Oak Park

I've done it!  I have found the neighborhood that I will live in for the rest of my life. Of course it requires that Ethan's starting salary out of school is a million dollars and only goes up from there, but that's real life right?
Okay in seriousness, on June 20th Kelsey and I took an adventure around Oak Park and I fell in love instantly. Oak Park is the home of Frank Lloyd Wright so naturally many of the homes were unique in style but all of the homes were gorgeous. The Frank Lloyd Wright historic district has dedicated itself to making sure that it lives up to its Wright name and lets just say, they do not disappoint!

Unlike the rest of Chicago, the Wright district had a very "normal" neighborhood feel to it. The streets were quite, the houses were square with multiple stories, none of them had gates, and they all had yards. Yes YARDS! Front and back and side! It was crazy!! I must be getting used to my temporary surroundings because when I saw that neighborhood it felt weird! Kelsey and I didn't venture into any of the Wright homes, but still had a great time.

We started the day off by going to the Oak Park conservatory. It was rather small so we weren't here too long but it was still really pretty. This one was especially fun because it had three parrots in cages. They were eating lunch so we couldn't get them to talk, but one did squawk when Kelsey tried to poke him. While we were at this conservatory it finally dawned on me why they have so many conservatories in Chicago. My guess is that they are trying to give people a place to go to escape the winter blues.A place to be warm and see green and feel humid even if its only for a couple of hours. Just a thought.

After the conservatory we made our way to the rest of Oak Park. Of course along the way we saw some amazing churches. Fun fact that I just learned! There are 352 catholic cathedrals in the Chicago! They really are beautiful. We have yet to go inside of one, but that is on next weeks list so we'll see where the wind takes us!!

This is Unity Temple. It is one of Wright's first pieces of work and many say that it is kinda what started all of modern architectural design. I'm sure the inside is cool. The out side was interesting but I think I prefer the Gothic cathedral look.

Parking was really easy which was nice, but once we found or place we started our walking tour. My side kick was having one of the best days since we have gotten to Utah so it was especially fun! Who wouldn't have fun though when you look this cool...

 These are some of Wright's designs

And here are my future homes not of his design but beautiful all the same

After our walking tour we had a few things left on our list to check off in Oak Park so started towards those. I promised Kelsey a park so we tried to find the right one. We stopped at Austin Gardens, but they didn't have a playground so we had to try again. They did however have this ridiculously creepy head statue of Frank Lloyd Wright so I didn't feel like it was a total loss after all.
I mean seriously!!! That's the best you could do to honor the man?!

She was having the best attitude day of her life. Despite no playground this girl stayed happy and cheerful! It was so awesome! Oh and Austin Gardens were pretty, just not the park we wanted

Unplanned but maybe my favorite part of the day was the World War I tribute that was at the park we ate our picnic and played at (obviously the park was incredible because Chicago knows how to produce in the park department.) Tributes and memorials like the one we found always make me think of my dad and all the other military buffs in the family.

As I was walking away from the memorial to go finish my lunch Kelsey goes "No! Pictures!" Even though I took a picture of her already she insisted that I take like 5 more. I'm a sucker when it comes to pictures of my kid so it wasn't a hard request to fulfill. Plus when does Kelsey ever ASK to be in a picture! I loved it!

We were getting close to closing time so the rest of the day was just spent with me walking and Kelsey riding in the stroller (goldfish are a wonderful bribe!). We had to hustle but we got to see the Ernest Hemingway home where  Ernest Hemingway was born,

 

the museum paying tribute to Ernest Hemingway, 

 

this super cool apartment complex,

this really old hotel that they have since turned into a restaurant,

and the Cheney Mansion. Honestly I don't know what this was, but it was huge and really cool. They had tours but we couldn't take it so I will always live in wonder. If only we had something like books or the internet where I could learn this information from!

I can not express enough how wonderful Kelsey was during our Oak Park visit. It was just one of those days! I could do no wrong and it was wonderful. She got in the stroller when I asked, she never cried, she didn't throw a temper tantrum, and was like happy to be in her stroller! It was bliss!

I took this from the freeway on the way home as to not forget how lucky we are to be having this adventure right now. Also this is the exact same scene that almost made me cry on our way in the first day. Now I see it with only excitement, adventure, and learning. I'm sure some day soon (too soon) I will look at it again with tears in my eyes but this time out of sadness not fear. I am loving Chicago!

Cute note:  Every time Kelsey sees the city she still goes "Cawgo!"or "Hi Cawgo!" I love it!!!