March 14, 2023

 Today was a day of happy accidents. We began our day at the Shedd Aquarium. On the aquarium's main floor were various sections showing fish and other animals that would live in certain area (ponds, lakes, Amazon River, etc). We took our time looking at the different animals. After a couple sections Thom saw a virtual reality ride and the boys wanted to ride so we got tickets and went swimming virtually with the sharks. 

In the lower section of the aquarium was the beluga whales, sea lions, dolphins and otters. We watched two animal spotlights- one on penguins and one on the beluga whales. I think the beluga whales are beautiful. The boys liked watching them swim, make noises and jump. The Shedd has a neat underwater viewing area to see the animal swim around. We watched the belugas for awhile because they would swim right up to us. We saw some penguins and then found a little submarine that the boys liked to play with. The aquarium was nice but I really thought there would be more big water animals. 

We decided after the Shedd to take a walk back to the hotel along the lake. It was a little chilly and windy, but our hats and coats kept us warm. The sun was shining and it was so enjoyable to walk along the lake. 

Happy Accident #1: We happened to stumble upon the Maggie Daley Park on our walk which had an incredible playground- actually many playgrounds. There were different areas in the playground such as a ship, lighthouse, enchanted garden, climbing towers, etc. The boys loved trying each area and running to each new area. 

After over an hour of playing we kept moving toward Millennium Park to see the bean and get a few pictures. Our next stop was the river! The river was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day. The boys were so excited to see it!

On our walk back up Michigan Avenue we saw many interesting buildings. Our favorite was the Tribune building that had chunks of other important buildings built into the sides. For example there were samples of the Colosseum, St. Peter's, temples from around the world, the White House and many more! Happy Accident #2!

We headed back to the hotel and watched the Croods for while to relax. We couldn't figure out what we wanted for dinner but I remembered that we saw Unos just down the street so we decided that Rocky could get his cheeseburger he wanted and we could get some more deep dish pizza! It was just down the street so it was an easy walk, but when we got there we learned there was over an hour wait. Down the street we saw a restaurant called Pizzeria Duo so we decided to walk there. 

As we approached it we contemplated not going in, but asked a lady on the street and she said it was good so we went in! It was in the basement of a victorian home and was very small when we entered- maybe 10 tables with a bar. We were seated and welcomed by our wonderful waiter, Aaron. We learned from the menu that Duo was created by the same owner as Uno but when Uno became so popular they needed more space and built Duo. We loved the quaintness of it! The food was delicious, too! Happy Accident #3!