Well, on this hot and muggy Sunday, we decided to have an atypical weekend visit to the shady Grove…read moreto do our almost daily walk. We typically only visit here on quieter weekday mornings. We were pleasantly surprised and fortunate to find the Blacksmith Shop open and that is the case only on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am to 3pm. Alec was the blacksmith on duty and he provided some insights into his craft as well as a walk-through of their various iron products, both functional and decorative. He is one of five volunteer blacksmiths on the staff here and really enjoys his time here. Thanks for the tour Alec!

What a great surprise. Needed a little down time and a chance to relax. The Grove provides just…read morethat. Free parking and no cost to walk around. The paths are easy to walk and the native prarie plants along with wild life is spectacular. The period building are relics from a very different era that look perfectly in place in woods. Will look to see what programming they have.

Came here for the first time for a birthday party so I wasn't sure what to expect. The place was…read morerecently renovated so things did not seem that dated. There was a variety of different areas to play in, different pretend areas- veterinary, building and grocery. There was a big climbing structure to get into with a variety of different obstacles inside. And there was a water play area. Overall a lot of variety for the space. The things were well maintained. The room was also kept pretty warm.

They raised the prices as of October 2025 and parents still have to pay just to get in…read more Would love if the could partner with a local disability services vendor to run a small cafe. It would be more on par with the other indoor spaces.

Took the Art Deco tour yesterday, what a great way to learn about some of the history of Chicago as…read morewell as the gorgeous buildings!! Our guide was knowledgeable and kept the tour interesting. Unfortunately I flew out yesterday afterwards, but will definitely be back to check out the Center as well.

This is a rather small museum and when I was there there was like two exhibits to check out. The…read morefirst floor is 1/3rd gift shop 2/3 the Chicago exhibit. This exhibit has a cool model of the city and interactive screen that you can highlight different buildings. It's really amazing. However, there's multiple computers and if there's a crowd, as soon as you highlight the building you want someone else highlights the building they want and becomes really hard to really take it all in. There's a small series of panels on Transit orientated development which I really enjoyed. I'm not sure if those are always there or just currently there. They seemed rather new. There was also a piece on regular field with a model of the stadium and some interactive stuff to play with with a scoreboard. Overall the first floor was pretty good. Second floor is where I disappointment kind of hit. I guess they were in the middle of changing exhibits so there was only a small section to see and that exhibit didn't really resonate with me and didn't flow very well. It's worth checking out, especially if you have some sort of discount tickets like I did.

The Arlington Heights Historical Museum is also home to the Arlington Heights Farmers Market. This…read moreis a great place to spend a Saturday morning in the summer. My husband and I had a great time pursuing all of the vendors and activities that are available here. We love the cookies, pastries, apples, peaches, and fresh produce that we can get there. I highly recommend the Arlington Heights Historical Museum!

History has always interested me and this is a great place to learn about the history and people of…read moreArlington Heights. The Arlington Heights Historical Museum has beautiful exhibits which tell the story of Arlington Heights. When I visited they had an exhibit on Arlington Club Beverages and the 65th Anniversary of the Arlington Heights Historical Society. Arlington Club Beverages were made at this location for over 70 years. Sodas using the original recipe are available for purchase in the gift shop if you are interested in trying some of the sodas. The five building campus is a must see for any history lover or Arlington Heights resident. I visited on a snowy day. I found the grounds to be easy to walk despite the conditions. I recommend calling ahead to confirm operating hours.

