Shedd Aquarium

After our small fiasco of an experience in Chicago for the 4th (we really didn't plan well and therefore didn't know where to go or what to do/see) we decided to go ahead and purchase this cool thing they have in Chicago as well as other big cities like New York and Houston that is a coupon book for 50% off 5 (or more) main attractions for the specific city you purchase it for.  Our CityPass included fast passes to Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, The Skydeck, the Art Museum, Industrial Science Museum, Chicago Observatory and the Planetarium . You got the Skydeck, Field Museum, and Aquarium for sure, and then had to choose 2 of the other 4 to go see. Only catch is you have to do it all in nine days...

So on the Sunday following the fourth we decided to go in to the city and hit up the Aquarium and museum all in one day. Two for one, right? Well...that's what we though.  We made a few stops along the way to admire the awesome detail of architecture around us. I loved these big metal doors and the balcony above- lots of pretty flowers up there and neat stone work. I just love the texture of older looking buildings like this one. The more modern ones are just so boring.  I guess that's the artsy in me coming out. 

I also really love the Roman Column look. Very regal. Inside this building, I believe, was a hand-carved marble staircase to at least the second floor. The building was closed so we couldn't go inside to look at it but through the revolving doors it was a grande thing to behold. 

A nice view of the skyline for Museum Park. There are so many buildings here!  Weston always reminds me how amazing this city really is because all of what you see was made by people like me and you. Humans really are an incredible species. I wonder if God is pleased with the things that we've developed and created thus far architecture wise. I sure think it's amazing

The aquarium itself was PACKED. We figured, it being Sunday, everyone would be at home with their families after a long week of work...WRONG. Lots of Asians and Indians, pushing and shoving to get a good view, and people pushed up against the glass to get a look at whatever fish was in a certain habitat. We made sure to NOT be annoying in our browsing, only stopping time to time to snap pics of our favorite things. Like this baby alligator.  Cute little guy!

I mainly took this picture for my in-laws who introduced me to the wonderful Ipad game of Pocket Frogs (which I spend way too much of my time playing..you breed and sell frogs to get certain colors and designs and win awards, etc..super fun) but I didn't know frogs in real life could be as colorful as the ones that I breed in the game! 

He was amazed at the size of the fish in this section

And I wanted a picture with the Piranhas. They were mean lookin buggers. 

This was the biggest FISH I had ever seen. Looked more like a baby whale than a fish. Probably 300 lbs, solid, scaly fish.  And there are bigger ones out there!

These little guys were fun.  Glowing blue and darting back and forth in a pack. I liked them :)

This got me excited for their "Jellies" attraction going on for the next week or so. They'd advertised it well.  so pretty!

The coral reef was probably our favorite! So many colors and different kinds of fish that were so many shapes and sizes and colors. It was a little mind boggling. It would be so fun to create all these fun looking creatures! I probably would have stayed here a lot longer if there weren't so many people trying to squish against the windows. Very, very cool

and I especially loved these bright pink starfish!

Blurry, but our faces probably looked like this most of the day

weird lookin dude

SHARK! Only about a 12 footer but it still gave me chills...

Sting Rays that were HUGE!

I took this with my nephew, Jason, in mind. He had an infatuation with "Memo" for the longest time. In real life clown fish are TINY little things! I always pictured them about salmon sized for some reason...

You can't really tell but this fish's fins were completely rainbow when the light hit them right. I found that very pleasing to my eye

The BIGGEST lobster I have ever seen. No joke it was probably as long as me upper body.  Would make a yummy dinner!

The Jellies! I was disappointed they didn't have any of the really big purple kind they had advertised, but there were tons and tons of different kinds. Transparent ones, yellow ones, baby ones no bigger than a pinhead....Super cool!

But or favorite part of the whole day was the dolphin/whale show. They had them doing leaps in the air and splashing and waving to the crowd. No flips but it was still fun to watch them. Dolphins I think are my new favorite animal. They're just so cute! More than anything I loved watching Weston's face during the show. He loved those things even more than I did I think. Awe :)

This is the outside of the Aquarium, obviously. Such cool architecture. And a great view of the lake front!

There were lots of people sailing, which was fun to watch. And the breeze off the lake cooled us down a little bit. 

Luckily we were able to have someone snap this shot of the both of us before heading back to the train. By the time we got out of the aquarium it was 5:45ish. And both of us were too tired of crowds to do another attraction that day. But it was a day very well spent!

Cool fountain on our way back home.... can't really tell but the green things (once copper) are dragons. Lots really neat old detail in this fountain.

Another cool fountain...

Building after building after building after building....  We walked an hour to the train and they never ceased- and continued on much further than we walked! what a crazy place!