Water Day!

Sunday was our water day.  We met up with Meredith and her mom to kidnap the birthday girl for a splashily fun outing at the Millennium Park fountains and Bean, and the Shedd Aquarium.

Every city should have gigantic video installations that spit water on you, but as far as we can tell, Chicago stands alone.  The kids loved these when they were toddlers and love them even more now.

And, who doesn't want a sculpture that serves as a the world's cutest mirror?  Hello, Bean!

After getting soaked, the kids dried off in the lakefront breeze as we hiked the mile or so to the Shedd. 

The Shedd is full of plain fish, exotic fish, freaky fish, jelly fish, red fish and blue fish.  Plus, a bunch of Beluga whales, a few dolphins, some sharks, a lot of rays, some turtles, sea horses, penguins and a bunch of starfish and urchins you can touch.  Meredith--aka, Harper's Shadow--had a blast.  As did Harper, who rarely finds someone who sees her as an authoritative source on life :)  Penn saw what it might be like to have two sisters and seemed relieved when he got back to having just one :)

From the Shedd, we walked through a tunnel and rolled down a hill to dinner.

We wound up picking a pizza place largely because it was near the museum campus in the South Loop, only to find that it's one of the hoppin'est places in Chicago and Alyson and Meredith's favorite.  Another day, another randomly chosen restaurant with a line well out the door and down the block.  As seasoned Rochester pizza veterans, we were underwhelmed with Chicago pizza--a bit bland--but loved the gorgonzola and mushroom salad and wings.  And, the kids loved the chocolate chip pizza.  So, good enough to end another 12 hour day!