Category Archives: Chicago Mom Tip

Snippets

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People who see Jack’s hair often ask me where I get it cut. Believe me, Jack had a lot of lopsided haircuts before I found the perfect hair dresser. Theresa at Snippets in Lincoln Park is amazing. She is so good I’ve even considered getting my haircut by her.

Ben picks the Police Car

They have these cute little vehicles for the kids to sit in while watching G rated TV shows like Dora and Diego. On the other side there are a bunch of TVs with video games for older kids. They also have a small assortment of toys for kids to play with while waiting. And finally, stickers and lollypops for deserving, freshly cut kids.

Jack prefers the Silver Convertible

Some of you remember that I bought our Firemen Raincoat and Boots from this place. They also sell cute girly purses and hair accessories that I like to peruse, even though, sadly, I’ll probably never get the chance to buy them.

Haircuts are only $10 each and last about 15 or 20 minutes, not including tip.

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Finally! The Beach

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I know summer started over a month ago. And for weeks now it’s been the kind of heat wave just perfect for beach weather. But so far it hasn’t worked out to organize a day for one of my favorite summer past times, beach days.

Digging a huge hole is hours of entertainment

From our house it’s only a 20 minute jog in the stroller so we took advantage of the chance to multi-task, exercising our way to our destination. And miss out on the expensive and limited parking.

Since this was the first beach visit this year, the changes from last year were quite noticeable. Jack has completely lost his fear of water and is on his way to becoming a swimmer.

Conquering the Water

Ben, on the other hand, did not change much from last year. He is still eating lots of dirt. He face planted a few times, and some were even on purpose! Luckily it’s Ben and nothing seems to upset him.

Sandy Faced Ben with the Hancock Building Behind

The Chicago Beaches are great. Most are wheel chair accessible. Ben is sitting in front of the ramp that goes all the way to the water and there are little alcoves to park your stroller on. Also North Avenue Beach has bathroom in the fake boat structure as well as a place to eat and a small convenience store. And don’t forget the outdoor showers. It’s the only way to clean off a bit before heading home. Did I mention the ice cream peddlers come by often?

Morning Ice Cream Break

It was a great prelude to our trip to the Cayman Islands, where I plan to spend every day on the pristine and practically private beach in front of our resort. An endless sandpit + an endless amount of water = an endless amounts of fun.

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Blueberry Picking

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I know what you are thinking. After Strawberry picking, why would I subject myself to another round of manual labor, followed by the challenge of trying to consume a huge vat of the same fruit again?

The answer? I have no idea.

I must admit I approached today (which was well over 90°), with trepidation. I envisioned another day where I not only did manual labor, but over paid for the privilege in expensive fruit.

Well, I was delighted to learn that blueberries, unlike strawberries, do not grow on the ground. You do not need to crouch over in the heat to pick them. Much nicer to stand and forage than squat. Although they don’t fill a bucket as easily as an apple, they don’t cost an arm and a leg either.

Ben ate every blueberry he could pick, even the green ones.

Our friends, the Hutchinsons invited us on an annual tradition they have with a group of lovely friends of theirs.

The Hutchinson 4, soon to be 5...

They organize a trip to State Line Blueberries in Michigan City, IN. It took about 1 and 1/2 hours to get there, or in kid terms, the length of one movie.

In the end, after a chat about our upcoming vacation and the fact that we completely over picked with strawberries, we ended up with a 10 pound bucket of blueberries. What I learned from this is that we don’t learn from past mistakes, even after we talk about how we should learn from them.

The cost? $15 for TEN POUNDS! And that does not include all the free ones we stuffed in our faces before we paid!

State Line Blueberries

After all the doubt I will say we had a lovely time. Living in big cities for over 15 years can really make a person appreciate fresh air, open space, and the simple pleasure of gardening. Best of all, big city or not, it is always a joy spending the day with friends.

