When we tell people where we live they get all excited.
"Oh you must love that!"
"Look at all of things you get to do!"
"Wow- that is amazing!"
It might have been amazing 4 years ago when we didn't have kids. But living in the heart of downtown Chicago is not my cup of tea. I like open spaces. Lots of land. Ground floors!
We live on the 15th floor in a highrise right off of Michigan Ave. And yes, there is a lot to do. There is a ton of shopping- some of my favorite stores are all within walking distance. We are three blocks away from the theatre district. Hundreds of restaurants line the streets all around us.
But that stuff costs money! We just do not have the budget to take advantage of everything that is within walking distance. Nor the time. Or the energy!
I will save thoughts on my personal challenge to be grateful for our situation and seek out the positive points for a later post. I will try not to complain too much about the noisy, smelly, crowded place we now call home, but rather focus on what I think the lesson is here that God is imparting on us to embrace.
So, my first step in having a better attitude is to get excited about finding all of the free stuff there is to do! The Harold Washington Library, down the street, is a beautiful building. While their kids area does not come close to providing the offerings and services the kids area at the Elmhurst library does, they do have two awesome things that are noteworthy. The first is that they have free passes you can check out to area museums. They are on a first come first serve basis and you can take up to 4 people on one pass for a whole week! The second is that they provide a monthly schedule of when museums have free days for Illinois residents. Pretty neat! There are at least three different museums that have free days Sunday through Thursday. From the Shedd Aquarium to the Children's Museum to the Museum of Contemporary Art, there are over 20 different places on the schedule! No pass required.
This how we found out about the Ryan Education Center at the Art Institute. Huge classrooms full of fun stuff to do for kids. It's open for free, daily! And every weekend they have free workshops. Cass learned about screen printing at one of the workshops.
"Oh you must love that!"
"Look at all of things you get to do!"
"Wow- that is amazing!"
It might have been amazing 4 years ago when we didn't have kids. But living in the heart of downtown Chicago is not my cup of tea. I like open spaces. Lots of land. Ground floors!
We live on the 15th floor in a highrise right off of Michigan Ave. And yes, there is a lot to do. There is a ton of shopping- some of my favorite stores are all within walking distance. We are three blocks away from the theatre district. Hundreds of restaurants line the streets all around us.
But that stuff costs money! We just do not have the budget to take advantage of everything that is within walking distance. Nor the time. Or the energy!
I will save thoughts on my personal challenge to be grateful for our situation and seek out the positive points for a later post. I will try not to complain too much about the noisy, smelly, crowded place we now call home, but rather focus on what I think the lesson is here that God is imparting on us to embrace.
So, my first step in having a better attitude is to get excited about finding all of the free stuff there is to do! The Harold Washington Library, down the street, is a beautiful building. While their kids area does not come close to providing the offerings and services the kids area at the Elmhurst library does, they do have two awesome things that are noteworthy. The first is that they have free passes you can check out to area museums. They are on a first come first serve basis and you can take up to 4 people on one pass for a whole week! The second is that they provide a monthly schedule of when museums have free days for Illinois residents. Pretty neat! There are at least three different museums that have free days Sunday through Thursday. From the Shedd Aquarium to the Children's Museum to the Museum of Contemporary Art, there are over 20 different places on the schedule! No pass required.
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