Art Can Be Cool in the Heat

It’s important to me that my kids appreciate museums.

Image created via Midjourney

As we were faced with an “excessive heat warning” over the past few days, I did two things that most people might consider crazy:

1. I continued to sleep under 5 blankets, because I must have the weight to sleep but really, that’s a whole story by itself…
2. I took my three kids — ages 9, 7, and “almost” 2 — to the Art Institute of Chicago, by myself.

Yesterday, the heat index put us at a “real feel” of around 105 degrees in Chicagoland. We aren’t people who would do well being cooped up in the house all day, and I could foresee some type of explosion if that happened.

My husband had to focus on a project for work, so I decided it would be best if the rest of us left the house. And what place sounded nice and cool on such a hot day, AND had the added bonus of absorbing most of the morning and afternoon? A trip into the city to visit the Art Institute.

I completed my Saturday morning shopping per usual with the toddler, and upon arriving home, I packed up water bottles and apples and threw the three kids into the car, amid protests that their electronic handheld 3DS was not fully charged and might not survive the trip, and requests that I change the DVD in the minivan thirty seconds after…