This was the first time that we visited the Elmhurst Art Museum.  Our daughter was invited to…read morepreview the exhibition "Picasso: Fifty Years Later" before it opened to the public, Hubby and I were her guests.  The exhibition focuses more on the influence of Picasso fifty years after his death.  So, other than some nice prints from Picasso, there was artwork from his colleagues and contemporary artists as well.  Interestingly, some of the work from other artists might appear to be even more "Picassoesque" than Picasso's work in this exhibit.  All in all, it was a good show and professionally done.   We met the Executive Director John McKinnon as soon as we entered the museum, who was very friendly and professional, and enthusiastically gave us a brief introduction of the exhibition.  John was also the co-curator of the show.  Katie, the publicist of the museum, was also very friendly and welcoming.  She talked about how proud the artists must have been to be able to have artwork exhibited alongside Picasso's art, and that the Director John even improved the air system in order to meet the requirements of the lenders of the Picasso collection!  I like that both John and Katie are very passionate, enthusiastic, and professional about what they do!   The museum itself is rather small.  It's very clean with professional setup.  It would have been nice if the rest of the museum was opened to explore when we visited on the preview day.  However, nothing was opened except for the Picasso exhibit, even the small gift shop was closed.  There is a sculpture named Skycube in the museum courtyard that is worth visiting.  It is a great spot to take interesting selfie.  All in all, Elmhurst Art Museum provides a good opportunity for art museum-goers in the suburbs to visit without driving all the way to the city, and you don't need to worry about parking, as it provides ample free parking as well!

Great little art museum with amazing exhibits. There is also a little house "The McCormick House"…read moreattached to the museum which has updated themes. You can shop at the gift shop, really interesting items. Most of all, I love the art for sale behind the gift shop.

Nice Hummel collectible museum to see while visiting Rosemont, IL (Chicago). Massive collection to…read moreview at no cost. Not far from the outlet malls

My friend and I decided to give the Donald E. Stephens Museum of Hummel's a second chance. This…read moreplace is a large room lined with glass display cabinets that are full of little figurines with a smattering of collectible plates and some other larger items. About 3/4 of the collection consists of Hummels and the remaining 1/4 is made up of various little figurines from other designers. There's minimal signage and there are a lot of repeat figurines (including an entire shelf of miniature little boys reading newspapers). I can see why Donald E. Stephens moved his collection out of his home. Admission is free, so there really isn't much to complain about. If you're a big Hummel aficionado (I am not), this is supposed to be the world's largest collection of Hummel figurines on display to the public, and this would probably be your Graceland. Since I posted my original angry review, they have taken down their website. We relied on this site instead, which has the correct address and seems to be accurate: http://www.rosemont.com/community/museum-of-hummels/. Google Maps still has the wrong address for this place, so enter the street address into your GPS.

This place is great with a caveat - your kids need to really be in the sweet spot for it. Like, 2-5…read moreyears old. Also, prices are now up to $20 per person, whether an adult or child. Last time I was here I was amused to see the grocery store was a Whole Foods and the sandwich shop was a Potbelly's, but I guess those sponsorships have expired and everything's kind of generic now. Kids won't care but I thought it was fun. The main draw of this place is the sheer amount of variety they have. Kids can play with toy cars, instruments, water, trains. They can paint, build things, read. They can pretend to be a vet, build a house, grocery shop, run a sandwich shop (oh I guess I mentioned those). There's a whole bunch of little science-y things, and some areas that rotate periodically. Toddlers and young kiddos have a blast, but I feel it'd be hard to keep older kids engaged. It also feels pretty pricy, especially charging parents, though I didn't know you could save a couple bucks buying online ahead of time. Parking is mostly easy but it is a popular place so be prepared to have to do some conflict resolution at times.

This children museum is a bit of a hike for us. We have to drive at least 50 minutes but our girls…read morelove the grocery store (resembles Whole Foods) and sandwich shop (resembles Potbelly) exhibits so we would suck up the drive. We have the Dupage Children Museum (DCM) family circle membership and Kohl Children Museum used to be the one of six in-network museums with free admissions. However, it is no longer the case as of the summer of 2025. Now with our DCM family circle membership, we will receive a 50% discount from the full general admission fee. It is still a good deal. Our girls would usually spend at least two hours here. We have visited Kohl several times over the years and I generally find it best to arrive at the early morning, members-only hour because there will be less people and less chaotic. And also because we have visited so many times during different months, we noticed they rarely change up the exhibits.

Very cool art instillation in downtown Elmhurst…read more I'm guessing they change the colors of the umbrellas during the year. It was lovely to come here on a warm day and see this and walk around the area.

