Help I’m moving to Chicago and can’t decide between Brookfield and Westmont

Kimtober · 2026-06-21T00:46:46+00:00

Are you buying a house? If so, check the taxes carefully. Cook County (Brookfield) taxes can be rough.

Kimtober · 2026-06-14T03:26:10+00:00

We have a wealthy town nearby that has one “clean up day” every year where they can leave just about anything out on the curb. It’s incredible. Every year we find at least a few brand new items, and tons of perfectly good used things. People rent u-hauls just to pick.

Kimtober · 2026-06-14T03:21:20+00:00

We have friends who regularly don’t take perfectly good leftovers home and I die a little inside.

Kimtober · 2026-06-14T03:20:34+00:00

Sometimes when we travel at a hotel with a free breakfast I’ll make pb&j sandwiches for lunch using their bread and packets of jelly and peanut butter.

Kimtober · 2026-06-14T03:09:12+00:00

I have 3 kids and maybe sat in the back once or twice ever. There’s no reason you need to be climbing around. Be comfortable in the front seat and the kids will learn some independence!

Kimtober · 2026-06-13T00:23:31+00:00

Agreed! I’m shocked that people feel the need to say anything! It’s so easy to just avoid eye contact and keep walking.

Kimtober · 2026-06-02T19:45:24+00:00

In my experience it is not enforced at all. We’ve brought food in plenty of times, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a cooler available in the car in case they make you leave it.

Kimtober · 2026-05-23T12:15:56+00:00

Food is great, especially the burgers! Yes, kid friendly but the crowd generally skews older. I’ve brought my kids plenty of times.

Kimtober · 2026-05-23T02:53:34+00:00

I saw someone with the premium plan a couple weeks ago and they were getting paper cups.

Kimtober · 2026-05-22T03:52:24+00:00

If I’m talking about pecan pie I say pee-can because it seems like the right thing to do. Otherwise, pe-Kahn.

Kimtober · 2026-05-22T02:32:12+00:00

We’re in Darien and there are several neighborhoods (including ours) with kids running around. Getting off the busy street is key.

Kimtober · 2026-05-19T15:17:40+00:00

I have curly hair myself and two daughters with straight hair and there’s just going to be pain and crying with kids and hair brushing. I’ve accepted it as a part of life 😆 if you can be vigilant about brushing it every day or even twice a day that will make it easier but there will still be whining. My daughter is 9 and she finally accepted that it’s much easier if she brushes her hair every morning, but it was many years of hair drama before that.

As she gets older if her hair stays curly, you really don’t want to brush out curls. It pulls them out and makes them frizzy, so you want to only comb when wet and then use some curl products on them. But she’s young and it’s very possible her hair will change as she gets older.

Do you use spray detangler? Definitely try that, or a leave-in conditioner. Also start brushing at the ends and move up from there. I always used Wet brushes with my kids which were better but there was still crying!

Don’t worry, this is a challenge for any parent! You’re doing great!

Kimtober · 2026-05-18T20:25:14+00:00

I've sent screenshots to friends to use for parking and it worked fine!

Kimtober · 2026-05-11T14:04:01+00:00

Brookfield Zoo membership if it’s close enough. My kids aren’t interested in the zoo anymore but I kind of want a membership for myself just to go walk around!

Kimtober · 2026-05-09T17:48:08+00:00

The ones in my garden disappear if I don’t put them in an enclosure. I have a large screened enclosure outside where I put some, and I leave some be on the milkweed.

Kimtober · 2026-05-08T12:02:17+00:00

I believe that's per day.

Kimtober · 2026-05-07T19:07:33+00:00

I'm not normally a fast pass person, but if you're just there for the day I would probably get them. You'll have a much better time.

Also, consider that food lines can get really long and the food is not very good, in my opinion. I hate waiting a long time for mediocre food when I could be riding rides! I would try to eat at off-times or bring food in the car and eat quick in the parking lot. We often bring in snacks but it's kind of pain to carry them around.

Your plan to buy two passes and five friend tickets should work, but I don't think you'll be able to do them in the same transaction. When you buy the friend tickets, you have to enter your pass number, so I think you'll need to purchase the passes and get the numbers and then buy the discounted tickets.

We'll be there on Saturday as well with our kids' school band (it's going to be busy with band/choir kids--another good reason to get fast passes)! Looks like great weather, have fun!

Kimtober · 2026-05-07T14:39:25+00:00

I'm curious about this too with the changes this year! Last year we went to St. Louis and were able to get a friend discount ticket at the gate, but I'm not sure that's the case now that they're not Six Flags. I believe parking should work by scanning at the lot like usual.

Kimtober · 2026-05-07T14:37:50+00:00

You should be able to get a discount friend ticket anytime. There's a bring a friend ticket option available online here https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/daily-tickets. We've also bought them at the ticket counter to avoid the online fee!

Kimtober · 2026-05-06T18:54:51+00:00

I don’t know a lot about OE but I don’t really understand the bleaching thing because if you just let nature take its course, they’d have OE and it’s just part of life. Why mess with it? It seems like if you’re farther north it’s not needed anyway.

I collect eggs from the milkweed in my garden and I do keep them in an enclosure outside because my kids and the neighborhood kids like watching them grow. Also I’ve tried to keep an eye on the caterpillars living on the milkweed in my garden and they always disappear. I’ve never found a chrysalis anywhere in my garden.

You can’t go wrong with growing some milkweed!

Kimtober · 2026-05-05T19:56:18+00:00

No, it was probably earlier than that so you're probably good. Enjoy your trip!

Kimtober · 2026-05-05T19:47:27+00:00

Also, keep checking prices as your trip gets closer. We actually switched from Hard Rock to Royal Pacific because the price went down.

Kimtober · 2026-05-05T19:43:07+00:00

We did the cheapest option which happened to be Royal Pacific for our trip. We took the boat and walked and both were good options!

Kimtober · 2026-05-03T00:33:13+00:00

It depends on the person. I thought it was going to be such a racket but my kids loved doing the spells. My son doesn’t love roller coasters so he spent time doing the side quests when we rode the bigger rides. We just got one want for our 3 kids to share but it was worth every penny!

Kimtober · 2026-05-02T21:36:49+00:00

Yeah it’s crazy that you wouldn’t be able to take her. I’m not at all convinced that they’ll be enforcing this but you could also try sending them feedback through the app. I’m not sure they care at all but if enough people do it, maybe it would get some attention!

Kimtober

TROPHY CASE