This week many of the city’s museums are free for Chicago Public Schools.

Normally with Ben I avoid situations like this, as they sound overcrowded and therefore stressful for him.

But Ben is back in school so I tried it out with the three other kids.

I picked the Field Museum because chances of me buying a membership is pretty slim. 

The day I picked was all a free day to all Chicago residents.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t overcrowded. I makes me think I should check out more museum free days in Chicago!

The kids really enjoyed seeing Sue, though I hear she will soon be replaced by Titanosaur, a $16.5 million dollar gift from Ken Griffin, Illinois richest man.

First we walked the “Evolving Planet” exhibit. The kids loved all the fossils, and this time they didn’t run through it like they normally do. They actually stopped and hopefully learned a few things. 

This exhibit starts in time, 3.5 billion years ago and leads us to the present. It has some amazing fossils.

Sitting on a dinosaur bone!

I was quite alarmed to walk through and see at that 6 mass extinctions have already occurred on earth. Makes me wonder when the next apocalypse will be!

They also wanted to check out the Ancient Egyptian exhibit, to which I thank the creators of Scooby Doo for. After watching “Where is my Mummy” a thousand times, they were ripe with curiousity.

We also spent time in the Regenstein Halls of the Pacific.

Look and Find exhibit

As well as the Crown Family Play Lab.

Playing with in the Pueblo Home.

Discovering specimens

Excavating bones

Hanging out in a Dinosaur nest.

The music room.

The music room.

The kids were exhausted after just 3 hours, so we stopped for a pretzel in the lawn outside.

The Willis Tower (formerly Sears) in the background.

It was a wonderful day out. How lucky are we to have this right in our backyard?