CityPASS costs $76 for an adult and $59 for children, and the admission for the girls and I to the Museum of Science and Industry would have been $50 alone—general admission, plus an add-on to the super-duper Dr. Seuss exhibit. So paying for parking was no big deal, although my sister’s so resourceful that she found parking on the street.

She also got her crew out of the house so early that they were second in line for tickets—a queue that grew exponentially as the minutes went by. Lauren had wisely purchased their tix online, but the downside of the CityPASS was that I couldn’t buy add-ons (i.e. Dr. Seuss) via the web. Thus, our gratitude for Lauren’s early arrival. By the way, by the time we left, Dr. Seuss tickets were totally sold out and the line was monstrous. Yay for catching the worm!

It had been a while since I’d been to MSI and because it was CPS winter break, it was a merry mob scene. I lost Lindsey for a minute when she ducked into the “color room” at the Science Storms exhibit and, being the wanderer that she is, I was on constant patrol. Luckily, she was flitting around nearby most of the time.

MSI can overwhelm with its endless exhibits packed into that beautiful old building—the only remaining structure from the 1893 World’s Fair. As Lauren said, sometimes you just happen upon something unexpectedly, which is usually a welcome surprise. Mostly, though, we stuck to a few faves, plus Dr. Seuss, where we learned that Theodore Geisel was way more than one of the clever-ist kid lit writers of our century, but also an artist for ads and political cartoons, a sculptor and author of some racy books that didn’t see much of an audience. He also completed more than 40 whimsical, eerie, odd and sometimes provocative paintings that he hid in a room at his house, discovered only after his death. About half of them were on display. The funniest thing I learned about Theodor Geisel was that, though married twice, he never had children, but often talked of a made-up daughter named Chrysanthemum Pearl. Although the Dr. Seuss exhibit has vanished like a pink spot, you can still read about it on the MSI website. We even bought our over-priced photo memento of the Dr. Seuss experience—a new museum money-maker that also popped up at the Shedd Aquarium.

Another important MSI tip: Gather for lunch by 11:30. After that, on busy days, you’ll be thrown into a fray of desperate table-seekers, some of whom end up pulling up a spot on the floor. We had actually packed our own lunches, so no need to stand in lines for that—though, we marveled at the surprisingly reasonable prices in the food court.

After lunch, the kids stood mesmerized by the big silver pinball traveling its circuitous and circus-like path through the Swiss Jolly Ball, named the largest flipper machine in the world in 1988 by Guinness Book of World Records. We spent a lot of time in the cacophony of the “You” exhibit and hit the chick hatchery before calling it a day. Stopping at the gift shop was probably a silly decision, considering I put my foot down against buying anything, but it’s still fun to look. Next visit, we have to save time for the slick “Fast Forward…Inventing the Future.”

Tons of corny fun at the PlayLab

The second book I wrote for Globe Pequot Press, the Insiders’ Guide to Chicago, is a 336-pager covering everything from tourist hot spots to local hidden gems, from dance clubs to deep dish pizza. The chapter on Attractions and Museums features a sidebar about the Go Chicago Card and the Chicago CityPASS, whose senior director of communications and PR generously sent me three comped booklets to try out. Seriously, I have lived in Chicago for 14 years and have not had as much fun traipsing around to the museums as I did with my two little girlies and that CityPASS.

First stop: Field Museum. We arrived later than intended and, with every parent of a CPS kid antsy to get out of the house, I should have known: The line was a mile long and then some. I dragged Haley and Lindsey through the lobby for five minutes—wasting precious potential waiting time—to find someone to ask if our CityPASS would possibly, maybe, hopefully let us jump the line. I finally found someone who actually looked up at me. The answer? No. I was annoyed, but resigned to waiting. And we did wait, for about 15 minutes. But then our savior came in the form of the security guard (I guess she doubles as a ticket-taker). She was calling out for anyone with a CityPASS or Go Chicago Card. Surprisingly, there were just three of us privileged groups. Lo and behold, she scooted us right on through, saving us a good 15 minutes more of waiting. Score 1 for our little booklets! The only regret is that it all happened so fast and I was so excited, that I forgot to buy tickets for the special Whales exhibit. No problem, though; I knew we’d have plenty to see and do.

Beeline for the PlayLab. After stopping to pee (near miss for Lindsey), we hung up our coats and I marveled at how really quiet it was in there, considering the queue we just left behind. Maybe it was that the PlayLab regulars knew to stay away on such a crazy day and that the uninitiated didn’t know to find it downstairs, slightly removed from most other exhibits. Well, goody for us—or, at least the girls, who took full advantage of intermittently having the whole Corn Crib area to themselves. When other kids dared enter to play, they were decidedly put off, like these other children were intruding. I had to remind them that it was all to share and they couldn’t horde the corn. But I didn’t want to spend all day in the PlayLab, so we left our stuff in the coat room there (not sure if that’s allowed, but we did it and it was nice, and that’s all I’m gonna say), and we headed for Ancient Egypt where I promised we’d check out some real mummies. Haley is planning a mummy costume for Halloween next year, so I thought it’d be kinda cool for her. Ugh. On a busy day, getting into that exhibit means a slow crawl through a claustrophobic hallway. And when we did make it to our first mummy, I lifted up Haley to see it and her response: “Ewwww.” Yeah, well, old, tattered mummy material doesn’t look as cute as white toilet paper! She may be changing her Halloween plan.

After we browsed a bit more in Ancient Egypt, with me trying desperately to note the important things, we made our way over to the Underground Adventure, one of those ticket add-ons for “regular” people, but included in our trusty CityPASS. Score 2 for us! Honestly, the oversized creepy crawlies gave us the creeps and we didn’t stay too long, but I can appreciate the educational aspects of it!

We spent some time wandering and dodging crowds, stopped and duly gazed up at Sue, browsed a little through the Evolving Planet exhibit—they were, in fact, mesmerized by a video representation of life’s early bug-looking creatures—then to the Africa exhibit and back to the PlayLab. More corn crib, some dino bone-digging, music room to bang on some drums, back to the corn and out.

One key lesson learned at the Field—bring our own lunch! Lines at the McDonald’s and Corner Bakery were beyond ridiculous, so we made do with snacks from the vending machines. I let them get whatever they wanted due to my poor planning. Haley picked Cheetos and Lindsey chose fruit chews. Nice going, Mom. But no matter. Our first CityPASS experiment was a success. I barely winced when I paid for parking.