Vacation Days 12, 13 and 14 (Sat, Sun and Mon in Chicago)

I know it's been a bit longer since I've updated. Partly we've been so busy I haven't had time. Also, we lost our free internet access when we left Texas and now it's $14.95/day unless I want to go down to the lobby late at night when I have time to blog. :(

We're doing great, but getting kinda tired out. We're walking our little tootsies off here in Chicago. Good exercise, I know, but we'll probably need a vacation to recover from our vacation!

Sat was our transition day. We had smooth and easy travels from Texas to Chicago and got checked into our hotel by 9 p.m. sat night. Our hotel is very, very nice to say the least. It's a huge Chicago hotel in the middle of the Magnificent Mile in Downtown Chicago. Need I say more? Think luxury and personal service. Also think EXPENSIVE food, except for the kids' meals. Our room rate is really reasonable because it's the conference rate, plus we're not paying for the room b/c Marlon is on a grant for this conference, but for food we're on our own.

After a dinner in the lobby bar (we just couldn't see spending upwards of $32/person for a light supper), we took some time to unpack and organize our room. With five of us in it and all the stuff we have for a three week trip, it took some organization skills to find a place for everything, but you all know that's my forte!

Sunday:

Sunday Marlon didn't have any conference work, so we had a wonderful family day in Chicago. Although we love being with the cousins in Texas, their schedule is different than ours because their kids wake up way earlier. So we allowed ourselves the luxury of sleeping til 10 and having the delicious buffet brunch in the restaurant here. The $24/person for Marlon and I was only slightly offset by the fact that each kid was only $5 for the same exact brunch buffet! It was delicious and had everything you could possibly want for brunch.

Then we walked a few blocks to catch a sightseeing cruise which went on the Chicago River and on Lake Michigan and was a wonderfully narrated tour of the entire city. There is so much to see here and the kids were little when we were here last, so they really enjoyed hearing about everything and seeing it all. We sat on the top deck, right in front of the tour guide, and we all asked her lots of questions.

On the walk back, Michela asked me "mom, why is everyone eating ice cream." we were by a Walgreens, so I told her that probably they just bought it there. She said "but every single person is eating it." (and there are many, many people walking down the street in downtown chicago). We noticed she was right. Everyone was eating an ice cream bar or sandwich. Finally I asked someone "why is everyone eating ice cream and where did you all get it?" The guy said "from that dude dressed in the m and m costume, he's giving it out for free." Turns out the M & M company, which is here in Chicago, is promoting new ice cream bars and sandwiches and yes, he was giving it out. So we got some too. Marlon said he was there again today and he got another one, but we weren't around here.

Later that day we cooled off in our airconditioned room and had reading time and quiet time for an hour or so. Then, we walked quite a few blocks in the other direction to go to the top of the Hancock building (94 flights up) where we enjoyed audio tours in the observatory. It is very well done - there are separate audio tours for the kids which they really enjoyed. We, of course, listened to the adult tour, narrated by David Schwimmer from Friends. We chose the Hancock building over Sears tower b/c they said the audio tour was better and you could see better and we really enjoyed it.

Then we had dinner across the street at the Water Tower mall, which I remembered from when I was a kid that it had a nice food court. It was quite a food court. Everyone gets a little card and you go get what you want from the different stations and then you pay when you go out. It was fun and tasty too.

After the walk back, we were all pooped. The boys and Marlon watched tv but Michela and I went to our indoor pool for a relaxing swim and soak in the hot tub, which was the perfect remedy for our weary bones.

Today (Monday) -- day 14 of our vacation:

Marlon's conference started officially today, so he was working and the kids and I were on our own. We went to the Field Museum, which is a museum of natural history and has great exhibits. Harrison was excited to see the Evolving Planet/Early Man exhibit because he learned about a lot of that in social studies this year and he saw a model of Lucy, the gorilla/girl. We also saw Sue, the famous t-rex at this museum.

We got there quite easily, by taking a free Chicago trolley that we caught a half block from our hotel, then transferring to a different free trolley that dropped off right at the museum. It took an hour, but we enjoyed the ride. Getting back wasn't as easy. We had a hard time getting on the trolly b/c it was full because the Field museum was the last stop of three museums in museum campus and everyone was leaving. We finally got on, but had to stand. Then we transferred to the one we needed to transfer to, but then it was six p.m. and that's when the shuttles stop running. and boy do they stop. they pull to the side and everyone has to get out! We had NO CLUE where we were. We finally figured out that we could walk 3 blocks to get back to Michigan avenue (the street of our hotel, a huge street in Chicago), but we had to ask people to point the way. Then we had to ask which way was north. It was a long, long walk, so we decided to take a bus. We could have hailed a cab, but I was determined to show the kids had to navigate a large city. We viewed it as an adventure. Walking to the bus stop, we ran into Millenium Park, which was on my list of places to go, so we went and played in the fountain and saw the famous "bean" landmark there. Then we found the bus stop and asked about 5 different bus drivers which bus we needed before ours finally came. I called Marlon and we made a plan to meet at a restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel, so we overshot our hotel and got off two stops later and met him for dinner, then we walked back.

By the time we got back after dinner at 9:30, everyone but me fell into bed and went straight to sleep. I'm checking email and blogging b/c Marlon bought the internet access for today but probably won't want it tomorrow b/c he'll be busy all day, so I want to take advantage of our access!

Ok, this is long enough. I hope you're enjoying hearing about our travels. More in a couple of days!!!