A Wicked Birthday

Today is #4's birthday. He is 6 today. His birthday usually falls over Fall Break, so he gets to celebrate in various locations. Today he wanted to spend the morning at ESPNZone. The boys had a blast playing with their dad on the coolest games.

We had lunch at Pizzeria Uno where we enjoyed another meal of pizza, Chicago style.

After lunch we walked to the theater where we got to see "Wicked." We all had a great time. I think we will be singing the tunes all the way home.

We celebrated #4's birthday at The Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy!

Day 2 in The Windy City

Today we ventured out to see the Shedd Aquarium. It was as great as I remembered.  CH, Mom and I visited 3-1/2 years ago and I was impressed with the Dolphin show. Mondays and Tuesdays are free museum days in October. We paid $60 for the 6 of us and spent about 3 hours. It was well worth the money. Parking is $15 if you have your own car. We decided to drive since bus fare 2 ways would be more than the parking fee and taxi fare would be approximately $22. When you have a large family like we do, it is always a challenge to get around. We are glad to have our car. 
After the aquarium, we had lunch at Harry Caray’s. We decided to try the lunch menu, hoping the prices would be better. I don’t know that they were, although most of us chose sandwiches, which wouldn’t have happened at dinner. It certainly is the place to see for baseball enthusiasts. B and R and MH got to see Sammy Sosa’s bat from his 20 HR month and Mark Maguire’s signed jersey - right behind our table. They actually had Harry’s glasses in a case. The food was good, the pictures and memorablilia numerous, and the bill - well, does it really matter when you go for the first 2 reasons?

We walked through ESPNZone after lunch. I thought it was a store. It is a huge gameroom - a haven for 3 boys and a dad. I think they are headed back tomorrow sans girls for some bonding action. Then we traipsed up to the JohnHancock Building for a trip to the Observation Tower. It was really cool - although not for those afraid of heights. The elevator trip is 40 seconds up -  94 stories. The entire time I was up there, I felt like the building was swaying in the wind. It turned out to be a pretty day and you could see for miles. We loved it! After the ride back down, we made a few purchases at American Girl and had an afternoon "pick me up" at Ghirardelli. Michigan Avenue is the greatest. It was a fun few hours.

Embassy Suites really came through for us tonight. The walk back from Nordstrom’s was just enough time to discuss our options for dinner. #4 is absolutely exhausted and I have been eyeing MH all day to tell him 4 is going to bed EARLY. Tomorrow is his 6th birthday and we want him to be well-rested. We really weren’t too hungry and after a busy day, I really wanted to have a quick dinner. We walked into cocktail hour and there were hotdogs and popcorn! We hurried to the room to dump off the day’s purchases and down we went for a FREE dinner. Whoopee. Did I mention Free? Dessert was in our room - Hersheys nuggets and kisses from our Monday night excursion.

Tonight we are holed up in the room for a restful evening. I am sothankful for my 4 kids. They have been troopers today - walking all over without a complaint and excited about all there is to see in a new city.

I am so excited about tomorrow. We have one last surprise for them. It is going to be WICKED!!!

Monday

You don’t know me too well, yet, but if there is one thing I don’t get excited about, it is museums. I wasn’t too sure what to expect for our first full day in Chicago - I knew we would be spending quite a bit of time at various museums - BORING. However, our first visit of the day turned out to be fun.. We went to the Museum of Science and Technology and saw the Star Wars exhibit, as well as the U-Boat exhibit. Both were quite educational and interactive. Now, that is my kind of thing. We also went through the coal mining exhibit which was interesting for our family. We live within 2 miles of a coal burning steam plant, so we could understand how coal is transformed into power.

