Took a walk through the Ohio St. Beach area on our way to the Children's museum. On our way in we first hit a gift shop and found a shirt for Sophia that says "Friends don't let Friends be Packers fans." She is having great fun promoting the Bears and poking fun at me in the process. The Children's museum is a really nice place. The kids played on all of the exhibits including the firetruck and a massive building area that allows you to construct small houses out of 1 x 1 and wing nuts. Sophia also was able to make a clay bust. They also had a chess board laid out on the floor with 2ft tall pieces that you could walk around with like Harry Potter's Wizard Chess. Really a cool place. Our walk back include a slow stroll along Navy Pier complete with ice cream and a decision to return to Ohio beach and hang out for the rest of the late afternoon. We hit a local department store for some short, having not planned on such warm weather and then wandered back to the beach. The water was too cold to swim, but the kids played in the sand. Merrick, for the most part, looked like a golden lab. When we got there he just spun in circles and even dropped on to his back to roll in the sand. He could not imagine his good fortune in finding a sandbox so large. He would run down the beach 75-100 yards then head the other way 75-100 yards. He was even tossing old cups into the water and then wading out to get them, just like a lab. The beach looked like the middle of August, complete with kites flying and footballs being tossed. The kids bounced around from one small play group of kids to the other until it was time to head back to the hotel for a desanding shower and head out of supper. The Italian restaurant we stumbled into was excellent food and the waitress even complement the kids behavior. I think Merrick was just spent, and as we were eating outside, he spent a good amount of time just watching the traffic and horse carriages. A little more swimming and again lights out for the kids.
