That's a Wrap!

Before we left Chicago I wanted to make sure that we got downtown one last time. I also had four places left that I wanted to see so on Wednesday August 6th, Kelsey and I planned a crazy adventure down town for the very last time. I have never felt more capable and more city like in my whole life. It was exhilarating.

Kelsey and I rode the Metra into the city and our first stop was the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve Bank. It was surprisingly really cool and really kid friendly.

Kelsey loved the money floor the best

Here is 1 million dollars!

And here is one million dollars again

This was my favorite part. They showed how they destroy money when its counterfeit or just old. After they showed you how to shred it they they let you take home a bag of the shreds. Basically I made $364 on Wednesday. No big deal.

This was a simulator of how the money is spent in the US and how some of it goes really quickly through the system and how some goes really slow. All the colors meant something but I didn't have time to really read up on it.

 

Different currencies

 

The real/counterfeit game. Kelsey should go into the banking business because she guessed every single one right! She's a genius.

The top is fake the bottom is real :)

After the money museum we hopped on the brown line and headed to the Harold Washington Library, but let me pause right there a take a moment to celebrate  the eL! I finally did and I finally saw where Lucy works in While you Were Sleeping!!

Here's where Jack purposes (not really but play along!)

  

And here's where Peter falls on the tracks! (Ps there is NO WAY that Lucy could have slipped them under the station away from the train. I totally checked)

 

Seriously though the eL is the way to go. Its so much faster and less crowded and just fun!
We rode the Brown Line to the Library and ran up to see the roof.

The library is where we had a parental induced melt down. Let me explain. For Wednesday to work, everything had to be on time and on schedule. I thrive on that sort of stuff and to me that kind of adds to the fun. BUT because that was the case we didn't have time for two year old shenanigans. Kelsey was super awesome by the way, not where I'm headed. When we were in the library I decided to let Kelsey walk with me if she held my hand allowing me to still feel in control but allowing her to feel freedom. Win/win. We were looking at the roof and then it was time to go and right then I saw the elevator doors open. If we really hurried we could make it to the doors in time and save ourselves a whole 45 seconds to get to the train that much sooner. Everything was perfect. I grabbed Kelsey's hand, pushed the stroller with my hip and took off assuming that Kelsey would run along side me. I'm basically running through the library when some man was giving me the most dirty looks I have ever seen! Naturally I glare back. How dare he judge this awesome mom! After I glared back, I heard a faint cry from below my hip, "MOOOOMMY!" I looked down and I Kelsey was on her stomach and knees literally being DRAGGED across the library floor! She was trying so hard to get on her feet but I was in too much of a hurry. What made the situation even cooler was the first thing I said to Kelsey included something like this, " Kelsey! There's no time!!!" HA! At this point I lost it.  I started laughing so hard that we did in fact miss the elevator and probably another one after. Luckily Kelsey really wasn't that hurt or bothered but my goodness! I so wish I could have seen me that day. Ultimate tourist right here!

After our fun at the library we hopped on the Orange Line and headed to the Thompson Center where we grabbed a much needed burger and root beer float. Yes, the root beer float was most needed.

You are allowed to ride the elevator to the top but ever since having kids, elevators just aren't my friend so we decided to skip that ride.

After lunch we grabbed the Red Line Subway and headed to North Chicago to finally get my Sprinkles ATM cupcake!

I LOVED the subway! It was so much fun!

After weeks of anticipation, the door finally opened to reveal our over priced yet delicious cupcake!

Red velvet and cream cheese frosting

And from Sprinkles we grabbed bus 66 to head on home. Kelsey was such a trooper the whole time.We saw everything I wanted to, completely completed my Chicago "To Do" list and successfully rode every form of transportation in the city. It was a great day and I feel completely cityized! 

And with that, that's a wrap! Live from Chicago for the last time, goodbye and goodnight!