Weekend at Uncle Grant's

For the last several weeks I had been eagerly anticipating the first visit to the city of Chicago by my three nieces, Caroline, Meredith and Erica. My sister informed me earlier in the year that my brother-in-law, Ken, would be having his annual rotisserie baseball draft here the last weekend of March and that the whole family was flying out for the weekend. I immediately started to think of fun and educational things I could do with them. After all, we were not going to pitch a tent at American Girl Place and let the girls run wild for two days.

One of my first ideas was going to the Chicago Children’s Museum at Navy Pier. I thought it would be enjoyable for the girls and that my sister would like it as well since there would be an opportunity for them to learn something along the way. Sure enough, my sister liked the idea so I decided that would be our primary activity on Saturday. For me, the museum went along with animated movies in the “places/events intended for children that I also like but probably wouldn’t go to without a child” category.

So, tired from a night of babysitting at the hotel the evening before with my friend Monica, Uncle Grant arrived at the hotel Saturday morning ready to entertain. However, my first assignment of the day was of the less ambitious variety: Get the girls to finish their breakfasts while my sister got ready in the bathroom. I employed the oft used “eat what you can and Uncle Grant will finish the rest” strategy which resulted in a fine breakfast of eggs, blueberry pancakes, potatoes, toast and orange juice for your truly.

To say that the girls enjoyed the Children’s Museum would be an understatement. They loved it. Caroline (age 8) and Meredith (5) hit the climbing ropes that started on the ground floor and extended up to the second floor of the museum, ending with a walk along a bridge with wooden planks. There was also the Water Works area with big sinks of water and tubes for the kids to play (and get wet) with, and the Kid’s World exhibit by Jewel-Osco (a grocery store for those non-Chicagoans) with a pretend grocery store for the kids to role-play in.

For some reason Caroline decided I was the President and then began bringing baskets of groceries to me, apparently in an homage to my power and greatness. The first one was all milk, then fruits and vegetables and I said “Thanks” and pretended to eat and drink them much to her satisfaction. Among other activities, Meredith pretended to be a bus driver in a miniature Chicago Transit Authority bus complete with actual bus seats and steering column. Even little Erica (almost 2) found plenty of things to climb on, slide down and pull on, so she was quite pleased as well.

Next, it was on to the Navy Pier ferris wheel, or “fairy tale” as Meredith called it in a funny slip of the tongue. We were told that it was designed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and is the fourth largest ferris wheel in the world. I had been on it before but was once again blown away by the breathtaking view of Lake Michigan and the beautiful Chicago skyline. After we got off, my sister – who was watching on a bench with Erica – said that Erica was saying “careful, careful, careful” which is apparently what their nanny Sri says around the house when the girls are in potentially harmful situations. Very cute.

I haven’t even mentioned that Saturday night we went on a tour of Wrigley Field hosted by one of my brother-in-law’s friends, who is an employee of the Chicago Cubs. We got to sit in the Cubs dugout, walk on the field and go into the owner's box, all of which was very cool for a sports junkie such as myself. All in all it was a very nice visit and when I talked to my mom - who is visiting my sister for Easter this week – last Thursday she said the girls were still talking about it. Chalk one up in the success column for Uncle Grant.