Chicago Trip - Morton Arboretum

On Wed. morning we left for Chicago. We had the van packed, and toys, CDs, and activities along to keep the kids entertained on our 6+ hour trip. I was a little nervous about the length of the trip, but I had no need to be. Aiden and Kiera did a great job! As we got into Chicago, our first stop was to the Morton Arboretum. After taking an unintentional detour we got to the arboretum with about an hour to spend in the Children's Garden before it closed at 5:00. It was awesome! The kids really enjoyed the time we spent there. They had paths, stepping stones across ponds and brooks, rocks to climb on, tree houses, slides made out of tree trunks, a toddler maze made up of evergreen trees and more! Despite it being almost 100 degrees out, we had a great time on our first outing.

I took along crayons and coloring books for the ride. To make it easier to color, I brought along a couple of cookie sheets and magnet clips to hold the coloring page in place. Aiden and Kiera got a kick out of using the cookie sheets. They both colored for awhile and then used the cookie sheets as drums.

Aiden and Kiera on the stepping stones that go through a pond.

Lisa, Kiera, Aiden, and Josh on the stepping stones.

Aiden spent quite a bit of time crouching on the stepping stones in the brook and exploring what was in the water.

Kiera was trying to crouch like Aiden along side the brook and reach her hand in, and ended up taking a little dip in the brook. If you look closely, you can tell that her shorts and shirt are pretty wet. Aiden had a great time climbing on the big pile of rocks.

Josh is trying to help Kiera across the ropes. This ended up being a very big mistake. Josh threw his back out while trying to swing Kiera off the ropes and safely onto the ground. This happened last Wed. and almost a week later he is still in extreme pain and on prescription pain meds.

Aiden loved this rope bridge that he went across more than once!

Kiera is going under the roots of a big tree to get to the ladder that takes her up to the slide

Aiden is going down the tree trunk slide!

Kiera and Aiden pumping the water in the garden. They really love playing in water!

Once you got through the maze you ended up at this very cool tree house of sorts. Aiden loved running through the maze and hiding from me and Kiera!