One day, after the park, we went to Watertower Place. Leah and Juliet both had gift cards from their birthdays to spend here. We knew we were coming back on Leah's birthday, but because we also had to drive back to Michigan that day, I wanted to make sure we did our shopping before that so we could get out as early as possible. Juliet bought a new Wellie Wisher, a new outfit, and a sleeping bag. Leah got an outfit and Julie's pet rabbit. She also had a gift card for The Lego Store and got a few sets from there. We even got their dolls hair done in the salon. They were very happy.
We walked back to our hotel, and stopped at a crosswalk front of Trump Tower. The girls we booing and talking about how much they hate Trump. It was pretty funny.
The next day we went to The Shedd. This place never gets old.
We sat in the front row for the dolphin show, and this giant guy walked right by us. He's blind because someone shot him in the face when he was a baby. That part of the presentation always makes me cry. Also, when they talk about the dogs they've adopted and then bring them out. I know it's coming, but I can't help it.
This year Leah was a little more adventurous about toughing the sting rays. Juliet wanted nothing to do with it.
I loved watching these little sharks moving in their pouches. I thought it was the coolest thing. I wish human pregnancies were the same.
We had lunch outside. It was a little chilly, but always a lovely view.
Ok, so I was really enjoying my Shedd visit when we stopped by the Beluga whales to appreciate them. There weren't a lot of people there, and a worker came up to us asking if we had any questions. The girls asked some typical kid questions, and then I asked, "Where did you get these whales?" The guy totally clammed up and answered an unrelated question about how long they live and how big they get, then tried to walk away. I stopped him and said, "Are any of these whales captured from the wild?" I was half expecting that they were, but he was going to say they had some issues that would make it so they wouldn't survive in the wild. It turns out that most of them are bred in captivity, but at least 1 (maybe 2!?) are from the wild. He said that/those whale(s) has no issues that he is aware of. That made me so sad. I know The Shedd does a lot of conservation, but so does Sea World, and their Orca program was a disgrace. Now I feel like I need to research more about The Shedd before we can go back. I can't support a Blackfish type situation.
As usual, Leah loved touching everything possible. Juliet wanted nothing to do with any of it. I fell somewhere in between. I liked touching the sting rays, but passed on everything else. The poor starfish were mostly all huddled as far away from the "touch zone" as possible. It made me feel bad.
We walked back to our hotel, which wasn't too far (like 1.5 miles). Last year we stayed pretty far from The Shedd, and walked home. The girls remembered how long it was last year and complained about how far our hotel was, even though it wasn't as far.
We had to have a lot of talk about "city walking" this trip. On the way home from The Shedd, Leah ran to press one of the buttons to signal a walk signal at a cross walk. She accidentally cut off some guy on roller blades. He had to go around her pretty quickly, but didn't fall or anything. I immediately scolded her and reminded her to slow down, look around, and be more careful so that no one gets hurt. The guy on the roller blades stopped and told me to get control of my kid. I was so annoyed. What did he expect? I immediately reminded her what to do and apologized to him. It was like he wanted me to start smacking her.
No comments:
Post a Comment