One last adventure

We lugged our exhausted children home on the train Friday night, and Saturday morning got up for one more adventure before we headed home.  We met up with my brother and his family at my sister-in-law's bowling alley.  I think if you asked the kids, they would likely tell you this was the highlight of the entire trip.  A game of bowling, darts, video games (well, sitting on them anyway), and several games of chase through the enormous bar/bowling alley - heaven for kids!

The ball almost didn't make it to the pins.

Chase & Sophie know what they're doing!

Chicago - the view from above

The rain managed to hold off throughout the day, and while I can't say the sky cleared, we could now see the top of the Sears Tower - so we were off on our final adventure.  We had been listening to "when can we go to the top of the tallest building????" all day, so it was a relief to be able to say "NOW!!!"

I had read that 5 pm was a good time to go to avoid the lines, and that advice turned out to be solid.  I'm sure the weather helped too, but it made for some cool pictures!

There are now glass boxes hanging off the side of the 103rd story of the tower, called The Ledge. (Amazingly enough, they don't charge extra for this!)  As we stood in line for our turn to stand on/in it, I was freaking out more than a little.  Especially watching a man lay his 2-month old baby girl down to take a picture... yikes!  The kids, however, had no fear:

Anyone know why there are mustache souvenirs all over town?

Chicago - da "Bean"

We bribed, bullied, and begged the kids to walk from the Aquarium to the "Bean" - officially known as the Cloudgate sculpture in Millenium Park.  Then as we got closer, we played "who will be the first to spot the bean!"  It was a bit funny how long it took the kids to notice the ginormous silver jellybean!

As you probably guessed, I am splitting our trip into separate posts because once again I took too many pictures.  And the amazing reflections created by the bean... I could stand there all day and take pictures!

Buckingham Fountain isn't as impressive without the water!

This one just makes me smile.  I love his stance.

Off to Starbucks for some hot chocolate, mochas, and yummy treats!

Chicago - adventures in an aquarium

After arriving in the Milwaukee area Thursday afternoon, we enjoyed some playtime with my parents, a swim in Cindy & Caitlin's hotel pool, and some pizza.  Then Cindy, Caitlin, Zach and I took the train south from Milwaukee bright and early Friday morning.  We thought the kids would be entertained by the train ride itself... wrong.  Apparently when you are 5 and 7 riding the rails isn't so different than riding in a car.  Between some old-school classics like Mad Libs and new video gaming systems, the train ride passed relatively uneventfully.


Our first planned stop was the Willis Tower (FKA the Sears Tower).  Until we walked out of the train station and discovered we couldn't see the top third of the tall building - there wasn't going to be much of a view!  So instead we jumped into a (stinky) cab and headed to the Shedd Aquarium.

Apparently we arrived at the wrong time on the wrong day, because we were greeted with a very long line.  We passed the hour relatively well by leaving Cindy standing in line while I took the kids around to take pictures of the amazing sights (which for the kids and their cameras included a squirrel, some geese, and possibly even goose poop).

Once we were in, we checked out a 4D movie experience.  The 4th dimension turned out to involve disturbing odors floating through the air, getting poked in the shoulders from the backs of our seats, having water misted/sprayed on us (when a cartoon character sneezed - yuck), and a little tube whacking us in the legs.  The kids were delighted.  Did I mention it was an Ice Age movie?


Then we set about exploring the habitats of the penguins, beluga whales, sea otters, and jellyfish.  After lunch (somehow the kids were hungry despite about 17 snacks thus far) we were off to the aquatics show - the demonstration of how the dolphins, beluga whales, and some hawks were trained.  Our adventures included a yellow submarine, touching sea urchins and starfish, and playing in a canoe and tent (camping at an aquarium...?).

Whew.  Time to head on to our next destination!

Zach's Chicago

Over MEA* weekend, Zach, Charlie and I headed to Milwaukee with our friends Cindy and Caitlin (age 7.5).  We had a very ambitious agenda that included one day in Chicago - for the four of us "big kids" anyway.  I will update more on the trip shortly, but first wanted to show you our adventure through Zach's eyes.

My mom gave Zach and Caitlin disposable cameras so they could take their own pictures of the windy city.  The kids were thrilled, although they were confused by the idea that they could not immediately see the picture they had just taken.  Zach spent the days after the trip asking us when we could get the pictures... "what's that word again Mom?"  The word he was looking for was "developed."

Anyway, we did our best to coach the kids, to help them pace themselves through the day and not use up all their pictures at our first stop.  I may have said "don't take a picture through glass, all you'll see is the bright light of the flash" about 40 times, to no avail.  But we let them take pictures of anything they wanted, and it was fun to stand back and see what they'd choose.

Zach's results:

These are from outside our first stop - the Shedd Aquarium.  I appreciate that he took a picture of the very long line we had to stand in - crazy!  The squirrel was an interesting choice, and yes, I did a little coaching to have an actual person in the picture of the head statue, and that it might be funny if Caitlin was sticking her finger up his nose.  But the skyline/lake shot - that was all Zach.

Then we were on to the "bean" in Millenium Park, where Zach took several shots like the one you see on the top left.  The next few are from the top of the Sears Tower (now called the Willis Tower; whatever), where his finger continued to play a prominent role.  But I like the one of the rain drops on the window... I think that's what that is!

And last but not least, the afore-mentioned "flash in glass" pictures!  And my budding photographer also thought the viewfinder was a sight worth capturing.  :)

As a side note, we discovered many Targets no longer develop film.  We had one disappointed boy on our hands, but it was Walgreens to the rescue!  Old-school technology or not, the kids had a blast and we thank my mom for the idea!

* I have no idea what MEA stands for - Minnesota Educators Association??  All I know is it's two days of no school in October, when the teachers have teachers' conventions.