Pictures of growing up

Most of you who know me know I take picture of the girls on their birthdays in grown up dresses. And have since they were 1. Only now, it's near their birthdays. 

We thought it would be fun to do the pictures in Chicago this year. They came out only sort of good, due to us being terrible lighting artists. But here you go. 

A museum the kids chose

The Museum of Science and Industry. It was the first time we have ever gone and it was very fun. It felt sort of like school, but fun. Not that school isn't fun. I'm sure it's lots of fun. Just not chicago museum fun. 

It was sort of complicated to get to, being on the south side. But it did illustrate our growing confidence with the Chicago public transit system. We have mastered the bus, and the bus is good. 

Bean at night

The Bean

We took the bus to Millenium Park to check out the Bean. It was super cool. Not cold, but cool enough to keep a lot of tourists away. I'm starting to love chicago in March. 

Life is hard...

Not!!!!

What running in Chicago on a nice day looks like

Shopping

My feet are killing me. I wore heels out, against my better judgement. And the kids learned nothing. Penny says they fit. 

Carol and I are done. Ready for more Chicago adventure, at our hotel. 

Art

It wasn't the kids' first choice, or third, or eighth. But the Chicago Art Institute was a fine choice. 

For one, Penny and Steve got to play a riveting game of "Who can find the most butts." 

Second, there was very complicated modern art to analyze. Such as this piece ...

Which Carol and I tried really hard to understand by reading the description. (Steve says it's funnier if you zoom in on our intellectual faces)

We saw my favorite piece of art. Fun fact, I had a replicate of this piece hanging on my wall for years. Found it in a Washington, D.C. Trash can. 

But what we really did, was thoroughly enjoy looking at art that Ferris Bueller made us love. Gotta love that monkey. 

Hotel

But the view from our hotel isn't stinky or crowded. Wow!

Chicago subway

We have been away from the city too long. We have forgotten what a crowded, stinky place the subway can be. 

Chicago

(Free wifi!!!yay)

The awesome Gardner family is taking a short trip to Chicago today. Thanks Amtrak. I thought I'd blog about the trip because I'm certain the internets care very much about this family and all its traveling adventures. 

We did score some killer seats on this full train. It has wifi. And the dining cart is super close. So I'll going to go ahead and complain about having to ride backward. Like a hobo. 

First day of school

Happy for some...

Not so happy for others...

School is sad : ( 

Biggest fruit

And I grew it...

Weekend away

What Steve does with the girls when I'm away for the weekend. Way to out-parent me.... Again....

Water

Prelude to a splash 

Versus splash

Starved Rock

We took a little day trip to Starved Rock, which is this awesome state park about an hour north of Normal. We hikes many miles and had just a fantastic day adding on to our fantastically fun summer travels. 

I just don't understand why they think day camp is boring. 

Spring harvest

We were able to get some spring onions and broccoli from our garden today. Penny has become very helpful and interested in the garden. We love biking to our spot and then taking a look around at the other gardens. We've got some great ideas for next year.

The rest

My phone ran out of juice in chicago, so I wasn't able to post the rest of our day. But here are the rest of our pictures.

I just threw up in my mouth a little

Thank goodness there's wine.

Urban Chicago

The Chicago subway is not very tourist friendly. Actually, I take that back. The transit staff has always been very helpful. Today was no exception. But the trains themselves are full of locals. Most of them scowling at the little rich girls with their American Girl dolls yelling "Hello!!!" loudly into the subway tunnel.