We went back into town to Bennigan’s for lunch. It’s been years since I have had the chance to have a Monte Cristo sandwich. It was as yummy as I remembered.... MH and I split one. I can’t believe I used to eat the whole thing all by myself! After lunch we went to see "Sue" at the Field Museum. Amazing. Amazing to see real bones - not reproductions of a dinosaur. Amazing to see a dinosaur discovered in South Dakota. Amazing to realize that 90% of the skeleton is intact. Just amazing. The rest of the museum? Let’s just say - now I remember why I am not a museum person. We’ll leave it at that. BUT Sue was amazing.

After a swim in the Embassy Suites pool, we had dinner in the room. We treated ourselves to a bit of Indian food from a nearby restaurant. It was just what we needed after a long day at the museum. A cool front blew in this afternoon and brought some rain. It was a great excuse to stay in and swim and have some plain family fun.

In God We Trust

We are off on our surprise vacation to Chicago. School is out for a week for Fall Break, so MH and I decided to show our 4 one of our favorite cities. We first went to Chicago in 1993 when I had a seminar for work to give me a full background on the EEOC and their new Affirmative Action Laws. It was informative, but MH definitely got the best end of the deal. He spent the days in museums while I sat in a dark room and attempted to stay awake. While we were there, we experienced the restaurants via the Taste of Chicago festival. It was fabulous. I found my favorite popcorn... Garrett’s. It cannot be missed. Ever. It is one of our first stops.

Anyway, we revealed our destination on Friday night to 4 very excited children. A surprise is always risky - we didn’t want any disappointment. Last year we were at Disney, so I felt pretty good about this year’s trip.

We spent our first night in Indianapolis at the Embassy Suites in the middle of downtown. It was fairly loud in the lobby until 11:30, but the morning was quiet. We had dinner at Johhny Rockets and breakfast was free in the lobby. We saw the RCA Dome where our favorite football player is featured on a regular basis (Peyton Manning).

So now we are off toward Chicago where CH and I have a 4:00 date at the American Girl Theater. But, I have to comment... Indiana has these great license plates that are Colt blue with a flag at the bottom and large white letters that say "IN GOD WE TRUST". How cool is that? I’ll have to google the facts to see if the plate is the official plate, or if it is one that you can pay annually. I’ll update you once I get hooked to the hotel’s server.

Here are CH and I outside in Chicago.  I know, her eyes are closed.  I have to figure out how to rotate my pics...

Update:  They began using these plates 1/1/07.  Here is more info! http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=19174

The Bed, The Steinmart, and other Southern descriptions

When I was growing up in Texas I felt that I was in "the south" - with everyone throwing "y'all", "fixin' to" and other slang into their dialogue. So imagine how shocked I was to learn in 8th grade at the International Airstream Rally when Miss South Carolina decided to regionalize the U.S. by dialect. I was Miss Oklahoma in the pageant - it was run by senior citizens who drove silver bullets behind their cars. My talent was playing the piano and I had the prettiest tiera to wear around Notre Dame University. ANYWAY... the clogging Miss SC clearly excluded Texans from "the south" - we fell into the "west" category which I found quite insulting! What was it about the south? I don't know, but I wanted that classification and I refused to be left out.

Years later, I realize, most Texans would not consider themselves Southerners. They are Texans and that is all that should be said. They wear boots and occasionally a cowboy hat. They like big hair, big purses and especially big jewelry (those belt buckles). One woman at our church in Memphis described Texan women as "dripping in diamonds". There are certainly lots of women who do have all of the above. I think the stereotypical Texan just does so much in a big way that the Big Texan is what comes to mind first.

Now that I have been living in the REAL SOUTH I have made another observation. Southerners get into THE bed. Texans get in bed. Southerners make a run to THE 7-11. Texans run to 7-11. As Boo Mama says... she went to THE Steinmart while the Texas girl in me just goes to Steinmart.

There are tons of other Tennessee slangs we have discovered... "You-uns" = "y'all." "I don't care to" really means "I don't mind at all!"

I love living in The South. Occasionally I miss the fun of Texas where the parties are big and the people are loud. One thing I know, I have friends in both places who may talk a little different but overall we still like to shop, eat and hang out together as often as possible.