earth demonstrations in here.
For me, a 37 year old woman at a whopping 3'1 inches tall, my organs have regenerated A LOT.
I wish I had had this metric in high school! And for all other things, I hate making my own choices.
Alex and Derek were really interested in all of the aircrafts. I was bored out of my fucking mind.
The more you know...again.
I can't even remember what this demonstration station was, but here is Derek, engrossed in it.
Ok, look. This is probably a dumb thing to be intrigued by, and even dumber to take photos of. But the last time Derek and I came to MSI, there was a food court in the basement. It has been replaced by this room full of vending machines, and this is the fucking best one:
It's called Farmer's Fridge, and it's chock full of freshly..."freshly"...made food items of decently nutritious value. If I were a meat eater, I would have had a lot more success getting food from this, but as it was, I had some cheese, a few bites of chia pudding (which I have since made keto and vegan and I eat it for breakfast A LOT), a bit of salad, and a Spindrift drink.
Rhyann kind of met up with us for food, but didn't seem very enamored with any of the options. I'm not even sure if they ate or not. After we all had our lunch-esque snack, we headed back out among the halls to see more stuff.
Up next? Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle. Derek swears I was totally in love with this the first time we came here, but I do not remember visiting this exhibit at ALL. I did find a lot of enjoyment wandering around it, though. It's so detailed!
Very ornate, and just all around delightful. I find as much whimsy there at 37 that I would have as a young child.
Alex really wanted to see the U Boat exhibit, which Derek says was outside when he was a kid. It is fully indoors now.
Just so you know, I will be talking all the fucking time now. Fuck this guy, and other guys just like him.
This thing is fucking MASSIVE.
Alex, for very ineffective scale.
This section was kind of cool, survivors of the whatever this thing was are on the other line of these phones, telling their story about what happened that day of...whatever event happened that is famous, but I don't care about history so I don't remember the purpose of the exhibit.
12341234SUBFACTSSUBFACTSSUBFACTS!
Rhyann met up with us, since I believe this is the last exhibit that we visited at the museum before leaving to head out for dinner.
I can't recall if Alex or Rhyann wanted to encode UR MOM, but here it is. A secret message for the ages.
My spousal unit is crazy fucking hot. AND pensive.
I love these kiddos the most!!!!
After MSI, Derek and I agreed it was important to take the kids to get some real Chicago pizza, so that meant a trip through downtown to go to Giardino's. What follows is a slew of photos of buildings in downtown Chicago, because I love them.
We stopped at the Adler complex to get a big ol' view of the Chicago city skyline. We didn't take the kids to Adler, because Derek and I didn't really enjoy it when we went, and being the adult means you force your kids to not have experiences they can make their own minds up about Adulting!!!
I love this view. I've wanted to do a mermaid shoot here forever. I thought about it the last time I was in Chicago doing model shoots, but decided I'd rather not. One day, though. I think maybe the next time we take a weekend 4 day trip to Chicago to indulge in our mseum memberships I'll put out some feelers for a mershoot here.
There's Rhyann, checking out the view.
Rhyann not checking out the view:
Alex, NOT checking out the view:
Both kiddos, not checking out the view. The collection is complete!
Derek taking photos, both in normal view AND wide angle!
The Field Museum would be the next day's destination, and I was so excited to take the kids here.
Back in the car, to Giardino's for real!
I love seeing photoshoots happening! Mostly because I sit and judge the photographer and assume I know anything about their skill level and talent based on where the shoot is happening and what pose the couple is currently in.
I laughed about Eataly a lot.
I love Chicago, I really do. But what I don't love about Chicago is the driving underneath the city. I. Fucking. HATE IT.
I've been telling Derek for years that I would love to have a super dress up date night where we get all fancy, have dinner somewhere lovely, and then go see an opera. Nine years in, it has yet to happen.
Is this not just jaw dropping?
Well fuck, it's Giordano's. I've been typing it incorrectly the whole time. I'm not gonna go back and change it, though. Fuck that.
Eat Pizza, everyone! Everyone but me. Eat pizza!
Giordano's. I am a fucking stone cold maroon.
With as many pictures as I took of the name, you'd think I'd remember it.
BRANDED PHOTOS EVERYWHERE. Oh well. Sorry, Giordano's. You'll survive.
Neither of these two had had deep dish pizza before, and Derek and I agreed that both of them needed to try the two Chicago food staples: deep dish pizza, and a Chicago style hot dog. This was stop the first.
These crusted lasagnas are fucking MASSIVE. That is my fully grown child, and it is dwarfing them.
Alex didn't want the same toppings that Derek and Rhyann had, so she got her own.
And I didn't get anything, because I have PCOS and I have to eat special shit like a fuckin' dumb dumb.
Here it is, the cheese pull!
Alex did not get a cheese pull photo, but that's ok!
Both of them seemed to enjoy their experience with Giordano's nee Giardinos nee whatever it was I actually typed it up, I'm sure it varied wildly.
There's the hubbins, having his pizza! He was super duper excited. I would have been excited to eat that grandiose lasagna, too, but I can't eat anything fun.
And from there, we went to Chinatown so I could get my same food from Veggie House, and then we went back to the hotel and crashed, getting ready for the next busy day of museums!
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