We headed to Chicago a few weeks ago with the girls. Tweens can be very hard to impress, and we only had a day to work with, but we squeezed as much Windy City fun as we could into our 8ish hours there! Though it rained on our parade, we had a blast! A rainy day in Chicago is better than a rainy day at home! I planned a whole Chicago day trip itinerary for us, and it was the perfect amount of excitement (and walking 😉).
Chicago Day Trip Itinerary
Keep reading to see how we filled our day in Chicago, but I have to mention the app SpotHero. Since we drove into the city, and didn’t have a hotel to valet our car at… and planned multiple stops across the city on a rainy, rainy day… I knew parking was going to be a must, and walking would have to be in short bursts. The app lets you conveniently pre-reserve parking. I was able to look at pictures of the garages/lots, and paid less than what was posted for the daily rates. Not sponsored — this just really made the day so much smoother!
SlooMoo
The Slime Museum Chicago, AKA SlooMoo was recommend to us by SO many people – and I can report back that it was an absolute blast. So much to see/smell/touch. We booked our tickets ahead of time, but since this was our first stop (and we made good time), we got there a little early. They were able to accommodate us, so we didn’t have to wait in the small gift shop area for half an hour.
The first stop was to make our slime name tags — basically, we subbed out the vowels in our names for “oo” (hence Slime = SlooMoo), then we got to add our contributions to this massive slime wall. I couldn’t decide if it was gross or cool 😂 My girls all thought it was the coolest. They both handed me their phones to hold onto, so they could play — which is SUCH a winning moment!
We moved from open space to open space. There were big vats with different types of slime, all different colors.
We could sling shot slime at a wall, play in a squishie pit, get slimed (you have to pay extra for this experience!), and the end was the coolest part! With your admission, you get to visit the DIY Bar, and completely customize your own slime. Adding the scent and color was so much fun.
After, we each got to pick charms for our slime, and there was a large play area with tables, so we could all test out our slime! The hallway leads you back to the gift shop, and the doors in/out.
We spent about an hour here, and that was the perfect amount of time. At no point did we feel rushed, and everyone got to touch/smell everything they wanted to!
We would 100% go back to SlooMoo Chicago! Check out tickets here.
Lunch
Across the street, about a block away from SlooMoo is Griddle 24. We weren’t familiar with the area, and pulled up Google Maps to find somewhere to grab a bite. It was raining, we didn’t want to deal with re-parking the car, and this was close. GUYS. I’m glad we ended up here!!
The menu was HUGE, and the portions were too — most importantly, everything was delicuous. Though it was 12:30, we didn’t have a wait to get a table, and our food came out really quickly. I got the Nova Bagel, and though I regret nothing, I did smell like onions and salmon for the next hour or so 😂 My kids were all very impressed with their breakfasts, too!
If you hit up SlooMoo, plan on also heading to Griddle 24!
Shedd Aquarium
Our next stop was Shedd Aquarium. We’ve had so-so luck parking in the Soldier Field lot, so I opted for SpotHero again. We had a short walk to the aquarium, but the weather was starting to clear, and I always love Grant Park, and the Lake Michigan view from the overlook near the aquarium.
Shedd was under construction at the time of our visit, right at the main entrance. We had to walk around to the other side, and entered near where they hold the animal shows. As luck would have it, there was about 30 minutes until the sea lion show. We opted to wait, and snagged good seats right near the front. The show happened right in front of us — this was everyone’s favorite part of the trip, when I asked them on the way home! Laguna the sea lion had us all laughing! I will note that the show was only 8 minutes long – but worth it.
We spent about an hour in Shedd, and I feel like could have spent another 45 minutes inside easily. We rushed toward the end, because we had tickets to another experience across town. This was our 5th or 6th Shedd visit, and I will always go back!
The Magnificent Mile
After the aquarium, we moved the car for the third and final time with SpotHero. We parked down on Rush, and came up the pedestrian stairs to the Plaza of the Americas. Of course, we had to snap a pic at The Wings of Mexico.
Since the rain had stopped, we took advantage of the weather and enjoyed walking around Michigan Ave for a bit before we headed to our next stop. In my humble opinion, there is never enough time to spend shopping on the Magnificent Mile 😉
The Museum of Ice Cream
The Museum of Ice Cream has a prime location on Michigan Ave, and it grabs your attention with all the pink. The girls have wanted to stop in on our last few Chicago trips, and we never had the time.
We were immediately given ice cream in the first room (a tasty cone), and we walked from room to room, enjoying more treats and playing with interactive games and installations. One room had hot dog flavored ice cream… on an actual bun 😅 It was absolutely terrible, but it’s one of those “you’ve gotta try this!” type of thing!
While it was cute…MOIC was very small, we spent a whopping 27 minutes inside, and that included the 10 mins we sweated in the 80 degree sprinkle pool room.. It was pretty crowded with the small group we were in, too. So getting any “insta worthy” photos was not gonna happen. Overall, it was a fun thing to do once… and we were all a little bummed we didn’t spend more time at Shedd.
Dinner
Even after all that ice cream, we headed to dinner right after. In fact, the ice cream there was unlimited… so I’m glad we had the excuse of dinner, so our tweens didn’t go completely crazy in there!
The Hampton Social is just a block away from MOIC, and you know if there’s a lobster roll, I’m gonna eat it. Especially after looking at all the lobsters at the aquarium earlier! Haha!
We love the big menu at The Hampton Social, and of course the photo-ops!
And that’s a wrap. We got into Chicago around 11:15, and headed out around 8!
If you’re headed to Chicago for a weekend or overnight, check out this blog post because we love The Drake, and this hotel has a great location, and is perfect in the summer with the rooftop pool!
You can shop our outfits below:
xo -j
