Cousin reunion

It's like this every year. AJ and Sydney meet up with cousins Ellie and Ben, and you'd never know it'd been a year since they saw each other last. The kids just naturally connect.

In their first 24 hours together, they've spent a significant amount of time bonding in the hotel swimming pool. Also today, we visited the Shedd Aquarium.

I've been wanting to visit the Shedd for a decade, ever since my days working at the Great Lakes Aquarium. And it didn't disappoint.

The kids enjoyed the "camp site" set up in one of the freshwater exhibits. It included a canoe, camp stove and tent.

For Sydney, the highlight was the penguin exhibit. She and Ellie went down the slide over and over again. Ellie donned a penguin costume and went down on her belly. Sydney tried it, too, but ultimately decided she preferred to waddle down slide.

AJ and Ben, meanwhile, found the "secret" tunnel, which they determined wasn't for penguins, but rather for abominable snowmen. It's amazing how alike these two have become. 

At one point, I saw Ben crawling on a wall and thought, "that looks like something AJ would do." Sure enough, seconds later, there was AJ - crawling after him.

For AJ, the best part of the Shedd was the pretend submarine. AJ fancied himself the captain and  happily barked out orders to his crew.

 

Notice something ironic about the story so far? The kids' three favorite things at the Shedd Aquarium had nothing to do with fish. It was the hands-on activities that rated highest with them.

Maybe if the fish had been more attractive than the big guy in the background, the kids would have been more enthralled by them. Incidentally, I may never set foot in a river again for fear of something that size brushing about against my legs.

It wasn't until later in the day when I realized that, due to nap times and lack of walking ability, a certain key individual had been omitted from all the group photos. We couldn't let that happen! So without further ado, here he is... Jimmy D!

The joke has been, because of his blonde hair, he looks more like his cousins than his siblings. 

Jimmy is an incredibly mellow and happy guy, equal parts fascinated by and content with all the new people who are so happy to hold him.