 

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The Elusive Pirate Park

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I first heard of it from my friend Pam. But after accidently wandering to it one day, she was unable to find it again. Today my playground expert friend, AKA Playground Pointers, showed me the way to the park that is such a secret that it doesn’t even have a name.

The Park with No Name

It seemed like it was in a valley, surrounded by tall residential buildings on all sides. It was not far from Millennium Park, where we jogged to this morning to see Mr. Singer. Again. That makes for 4 shows in 2 weeks.

Mr Singer Groupies

Back to the no name park. It had sprinklers in the center, a pirate shaped play structure, swings, and another boat-like structure that actually rocked back and forth. Soft surface. Surprisingly comfortable benches with shade and nice shrubbery. During our visit a Mom blew bubbles for all the kids. Another Dad filled water balloons for the whole park.

Jack pretends we are sailing to the Cayman Islands

Besides the park itself, right outside of the gate there is a great open lawn area. But the best bit was copious amounts of fountains. I think we spent as much time playing in the fountains as the actual park.

Jack, Josephine, and Lillian

No bathrooms nearby, so I found myself in a porta potty on a construction site. Crouching in that smelly cell while holding both of Ben’s hands so he didn’t touch anything was the low point of the day for sure. The good news is the construction site is building a Fresh Market and other stores so I’m sure there will be a bathroom there soon.

Surprisingly the highlight of my day had nothing to do with finding a park that I’ve wanted to see for years. It was a tense moment when I was yelling at Ben to sit in the stroller on the L platform. Jack looked over, saw him crying and gave him his Elmo. He stopped crying immediately. I couldn’t have been prouder of Jack for that display of empathy and problem solving ability.

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Adams Playground Park

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We are very lucky in Chicago to have such an incredible Park District. If I wanted to, I could go to a different playground every day for the summer. In fact I have a friend doing just that! In August my friend Mistie is launching Playground Pointers, a website directory on public playgrounds. If you want to learn more now, you can ‘like’ her facebook page to get updates on the progress. If the site is anything like the woman, it will be thoughtful, thorough and interesting.

Some are better than others and every day I’m so happy we are lucky enough to live close to Adams Playground Park.

Jack with his Cutie Patootie Friend Josephine

In the summer there is a great water park, separated by a gate. Big enough for pre-teens to enjoy and safe enough for toddlers.

Ben give Mommy a Hat

It also has a great sand box with lots of toys that are there permanently.

Soft surface, swings, a see saw, picnic benches and two play structures.

And most importantly, it has a bathroom! The bathroom has hours, only open from 9-5 during the week and sometimes if you are lucky there are weekend hours.

Be warned, one of the entrances has no gate. Also, the water park is only open certain hours. Check the schedule before you go so you don’t disappoint your kids! There is a link on the park district website for Adams Park.

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Hidden Creek Aqua Park Fun

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We had a great day at the Hidden Creek Water Park today. With the husbands along, it made for a much more enjoyable, less stressful morning. It was super hot and gloriously sunny so the water felt great.

Believe it or not, we actually decided NOT to get the membership. For our family of three (Ben doesn’t count yet) it would cost $251. And the park is only open May 28th until September 5th. With the weather in Chicago, who knows how many times you could feasibly use it.

Instead we paid $12 for each non resident over 3 years old, a total of $36. Doing the math we’d have to visit 7 times to start saving money.

The water park occupied the boys for hours, and Jack didn’t even get to the sand pit. There was also a deep pool (6 lanes) with diving board and two slides for older kids which I’m hoping the boys will grow to in years to come. What else? A water playground with dumping bucket and slide, a huge zero-depth entry pool with smaller slide, water fountain sprays and a structure that funnels water that you can move around and vary the water pressure. They have lounge chairs everywhere and we were there early enough to be able to get ones under an umbrella for shade. Also a grassy area to picnic and a concessions stand to buy a picnic at.

I’m on a mission to check out all the water parks in the ‘burbs this summer but let’s see if we run out of summer days as perfect as today before I can complete it…

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Millennium Park Family Fun Festival

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Today we checked out the Millennium Park Family Fun Festival.

