Chicago with kids

My husband and I will be coming to Chicago with our kids ages 9, 7 %26amp; 4 in July. We will be arriving via train from St. Louls and are staying in a condo at the entrance to Navy Pier. Address is 480 McClurg. We plan to go to Navy Pier, Shedds Aquarium, Sears Tower or the John Hancock Building, and on a river/lake boat tour. We also plan to let the kids swim at the lake. We%26#39;re also thinking of going to the Lincoln Park zoo. How does this zoo compare to the St. Louis Zoo? We will probably also walk down Mich. ave and go in some of the stores. Which do you recommend? How many of these activites will we be able to walk too? What other form of transportation do you recommend? What other activities/sights do you recommend?

Any advise will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Drewzy

Chicago with kids

Also, will we be able to see the Navy Pier fireworks from our condo?

Chicago with kids

Walking depends on how much you (and your children) can tolerate. Navy Pier, Swimming, Boat Tour, and Michigan Ave. shouldn%26#39;t be a problem. The Aquarium and Zoo are best reached by bus. Go to www.transitchicago.com for information and to purchase passes in advance. The Hancock (which I prefer) and Sears Tower are a toss up. I%26#39;d plan for at least 1/2 hour to the Hancock, but you can easily couple this with a Michigan Avenue stroll. The Sears Tower is no more than a few blocks from Union Station, where you%26#39;ll be arriving, but walking from your condo would take close to an hour.

As for stores, you%26#39;ll find almost 100% chain stores on the Mag Mile. It%26#39;s hard to recommend one because they%26#39;re so contingent on personal taste. There are also four (by my count) malls along this stretch as well. Tourists seem to love Garrett%26#39;s Popcorn, although I%26#39;m not sure why. It%26#39;s really just regular-old-popcorn you can get anywhere else. For a while, I thought they hired actors to pretend to be waiting in line.

With fireworks, I think you%26#39;ll be out of luck at that building, but I can%26#39;t say that for sure. If you aren%26#39;t facing East, you definitely won%26#39;t be able to see them. Also, those buildings are relatively short, so I%26#39;m doubtful you%26#39;ll be able to see over the neighboring high rises. You might get lucky though.

I%26#39;d consider going to the Museum of Science and Industry if you haven%26#39;t already been. Your kids are the perfect age to start enjoying the exhibits there. Finally, there is a big movie theater and bowling alley right across Illinois Street from where you%26#39;ll be staying. I figure that%26#39;s a good backup plan in case of inclement weather.

Enjoy your trip!

Will you be able to see the fireworks? How high a floor is your apartment, and does it have a lake view? You may be able to see some of the fireworks, but I wouldn%26#39;t count on it. There are several high-rises between McClurg Court and Navy Pier.

You can walk to the beach from your condo, or go to North Avenue/Fullerton beach on the day you go to the zoo. Weekdays will be significantly less crowded.

You can walk to most of the places on your list. For Shedd Aquarium and the zoo, take a bus or cab (for 5 people it will cost nearly the same total $, so I would just grab a cab.) There is also a free trolley system, but it does get overloaded, not so great when you have a group.

Instead of the Sears, try the SIgnature restaurant at the Hancock for an early or late lunch. The views are great, the food is not bad, and they do have a children%26#39;s menu.

The zoo is nice because you can go early in the morning and then walk to the beach from there. Or vice versa. I really like the zoo. The new gorilla exhibit is pretty cool. The beach is easily accessible via an underground ped way.

As for Garretts popcorn you have to try it. It%26#39;s so good. Try the caramel/cheese mix. But watch your hands - they will turn orange!

Drewzy, you%26#39;ll need to check the bacteria levels in the water each day before you allow your kids to swim in the Lake.

I don%26#39;t know how the Lincoln Park Zoo compares to the St. Louis Zoo, but we thought the Lincoln Park Zoo was very nice and your kids should enjoy it. (Also, it%26#39;s free)

As for any museums that you want to visit (Shedd Aquarium or Museum of Science and Industry)--get there when they open! They both get very crowded within an hour or two of opening and you%26#39;ll really appreciate that hour or so of relative ';emptiness'; before the crowds roll in. We always did this and by the time we left in early afternoon to grab lunch elsewhere, the museums were jam-packed.

pgo - the neighborhood schools all have camps during the week that take a walk to the beach, so it%26#39;s still pretty crowded. However, these kid groups tend to bunch around the life guards so it%26#39;s easy to move away.

Drewzy - North Avenue beach is a nice walk north from where you are and has great facilities - decent restrooms, a pizza and burger place or Castaways, which is the restaurant upstairs to give you that great vacation feeling. You can also rent bicycles there and bike almost 30 miles along the lakefront if the mood takes you. The pedestrian bridge you%26#39;%26#39;ll see from there takes you to the zoo parking lot, so the beach/zoo is a great day.

Don%26#39;t know SL zoo, but live three blocks away from LP zoo and almost know the animals%26#39; personalities. Great place; it%26#39;s a conservation zoo so has interesting info as well as animals. Go to the web site - www.lpzoo.org - to see if there%26#39;s anything specific going on at that time.

If you go to Navy Pier go inside - there is a great hall of mirrors, which also has some static electricity experiments etc. I stayed outside with my 4 year old but the older two had a blast. Navy Pier also has a Children%26#39;s Museum which would be fun for all your kids and something to bear in mind if we have a summer downpour.

The St. Louis Zoo seemed larger than the Lincoln Park Zoo. Also, you will be walking the Lincoln Park Zoo as there is no zoo train or tram like St. Louis. The zoo is easy to walk around in unless there is some special event which would attract large crowds. On hot days, the underwater viewing area for the sea lions is a cool place to take a break from the heat (that seems to be the only place in the zoo that is air-conditioned). In my opinion, concessions at the zoo are overpriced, so if you are planning on having lunch at the zoo I would suggest trying out a restaurant in the neighborhood instead of eating at the zoo.

';What other form of transportation do you recommend? What other activities/sights do you recommend? ';

Public transit information - transitchicago.com. A CTA visitor pass might come in handy for your visit. You can get them at Union Station.

Take a look at metromix.com. You can enter your dates on a calendar to see what%26#39;s going on here during your visit. You can also do dining searches.

Getting around Chicago with kids that age is remarkably easy. We visit from Seattle every summer and always have a great time. The free trolley%26#39;s will get you to or near almost all of the sightseeing hot spots. You sometimes have to wait and they can be crowded at times but well worth the convenience. For $5-$10 dollars you can also take the water taxi from Navy Pier down the Chicago river to the Sears Tower or along the shore of Lake Michigan to the Shedd Aquarium. We haven%26#39;t visited the other museums because we typically do a day trip in the city but the Field Museum and Museum of Science %26amp; Industry have great exhibits for kids.

Stores on Michigan? Many choices but the two my kids like are American Girl ($) for my 6 yr old daughter and the Lego Store for my 5 year son. You can walk Michigan Ave to these stores from Water Tower Place but take the trolley to/from Navy Pier, Lincoln Park zoo and the other attractions.

Lincoln Park zoo is nice because it%26#39;s very accessible and scenic since its set in the city. However, it%26#39;s not a large zoo with the exhibits you%26#39;d find at Brookfield (Chicago%26#39;s largest zoo).