#72. Urban Excursions

Two Ravenswood (one of the neighborhoods we identify with) twins ready to take on the city!

The twins love living in Chicago and are currently obsessed with all of the different vehicles always zooming by:  garbage trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, police, jeeps, motorcycles, taxis (the ones with 'numbers...on the top'), and, most importantly, Chicago public transport.  So, we have been taking advantage of the great weather and summer break time to 'hop on' to public transport and do some exploring!

Our first excursion was to visit Papa at work downtown and join him for lunch.  To get there, we took the Metra train (that zips by our house several times daily...the twins call it 'Papa's train') from Ravenswood Station, a five minute walk from our house.

Yay, yay, we get to ride the train today!!

Heading up to the train tracks!

Sitting and waiting for the train

Standing and waiting for the train (now where exactly is our train, Daddy??)!

The train did finally arrive and the 15+ minute ride downtown was equally pleasant for both the twins and their dad, who enjoyed the silence coming from two wide-eyed toddlers watching the city pass by!

Papa met us at the station as soon as we stepped off the train

A quick walk over the Chicago River bridge and the twins arrived at Papa's office

Lunch on the Chicago River

The food was great, but watching and waving at all the boats floating by was the best part!

Thanks for lunching with us, Papa...hope you enjoy the rest of your work day!

Our dynamic, downtown duo

For our second summer adventure we hopped on the Damen city bus (about a 10 minute walk from our house) and headed down to a park and lunch in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

Hey bus driver, don't forget us!!

Not all city bus stops have nice bench seating for the wait...these two didn't seem to mind!

All aboard!

Lots of great people watching on the city bus

A new park meant new things to ride...

and a teeter-totter!

Conductor Clare has this train under control

Practicing 'eating lunch' in the park before our actual lunch 

Goofy faces in the diner while we wait for food

French fries are so much better standing up!

Daddy finding out (and looking a little creepy in the process) that it's harder to take daddy-daughter selfies with his new camera (a Canon EOS Rebel doesn't exactly fit in your pocket!)

Daddy, what's that robot??  Almost 3, but still so much to learn...saying goodbye to R2-D2 on the way out

Someone was all tuckered out on the bus ride home!

Our latest public transport adventure was to take the L Train downtown to Millennium Park.   The Damen Brown line stop is about a 15 minute walk from our place (though we drove to the station to save some time and energy...mainly Daddy's!).

Taking a moment to pause on the rusty stairs walked upon by hundreds of commuters daily!

Happy to be headed to 'the Loop'

Luke spotted the train and couldn't contain his excitement (I think)!

Enjoying the L train experience!

Descending the L train stairs on the way to another downtown adventure

We had to make stop for a photo opp at the Art Institute...some day we will have to do more here than roar at the lions!

Next, we made our way to the Crown fountain...

...but they weren't working right (no water!!) which led the twins to learn a new phrase...'that's a big bummer'!

So, the highlight for the day would have to be the Bean (Cloud Gate, formally)!

Our two little beans in front of the big Bean

Luke was clearly mesmerized looking up inside the Bean (he said he saw lots and lots of fishies)...Clare on the other hand...?!?

They did wave at all of the people (who look like ants marching around on the glass structure)

Papa took a lunch break and joined us at Millennium Park where we sat and listened to an orchestra for a short while

Time to head back north!!

Catching up on some reading on the ride back home

Can't believe these two can already fill these seats...looking forward to more fun trips and adventures in the future!