Animal adventures in Old Town

Mia's finally feeling better, and we made it out of the house today for the first time in 2 weeks. She's been learning animal sounds lately - currently, her reportoire consists of sounds for a cow, pig, chicken, and most recently, fish. So after showing her fish pictures and playing with her little Nemo all week, we decided it was time to see some real fish.

While I'm excited to eventually plan our first trip to the Shedd, today we just wanted to do something simple, so we headed over to Wells Street to see the Old Town Aquarium. First, we grabbed some lunch at Old Jerusalem, where Mia enjoyed her very first taste of a french fry and falafel. Then we headed north up Wells St., and stopped at the Collar and Leash pet store. They've got cats and dogs for sale, and while we've got 2 cats at home, Mia had never seen a dog really close up. Unfortunately for us, the animals were on the 3rd floor, but it was worth the climb as I believe Mia enjoyed it.

Then on to the Old Town Aquarium, which was perfect - enough tanks and colorful fish to let Mia get an idea of what real fish look like. In the middle of the store there's even a little goldfish pond, with huge goldfish swimming around. There were lots of other parents with kids there, just like us. So until we have our first real trip to the Shedd - which I think Mia will appreciate more in just a few months - this was perfect!