The performer was the same singer we had at Ben’s 2nd birthday, which I think motivated us more. I know it kept me running instead of walking the 4.5 miles for fear I’d miss the start of the show.

Afterwards we spent the morning running in the fountain…

Followed by a lovely picnic on the lawn with the mom posse, with music wafting from the Petrillo band shell.

Just another fun filled summer day in Chicago! Summer in Chicago make winter all worth it. Or maybe winter make you appreciate summer more?!

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Lil Sluggers

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My good friend Pam did the research on this one, so I can’t take any credit. But after our first session of Lil Sluggers, I must say I’m so excited that we decided to sign up.

He's a Natural!

It was a glorious Chicago morning, we sat on picnic blankets watching someone else coach our children with more energy, patience, and knowledge than I was personally capable of. I was able to run behind the jogging stroller to the baseball field in 40 minutes along Michigan lake, there was a playground nearby where we played some more and picnicked. It was one of those moments where I was full of gratitude for my stay at home mom status.

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Brookfield Zoo

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Membership mom. That should be my new name. Seems like every time we go check out a new place I end up buying a membership. It seems to work out that if you go a few more times that year it’s cheaper.

So when we ended up at the Brookfield Zoo last week, I became a member there too.

Three Moms, Seven Boys

It’s actually a bit of everything thrown into one. Not only can you ride a carousel, play at two different playgrounds, picnic on the grounds, get ice cream and ride a tram around the park but you can actually see lots of animals too! We even got in a dolphin show!

Getting 7 boys to sit requires lots of snacks

We spent the entire day there and still missed half of it. So I’m glad we can go back ‘for free’. I’m looking forward to petting the sting rays, riding the motor safari and seeing the butterflies.

The cons are, with traffic it can be far and like most things attractions in the suburbs it’s huge and crowded. The pros are it’s unlike anything you’ve been to before, your kids will never get bored (lost maybe but never bored!).

If we were to buy the day pass with access to all shows for one mom $26.50 and one kid over 3 $20.50 plus parking $9.00 it would have been $56.00. The family membership plus, which admits 2 adults, all children plus 1 guest each time, 6 guest passes, 4 dolphin show tickets, 4 motor safari tickets, free admission to the family and children zoo AND FREE PARKING all for $108.

Rhino exhibit's most interesting feature - The Moat in front

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A Musical Summer

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Last Thursday afternoon we met some friends in the park. As it turns out, they were having a concert that evening.

At first I was apprehensive about staying for a concert that started at 6:30pm, on a day where the kids hardly napped, and they needed a bath, and my husband had a work dinner that night. The thought of an early bedtime and a cocktail with mindless girly TV was calling me.

Still I was curious how they would react. After all, we just booked a singer for Ben’s 2nd birthday…

Dancing with Super Stolie

As you can see, they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Which made me wonder, what other music can we seek out this summer?

1. The band at Adam’s park that evening actually has a summer schedule … Super Stolie Summer Schedule.

2. Mr Singer. This is the person coming to Ben’ birthday. Sometimes we go see him at the farm at the Zoo. Kids love him! The Sharp Cookies Schedule. A small donation is suggested but not necessary.

3. Whole Foods. For rainy days or days you need to shop, the Whole Foods in Lincoln Park welcomes Bubbles Academy to it’s stage from 10 to 10:30. It gets crowded so go early if you want a good spot.

4. Millienium Park. They put on the The Family Fun Festival from June 13 to August 21st. The free show, by Wiggleworms (Old Town School of Folk Music) has a show every day at 10am. There is also a whole pavilion of stuff to do.

5. Ravinia. Every so often they have a kids concert. For city folk, it’s quite exciting to have a big lawn to spread out on. Here is the full Ravinia Schedule, all the kids concerts are shown with parentheses.

This summer I’m going to try to hit all of the above at least once. If anyone wants to join me for some of these activities, let’s set it up!

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