The Continuing Adventures of Daddy and James, Vol. 1

G'day.  This summer, The Big Pigs blog is happy to be hosting a new summer series, The Continuing Adventures of Daddy and James.  It's a departure from our normal fare, but it's the same people, so whatever.

Today marked the first real day of summer vacation.  Veronica, our wonderful nanny of a year, said good-bye to her "Gordito" on Friday, and come this morning, I shifted into full-on Daddy Mode.  Our first father-son outing found us visiting the Shedd Aquarium.

Not much of a shedd

Today was a Free Day for Illinois residents at the Shedd, so James and I elbowed our way through the thronging Lumpenproletariat to get look at a bunch of different types of fish.  When you're one, there's really only so much of this sort of thing you can take, even if you're a pretty good little buddy.  James did spend a good 10 minutes banging on the glass tanks and shrieking something approximating "fssssshhh".  He liked the turtles and stingrays, too.

Loser of the staring contest (right)

Really, though, the day belonged to the out of doors.  It was a sunny 81 and the lake was calm.  And unlike indoors, out there you can run around free and easy, and not go slamming into people's shins, or sprinting away from your parent into crowds of strangers and causing all manner of stroller pile-ups.

James an I enjoyed a healthy stroll around the north lawn of the nearby Field Museum and then out toward the Adler Planetarium, to get the "tourist shot" that everybody takes when they're in Chicago.  However, since we're not tourists, but genuine residents, that made these definitely more authentic.

Unimpressed by Olmec head. VERY impressed by found stick.