Who goes to Chicago for an extended weekend 1 week in a row? I do! The Saturday after I returned from Chicago with my cousin I went back for spring break with my older sister, her family, my mom, and my nephew. All together it was 3 adults and 3 children (2 boys aged 8 and 1 tween aged 13). It was a 3 day/2 night blitz of family friendly fun!

My nephew and I traveled into the city on the early morning train. In order to prevent half our budget being blown on $3 bottles of Amtrak branded water I packed a snack bag full of goodies: muffins, trail mix, apples, nutella 2 go, and red vines.



My sister and her family drove over from Indiana and we all got in around 1pm. By the time we'd checked into the hotel everyone was hongrey (as my nephew likes to pronounce it). So we headed south of the loop for good for you burgers at Epic Burger. It's a shop that uses hormone free, locally as possible sourced ingredients to make an all American meal. Think Chipotle but with burgers and shakes instead of burritos and nachos.




What I really like about Epic burger is the thin patty. Give me a thin patty (a la Crazy Jim's in A2 or Steak and Shake) any day over those huge thick ones. I love how the thin patty gets a little crusty sear that provides critical texture differences. After such an epic (wha wha) meal we had to walk it off. So we rounded up the troops and took a stroll up Michigan Ave. to Millennium Park.





Next up was Navy Pier where I redeemed myself in the eyes of my nephews due to the presence of actual rides!




Here's a quad sequence of the kids at the ferris wheel.
I refused to go on b/c I am super afraid of heights.




The next morning we woke up and slowly got ourselves together. Then we walked across the bridge and eat brunch at Yolk.



Here's my nephew chowing down on his kid friendly short stack. He added strawberries and chocolate chips to his.


Have I ever explained that brunch is my favorite meal of the day? I loves me some brunch. I brunch hard! What I especially love about brunch at Yolk is that they don't make be choose between sweet and savory. You can add a "side" of pancakes to just about anything you order! I got a scramble with turkey sausage, salsa, Monterrey jack cheese, and avocado.... with a side of pancakes. Also tasty? Their fresh squeezed strawberry OJ. Mmmm. So good. My niece got the peach cobbler crepes for dessert- I mean "breakfast." My sister and brother-in-law both got skillets which include eggs your way with fixin's on top of fried potatoes. This place was such a hit the kids asked to come back the next morning for breakfast as well!







Next up we took the "L" to the Shedd Aquarium. There was a line. There is ALWAYS a line.






If I can make one recommendation it's pre-buy your tickets. Waiting outside in a long long long line is no fun. It's especially no fun to do it with 3 kids who got cranky just waiting for the bus. Also, bring snacks. That place is HUGE and you could literally spend a whole day there.