Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 8 ~ The Long Trek Home

Emma and Andrew go to White Castle! 



Harold and Kumar go to White Castle is one of the funniest movies of all time. We watched it a long time ago, before giving up R rated movies. Ever since I watched it I have wanted to go to White Castle. For one reason or another we didn't go last time. I told the kids about it and then they watched the episode of Undercover Boss and all of a sudden they wanted to go too. We tried to talk them out of it since we had already wasted so much money on food but they insisted so we did White Castle before leaving Illinois. We had some time to kill so why not?




This meal deal seemed perfect. Cheap, yet enough for everyone to try it.


They were pretty excited about their sliders. The insisted they liked them. Me, not so much. Once I opened the bun I about barfed. There was way too much grease making the bun all soggy. 


They ate everything. Me? I couldn't finish it. Look how nasty that "meat" is.


After our adventure at White Castle we went to Schaumburg. I love the mall there! 





Look at how it crisses and crosses with level after level of shopping heaven. I spent a lot of time at H&M and the kids found another Lego store. They also played in the Apple store for a long time while I hit the Limited. 

After a while we decided we needed a meal. We chose to take the kids to Rainforest Cafe right there in the mall. It's always fun and somewhat of a tradition for us. It seems like there are always RC's where ever we go.


I have always wanted a picture by the giant fruit. I tried once in California but it didn't turn out. Emma wanted one too.


Andrew opted for the alligator and the dolphin rather than the giant fruit.


The kids toasting to Family Vacations!


Paul and I happy that we survived the week. Like I said before, there were up and there were certainly downs but overall we came away with some amazing experiences and memories that will last us a lifetime. Yes I think we may have bit off more than we could chew but we learned a lot and that is important. 

After lunch we headed to the airport where we sat for hours and hours. The flight was delayed two hours. We entertained ourselves the best we could by eating and playing. The flight home was bumpy, especially the landing. It was so good to be on solid ground. We didn't get to our house until after midnight but everything was in order and our cat was happy to see us. What more can we ask for? 

Day 7 Part 2 ~ Sears Tower and other randomness


Sears Tower, now called Willis Tower, is that tall building there on the left. In fact standing at 1,451 feet it is the tallest building in the United States. We had been anxiously waiting all week to go to the Sky Deck.


You can't help but get anxious knowing that you are going to be standing on the 103rd floor of a building. As a matter of fact I am a little woozy right now just remembering it.


The building is massive. But that's not enough. No they had to go and take it a step further. They made boxes that are clear for you to stand in.


Can you see them? Crazy stuff. That is what we doing willingly. Luckily the fast pass/city pass lane was open and we pretty much got right in. That was fabulous. We checked out the views first. It felt like you could see forever. Paul and I went to the Hancock Tower last time so this was really fun for me to see the difference. 

















Then it was time. It was time to face our fears. Eeek! Apparently the kids don't have any fears. 









They didn't seem bothered at all. 



Here I am testing the waters. 



An out I go. 


We could barely get the kids off the ledge.










This is as far as Paul would go. He would not get any closer and I bet a million bucks his eyes are closed while he's this close to the edge. 






Right here I am having an "Oh my holy hell" moment. It was a really really funky sensation looking down like that and I literally crawled out of there. I couldn't get my head on straight enough to stand up.

We didn't stay up there too long. It bothered me how much you could feel the building move. I was ready to go and of course Paul was too. I think the kids could have stayed all evening playing in those boxes. 

We drove around the city a little bit more, found some street parking and went back to the mall where the Lego store was for dinner. We have to embrace the fact that we are a food court family since non of us can agree on the same thing. At least this was a high end food court. I got a killer burrito. It was heavenly. Giant burritos make me happy.

I love seeing and hearing the El Train.






We got Paul some Chicago Mix popcorn from Garrett's



We parked right by this really cool mansion and I shot this guy through their fence.



Another shot of the city. It's so hard when you are in the heart of it down on street level to get good shots.



We drove by Wrigley Field. We didn't go to any games but it was still fun to see. 




We finished the day off with ice cream. It was a really good day. 

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Day 7 Part 1 ~ The Field Museum

I had been anxiously awaiting our trip to the Field Museum. I wanted to see Sue the T-Rex. The day was  really uneventful, thank goodness. We found street parking, there were no lines, the humidity was low and we were all getting along. Miraculous.  



SUE


After learning that Sue comes from South Dakota, just like Paul, we went to the Egypt exhibit. 




It was cool and a bit creepy all at the same time. We were ready for lunch so we headed downstairs. We found more Mold-a-Rama's. We all love these things.


By the end of the day we had all four mold-a-rama dinosaurs.


We then got shrunk and went underground. I love this picture of us with the giant penny. 


We all thought this was really cool. The kids loved all the animatronic bugs. 












After we were done underground we went to Africa. 






More pictures of Sue


We didn't get to see everything but we hit quite a few of the hot spots. 












It was really interesting. I didn't realize that my kids didn't know about evolution. I know I never taught them but I suppose I figured they would have heard something about it in science. They knew nothing. The whole concept was really surprising to them. It led to some good discussions about our beliefs and how they may or may not be related to the scientific beliefs. 




I think we managed to hit each and every gift shop. This picture pretty much cracks me up.


Can you tell I like Sue? They also had a gem exhibit. Hello. I would love to wear some of the pieces in there. They were amazing. Check out this necklace. I think I could rock that necklace.


This ring is to die for. It was a little more green in real life. It was also huge. I want one.


One of the very few pictures of all four of us and I'm the only one with a real smile. Come on guys! 


After the museum we headed back to the Willis/Sears tower. I think I will blog that while the laundry is washing in the morning. I'm tired of blogging right now. LOL!