Here we are, back in Chicago...heading in to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We wanted to go there on Saturday for a couple different reasons. #1 - it's a zoo, we have a baby. Duh. #2 - it's a free zoo. Hello, who doesn't love free?!? #3 - on this particular day they were doing a Kid's Halloween event, so we thought it would be fun. It was crazy crowded...like thousands of children dressed up in costumes running around. Crazy busy. But, we still had a good time.
We saw some zebras.
And some gorgeous fall color.
Of course, there were really good looking babies around too. :)
With good looking daddies, who carry them around. :)
My loves.
Oh yeah, back to the animals...lions.
And even flamingos.
There were several different entertainment sites set-up. This guy was basically a hype-boy, getting everyone excited. We stopped for a bit and Karis danced with a chicken and a princess. :)
Because it was so crowded, we decided to head on over to the farm animals. We figured it was more interactive than the other parts of the zoo and it would be less crowded since there wasn't a trick-or-treating section over there.
We saw some pigs and cows...chickens and miniature ponies.
They had a fabulous garden area.
We stopped for a couple family pictures. This one cut John off a bit.
This was probably take 6 and Karis' attention had clearly been diverted to the animals somewhere else. :)
And then, we stumbled into the gold mine. Seriously, if you have small kids and you're in Chicago you need to head to the Main Barn at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Remember, it's free, people! Go!
This place was awesome. There were all kinds of interactive games, teaching areas inside of here. It could easily entertain children for hours...and it's inside so it wasn't cold. Win-win, folks.
This game that Karis is playing with her daddy was some kind of simulator for a feeding machine. I'm not really sure. I never played it. They did, for a while. :)
In one of the corners were baby chicks and all kinds of information about chicks and eggs and their development, etc. This was a row of eggs that kids could crawl in and through.
Pretty cute chick, eh?!?
It took us a while to get her to realize she could go through the other side, but she got it.
In the center of the room was a ginormous John Deere tractor. I was going to take a picture of Karis and John, when a nice man came up and offered to get one of all of us. Thank you, sir.
Now, the piece de resistance for actual play fun were these huge tractor tires they had piled up in the corner for kids to crawl on. Karis loved it. There were easily 6-8 kids on these at any given time. In an effort to not be a creeper and get other people's kids in our pictures, I only got a few shots.
She also loved trying to put stuff in her mouth. Shocker.
Seriously, I highly recommend the zoo...and please don't forget the barn...to anyone traveling to Chicago with their kids. We did Chicago for super cheap. It's one of the perks that big cities offer, lots of free options. I think some people overlook them, but it's totally worth it.
After the zoo we caught a bus nearly back to the hotel, we stopped at a Chipotle for lunch. Then back to the hotel so Baby Girl could catch a nap.
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