Great little walk through whimsical art throughout downtown Elmhurst…read more We enjoyed the colors on one of the hottest day of the year

5 stars for the Chicago Botanic Garden!…read more This was my first visit today, and I highly recommend you check it out if you enjoy nature, plants, being outdoors, walking paths and wildlife. I checked it out in the spring where everything is coming back to life - beautiful! Plenty of greenhouses and walking paths with flowers and plants to check out, but I think the best time to come visit here would be in the summertime so you can see everything fully in bloom and the waterfalls going. A very peaceful, unique place to visit - I'd recommend you check it out if you like nature at all, or just see it at least once!

As always, my visit was perfect. No matter the season, it is always beautiful…read more Parking is plentiful. It makes the experience so easy. The lady at the gate was pleasant and welcoming. Walking in, everything is bright and cheerful. The staff easily answers questions and gives direction. We came for the Orchid Show. This time the theme was a fun, retro theme. The music was perfect and all of the installations were fantastic! I could tell they spent a lot of time creating the experience. We also stopped into the cafe for lattes. They were brewed perfectly. The dining room is bright with a ton of windows. Lastly we visited the gift shop. Wow! It is spacious and beautiful. They have so many pretty things. It is a perfect place to purchase a gift for someone you care about or for something for yourself.

We attended Trickery on Saturday 04/18/26. Aaron was adept at working with a diverse audience to…read moreinclude them and maintain control of his performance in a very intimate setting. Because it's BYOB you'll get the 20-somethings that feel they have to get loaded beforehand and then act the fool while attending (do you hear that "Neil"? No one wants the focus on you acting like it was your first experience with alcohol) but Aaron was skilled at bypassing them without causing tension or escalating bad behavior. Aaron's attitude is one of someone who has worked hard to make this little venture work, and he deserves respect and recognition for his obvious commitment and work ethic. His act included variations of tricks performed by other magicians, with his own twists. He is an expert at sleight of hand and distraction, which is considerably more difficult in a room about the size of an average residential living-room. He had an appropriate sense of humor aligned with an audience coming to Boystown, an overtly gay neighborhood in Chicago (if you're not familiar). However he wasn't garish, flaming, flamboyant, or offensive; he managed a perfect balance of innuendo humor and audience engagement without being cheap or ingenuine. The snarky one-liners will likely go over your young kids' heads (although bring them to an early show, your 9 year old doesn't belong in Boystown at 10 pm on a weekend), and he carries himself with class avoiding the use of profanity or graphic terms. Again, I can't overstate that his tricks were amazing, impressive, and captivating - as magic should be. You leave the show shaking your head and wondering how it's done - which truly makes it "magic". You would be hard-pressed to spend $36.36/person for an hour of live entertainment that can match Aaron's performance. Pro-tip: If you're driving there you will need to use an app to reserve parking, as there aren't garages like downtown Chicago and every street is filled with so many signs there's no way you will return and find your car not-towed or not-ticketed. Chicago does this on purpose to generate revenue; you'll see "street cleaning" on Tuesday from xx hour to xx hour, no parking when snow is over 2 inches OR any time from Dec 1 through April 1, loading zone, 15 minute stopping/standing with flashers, no parking, residential permit zone only, bike lanes, bus stop restrictions, etc. If you find street parking and think you've beaten the system, think again. Nobel Prize Laureates, Rhodes Scholars, Ivy League PhDs, Mensa members - you can meet them all at Chicago Central Auto Pound retrieving their vehicles. Stephen Hawking couldn't drive, but if he could and he parked in that neighborhood all the quantum mechanics in the world wouldn't make his towed car reappear from the Chicago Parking space-time continuum. The nice thing is if you do reserve parking and give yourself enough time you can walk to many, many restaurants and bars in the area that are open even after the 10 pm show ends. Thank you Aaron for a wonderful experience, you made my wife's birthday memorable for both of us.

I've attended this show twice now and really enjoyed it both times. It's always a great experience…read more He takes time to thank everyone for coming and even asks how you heard about the show, which makes it feel very personal and welcoming. He's genuinely nice and engaging. I plan to come at least once a year. I also love having a local, neighborhood option instead of having to go downtown to see similar acts.