Chicago Day 2

I love it when Emma sleeps just a few minutes later in the morning and I have some unexpected time to myself!  So, here's what we did on Thursday in Chicago.

We decided that Thursday would be zoo day.  The zoo, and really everything else in Chicago, didn't open until 10:00am (what do people do before 10?  Do they not have kids?).  So we had to kill some time first, which we did by walking down Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile).  There are shops all down the street; of course, they weren't open yet, so we walked down to the river and took some pictures.

Watching Curious George in the room

After that, we headed to the zoo.  The Lincoln Park Zoo is free, which was pretty awesome.  Emma was in the stroller, which made it hard for her to see some of the animals.  Nick wanted to get her out for everything, but once she's out she really prefers to not go back in.  So that was fun.  She's too heavy to carry around all day.  She got to see a black bear, which she loved!  It walked back and forth in front of her.  She kept signing "more." 

She also loved the monkeys, chimpanzees and gorillas.  I learned the difference between monkeys and apes...apes don't have tales and monkeys do.  I never knew that.  They had some huge gorillas that sat right next to the window so she could put her face right up to them.  Unfortunately a lot of the animals weren't out or were hiding inside because it was so hot.  We saw some zebras, camels, kangaroos, giraffes, ducks, flamingos, birds, penguins and many more, but Emma was starting to wear down by then.  We were able to see a couple of lions, who were lying next to the glass. 

They had this cool little farm area with cows, pigs, goats and ponies, but Emma fell asleep before we got there.  Although it was really really hot, Emma seemed to enjoy all the animals.  Nick and I had a lot of fun watching her reaction to the animals.  This was the first time that she was old enough to kind of know what was going on.  She would get excited and point to an animal and ask "What's that?" which actually sounds something like "ooh dat." 

After the zoo, we all had naptime before dinner.  We ate at Cheesecake Factory, which was less than a block from our hotel.  Emma kept staring and waving at the people sitting beside us.  The entire time.  She has suddenly become this social little person, which is funny.  She needs constant attention from everyone.  The restaurant was downstairs, and like most places we went in Chicago, not too stroller friendly.  We had to take Emma out, take out all of our stuff, fold up the stroller and carry it all down steps.  We looked for an elevator on the way out, but we only needed to go up one level and the elevators all skipped that floor.  It was bizarre.  We were really surprised how many places were like that.  We had a hard time maneuvering around Chicago with a baby. 

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory

Cheesecake Factory is down the steps