Good morning!

We’ve had quite the eventful weekend over here.

Let’s rewind to FRIDAY!

Friday

While Ishu napped at home with Auntie Bella, Katie and I went to the Navy Pier and did Giordano’s for lunch and hopped on an Architecture River Tour.

Our tour guide was a middle school teacher so we enjoyed it twice as much. Obviously.

After we were done, Auntie Bella brought Ishu over to us and we hung out at the Navy Pier for a little longer. We went on the Centennial Wheel, stopped to get some churros, and walked inside the pavilion for a bit.

We had plans to go visit the aquarium the following day. So in true educator form, once we got home, Katie did a bit of priming by reading some books and coloring a penguin and dolphin with Ishu.

We watched a few episodes of The Office and then fell asleep around 11 (I KNOW, WHO AM I?!).

Saturday

In the morning we stopped for coffee (and a unicorn cake pop, obviously) and did the 2-mile lakefront trek to the aquarium.

One of Ishu’s favorite books right now is Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle. So it was no surprise that he was so happy to see all the seahorses. If it wasn’t his favorite book before our trip to the aquarium, it most certainly is now.

He also really liked seeing the belugas (mostly screaming out BABY BELUGA!) and the dolphin show!

We decided to get a membership. It’s so close and there’s SO much to cover. It’s an annual investment that’ll definitely be worth it while we live here!

Since we were already over in that direction, we decided to hop into the Field Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit!

They had a toddler section at the front of the museum where kids could dress up as animals, pick corn, and play music from around the world. Ishu also got to experience his first 3D video about the Titanosaur.

Seeing the dinosaurs was definitely a highlight for him. Especially Sue the T-Rex and the Triceratops!

I love how much he loves dinosaurs. And he honest-to-God knows SO MANY of them by their features. It’s amazing, his little brain. SPONGEY!

After the museum, we got some ice cream (Ishu’s first Dippin’ Dots experience!) and then took the water taxi (our first experience!) back to the Navy Pier.

We made dinner at home and, again, watched episodes of the Office until bedtime.

Sunday

On Sunday, we went to Lincoln Park for the day.

First a trip to the zoo!

I’ll never get over the fact that this zoo is free to the public. It’s such a great activity and the park is so clean and beautiful.

Ishu loved seeing the gorillas this time. Most notably, the gorillas’ butts. And he had great fun in finding all the monkey poop near the windows.

After the zoo, we made our way to Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company for lunch.

We got salad, pizza, pizza pot pie, and a grinder and brought more than half of it back for dinner. I definitely want to bring Ankur back to this place; I think he’d love it!

We had a tired toddler on our hands who was fighting nap time.

He was too tired to eat real food, but was definitely ALL about the chocolate they brought out with the check.

We stopped at Jeni’s on Armitage and took a quick, short walk to take a picture in front of this beautiful mural. We quickly stopped in a souvenir shop before walking back to the car.

And, sure enough, at 4pm on the dot (4 hours after his typical nap time), this little guy passed out in his car seat.

Little monkey.

We had so much fun with Auntie Katie here this week. It just felt so normal and EASY and comfortable having her here and I know Ishu loved spending time with her.

Her flight is not until later this evening so we’re going to try to squeeze in one more activity this morning before we say goodbye!

Hope you all had a happy weekend filled with summer activities and sunshine! And happy, happy MONDAY! May your coffee be the strongest.