Parenting lessons learned: travel edition 🏙

Or, a toddler leaves no location un-screamed

Apr 10, 2025

Some fearless parents travel with their littles right from the jump. Wear that baby, hop on a plane, and get 👏🏻 out 👏🏻 there. Nap schedules? Nah. Adventures abound, kiddos in tow (cue “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen).

I am decidedly *not* this brand of fearless. With kids under 5, it isn’t a vacation, it’s a trip. It’s parenting your kids somewhere else, without everything you need.

After being cooped up all winter, though, we decided that we couldn’t stare at the walls of our house for spring break and that we needed to get 👏🏻 out 👏🏻 there. So we set expectations very, very low and booked a hotel in Chicago for a few days.

On the trip wishlist:

Shedd Aquarium
The Museum of Ice Cream
Maybe a little shopping
A coffee from a cute coffee shop
Possibly one dinner out

Buy me a coffee ☕️

So, how did we fare? Here are a few highlights, lowlights, and lessons learned on this trip.

We stayed at an Embassy Suites downtown, which was a solid pick for our family. While it was a nice-ish hotel, the vibe was very family-friendly. The suite layout of the rooms allowed Tyler and I to stay up after the kids were asleep—a major plus.

Within walking distance of the hotel were a Target and a Whole Foods. We visited both — Target for children’s ibuprofen (youngest started a mild cold while we were there, of course) and Whole Foods for a few meals and snacks.

Favorite Whole Foods moments include this rosé and this berry chantilly cupcake.

So, how did we do on our wishlist? We made it to Shedd, The Museum of Ice Cream, and bonus: The Children’s Museum. Shopping-wise, we popped into The Lego Store, but that was it. No cute coffee and no dinner out, though. By dinnertime, the thought of wrangling the kids through a restaurant experience was the last thing we wanted to do. Instead, we picked up Chick-fil-A one night and Chipotle the other and ate in the hotel lobby during happy hour, which was very low-stakes and still enjoyable.

Both the Children’s Museum and Shedd were perfect for our kids. Shedd was probably my favorite stop, and I wish we could have spent more time there. The Museum of Ice Cream was cute and *very aesthetic,* but likely would have been better if our kids were a tad older. Still, though, the kids loved the giant pool of sprinkles (see below) and all the ice cream samples.

Although we are fully aware that our two year old son is *very* two years old right now, this Chicago visit humbled us a bit. 🙃 Things he refused included the stroller, being carried, and his coat—even though it was about 45 degrees. (See photo below!)

On our last trip almost a year ago, he didn’t want to do anything. He hated the pool, the beach, and the sun. As long as he was sitting on my lap, he was fine. In contrast, this time around, he was excited about everything. There was not a single slide that he didn’t want to zip down head-first (over and over). The firetruck at the Children’s Museum? We could have stayed there all day. He was delighted by every fish he saw at Shedd Aquarium. He was so entralled by absolutely everything, everywhere, that moving on, at all, involved quite a bit of wrestling. And screaming.

And while I pulled him out of the museum because it was time to go, having him scream directly into my ear drum while other museum-goers looked on, I can’t say I was enjoying myself. I can’t say I fully held it together each time this happened, either. But looking back on it, I’m so glad we went. I saw our kids enjoy new experiences. We had so many conversations with our daughter and answered so many of her questions, and I was reminded how, at this age, she is an absolute sponge.

I witnessed their wonder and awe. As a tired mom a bit bogged down by ~gestures around wildly~ the state of things, it truly made me feel alive.

This trip reminded me that the little things that matter most to kids. When asked, my daughter said her favorite parts of Chicago were the elevators and the hotel pool. My son loved getting a cup of water (over and over again) during the complimentary breakfast and drinking it all by himself, no help. And while I think frequent trips are still a few years off for our family, I’m so glad we chose to adventure out, just a little bit. Experiences had, memories made, perspective gained. All the good stuff, right?