Independence Day

Our next big adventure was heading in to Chicago on another day off work due to the National holiday. Yay July 4th! One of my very favorite holidays, for sure.  This day didn't go exactly as we had planned..which made for a great learning experience but we still saw some cool stuff

Navy Pier, where we had planned to watch fireworks, was packed with people and really cool to walk along. It was really super hot so we didn't stay, but I was told the firework show was fantastic. Kinda sad to have missed it. But that's ok

Inside the little "This is Navy Pier" story (which, actually was not little. It included many stores, gift shops, and a movie theatre), we came across this jungle room. AKA Greenhouse which was really awesome.  If you look closely at the fountains you'll see they were constructed in a way that the shooting water is JUST out of every person's reach (no matter how long your arms are) and is a constant stream of water, which I thought was cool. There must be some serious force behind that stream. All the palm trees, plants, etc, were real. Made me wish they had parrots in there too or something, but it was still a cool room.  

After stopping there we went to the beach. It, too, was absolutely PACKED with people. So after a quick dip and laying out for a little bit, we decided to call it a day and head home. Crowds just make things not quite as fun when it isn't family.  After taking a few wrong turns, and staying in the car a little too long, we finally made it home where we both took a nice nap, watched a few episodes of Lost, ate some dinner, and then decided to head to a firework show in our neighboring town to the south called Warrenville, and it ended up being pretty fun. 

We set up a nice little spot for us with our one blanket, and I pulled out the glow sticks I'd purchased for a dollar from Target (love that dollar section), and with those we had a great time!

I was pink and orange "Cause you're a girl," (Weston), and he got blue and green.  I thought some of these pictures were pretty cool.

Wolverine? Or special fingers....

we love glowing

Just before they started the show the fire department raised a flag while the Star Spangled Banner played (I think...it was really quiet), and then everyone cheered and we all sat back to enjoy the show.  I have to say it was one of the better shows I've ever been to.  Lots of fireworks! Multiple times I thought they were doing the "grand finale" only to catch me by surprise and keep on going. The real finale was AMAZING. I tried to catch a video on the ipad to post but was too late :( We were in high patriotic spirits when we returned home. Happy Birthday America!