Winter Wonderland

There is so much going on here in Chicago for the holidays, lots of Christmas inspired activities for the kids and adults too.

Our first real activity we saw was the Magnificent Mile Parade - celebrating turning on the lights and that was back in Nov how early they start.

Our latest Christmas expeditions out have been a visit to Macy's on State St to visit Santa, we went early afternoon last Saturday, and had a look at their Christmas window displays, very similar to the Sydney David Jones Christmas Windows, a quick stop for peppermint hot chocolates and peppermint brownie cake pops,  then we queued for about an hour to visit Santa, including a little walk around SantaLand, a sweet little place before seeing Santa.

Excuse the photo's we forgot our camera that day, but luckily the iPhone photos aren't too bad.

 

And we visited Macy's Grand Christmas Tree too up in the Walnut Room - where there is a restaurant so you can dine at the foot of the Christmas tree too - great idea we were very tempted but the queue to eat there was far too long.

This weekend we had even more Christmas fun, we went down to Navy Pier in the city to visit Winter Wonderfest 2012  and it was lots of fun, a very large exhibition hall converted into a Winter Wonderland for all ages.

Full of Christmas Cheer

Of course the first ride the girls saw was a carousel and they wanted to go on it, luckily the queue wasn't too bad and we didn't have to wait too long before it was our turn.

I went for a ride too

Next up was some giant bouncy slides to go down, but we did hit a little snag, a lot of the rides required the girls to be 42 inches or taller to go on alone, (and my girls are small) things such as the bouncy slides we'd have no problem letting the girls on without us, but not there, they were so strict with it, so Mr C had to accompany them on the slides.

There were a few things the girls could go on unattended, a bouncy castle and there was an under 46 inches area too.

Can't resist the Snowman Photo opportunity

Snowman Fun

The strict 42 inches or taller requirement did put a damper on things,  the girls however were allowed to go on this ride, by themselves, which they loved.

I think this was the favorite ride of the day. As our entry included ice-stating, we headed for for some fun on the ice, and on our way down we passed more lovely Christmas displays

The main tree in pride of place

So kiddy Christmassy

After a short line up for the skate hire, we hit the ice and fun it was. Ruby loved it.

Woo hoo we are skating

Pretty Ice Rink

It was great fun on the ice, both girls had a go round, Tilly only went around once as she really couldn't keep her balance, but Ruby did well, even managing a skate without holding onto me or the side. I have promised her I will take her more often.

My ankles did hurt after our skating, so we carried on having a look around and had a look through Winter Wondertown.

And of course we couldn't pass the cookie decorating station without having a go

And then we were winding down to finish our day there, when we saw the train and had to have a go on it.

All aboard

The train ride took us around the big huge Christmas Tree and some Christmas displays, it was very sweet and the girls loved it.

Last but not least they had one last slide down a bouncy slide and then it was time to head home - 5 hours later.

We were all shattered so for an easy dinner we ordered in Pizza and finished our evening watching a Christmas movie - The Polar Express.

It was a fantastic day out, the girls had some much fun, we could have gone round the place again, and maybe I will take them back over the holidays. The only downside was they were a little too small for a lot of the fun rides, oh well there is always next year.

In the meantime time we've got the CTA Holiday Train to look forward to this week, it's coming to our area so we'll be up for a ride on it.