Results tagged “Illinois Trip”

As you may or may not know, Daniel's contract with State Farm ended the end of July. We had orginally anticipated that it would last until the end of December. We probably would have gone out this last week to pack up his stuff and bring it home today.

Well, here's what we missed out on by his contract ending early:

This is the building he was staying in. On the bottom floor. We are glad no one was hurt and we are glad that we weren't there for that.

Well, it has taken awhile for me to write about the last two days of our trip, mainly because I have been busier than an ice cream man on a hot summer's day. But that's a different blog post...maybe;)

On our last day in Chicago, we (all four of us this time) grabbed a bus and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. We had not been able to see this on our previous trip in Chicago and had heard it was definitely the place to visit. We were particularly interested in seeing the Harry Potter exhibit.

We left our room at about 9 and ate at Houlihan's for the breakfast buffet. Awesome omelets. By 10, we were on the bus. Unfortunately, our bus had a technical difficulty on the way there (some access panel on the side hadn't been locked down, so it was popped out and posed a hazard to driving. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a supervisor to come and lock the panel so we could continue on our way. At least it gave us a chance to chat with other passengers!

We decided to see Wild Oceans, the Omnimax presentation and got tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit. Now, let me tell you, we love Harry Potter, but we were not happy when we found out that the cost of the tickets just for that exhibit were between 15 and 18 dollars each! You already pay about 20.00 for entry to the museum, and then they have several other exhibits where you have to pay extra to see them (for instance, seeing inside of the U-505 or visiting the Smart House). But all complaining aside, we really enjoyed our visit and wished we could have stayed longer, but I developed a migraine headache in the afternoon and we had to go.

Well, today we slept in a little, then we headed out at about 11:00. First we ate lunch at McDonald's, then we headed for the subway/El. It was our first time ever riding it and we were excited and nervous.

After about an hour which included figuring out how to get our passes for the subway and the ride, we arrived at our transfer point - the Rosemont Station. Then we got on a bus and headed to Woodfield Mall. And lastly, we took a trolley and were delivered to the front door of LegoLand Chicago Discovery Center.

It was really cool and you see photos of the amazing sculptures we found there by visiting my flickr page.

We saw a miniature Chicago made with Legos:

We rode through a medieval castle in a dragon car:

It was a cold and stormy day...well it was! Honest!

So, we survived the massive amounts of rain and enjoyed our time at the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum. The lake almost looked like an ocean yesterday as the waves were a bit on the high side. We did enjoy eating lunch at Galileo's Cafe in the Adler Planetarium and looking out over the lake. I am sure it is an absolutely gorgeous view on a clear day.

I only took a couple of photos yesterday and no video. So it is words only this go round. We enjoyed the telescope exhibit at Adler. I particularly enjoyed looking at the old books on display (where scientists had drawn pictures of their idea of the galaxy) and the lovely old telescopes. My favorite was one made out of ivory and if anyone wants to talk to the Planetarium and see if you can get it for me for Christmas.... haha...only kidding! We enjoyed seeing how old we would be and how much we would weigh if we were on other planets and we had a good time trying to make 6 planets orbit the sun for 20 seconds...not as easy as you would think. We watched two shows...one called Cosmic Collisions and the other was Skywatchers of Africa. Both were very good, though the one shown in the planetarium left me with neck strain.

Yesterday we went to visit Shedd Aquarium...in the rain. Yep, we have hit some major rain here in Chicago. In fact, looks like it will be raining again today...

But, since we drove and have the Xterra, we are prepared. I have rain ponchos stored in the back! After breakfast, we found our bus stop and headed to the Museum Campus. We were delighted to be riding on a Clean Air Hybrid Bus which was recently purchased by the city of Chicago with stimulus funds...our tax dollars at work! It should make a huge difference in the air quality here in Chicago as well.

We spent the day at the Shedd Aquarium enjoying the sights of the lovely fish.

It's always fun to see the videos and get moment by moment action...so here are three from yesterday! Enjoy!

Well, we left Virginia yesterday before 8 a.m. We had a pretty uneventful drive. I drove in the morning and Daniel drove in the afternoon and evening. A highlight of the day was we took an exit looking for a promised BP station. We never did find the BP station, but we drove through a beautiful section of Kentucky and saw some amazing homes and beautiful horses. I don't believe I have ever seen such magnificent homes outside of Newport, Rhode Island.

We stopped in Indiana so Daniel could get a haircut (didn't want him looking shaggy for the conference) and we had dinner. We later stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I tell you that staying there is a great deal for the money. Free internet. Free breakfast. Clean and comfy rooms.

Today we drove the rest of the way into Chicago. I was thinking about driving us around here for the places we are to visit. The drive in was enough to convince me to forget it. I am not qualified for city driving! After we got settled in, we are staying at the Hyatt Regency where the conference is, Daniel went to the conference, and we walked a bit south for a McDonald's (and found a food court). After lunch, the kids and I walked North up Michigan Avenue (also called the Mile with tons of great places to shop). We were headed to the Hancock Tower and saw many strange and wonderful things along the way.

I believe I enjoyed our time at the top of the Hancock building more than the Sears Tower last year. We enjoyed a complimentary cup of coffee (courtesy of our Chicago Passes) and we bought a couple of items in the gift shop and just really enjoyed learning about Chicago. We were up there for about 90 minutes, or maybe 2 hours, I wasn't really keeping track. It wasn't very crowded and the audio tour was awesome! I chose to listen to the kids version because kids' tours always give the best information.

While at the top of the Hancock Tower, we enjoyed looking at the beautiful Lake Michigan and it was neat how small Navy Pier looked from our vantage point.

Off to the left of Navy Pier and the filtration area, there was this roundish looking building. I wanted to know what it was, but it wasn't mentioned on the tour. I zoomed as much as I could, but couldn't really get a good picture. It looked to me like a Merry Go Round out in the middle of the lake (Katrina thought the same thing, separately from me). Finally I went up to the desk to ask because I just had to know...

It is a pumping station that goes with the water filtration area. It pumps water out of the lake for the people of Chicago to drink. I like my idea better. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Merry-Go-Round in the middle of the lake that you could only get to by boat???

As we were getting ready to leave, I couldn't find Katrina (this is a frequent happening) and I about had a heart attack when I did find her...

She kept pointing that it was a long way down as she worked hard to clean those windows!

We left there and stopped in Borders (it is the first time I have been in a Borders and I was really amazed!!!!!). We picked up the newest Daniel X book, then headed to Hershey's. Well, we had to go after we ran into the Kiss out on the Mile. Then we headed to the Chicago Tribune building.

We had learned while on our tour that reporters used to bring back pieces of places they had visited (i.e. a piece of the Great Wall of China, a piece of the Forbidden Temple in China, a piece of the Berlin Wall...). And these pieces are embedded in the outside of the building. It was really cool!

So, now we are back in the room and it is dinner time. More later...I have some videos to share too:)

I have to say that moving is way down on my list of things to do. I think I would much rather have a tooth drilled than move, really! After we left the fair on Wednesday, we headed to the U-Haul place, content that we had filled in all the info on line and it would be a snap. Well, it took about 20 minutes to do the paperwork at the store...get this... even though we filled out information on line about the kind of vehicle we were driving and all, I had to do it ALL AGAIN! Grr.... Then we went out to hook up. Based on when we reserved the u-haul, we thought they would be providing us with a ball. Nope...we had to have one...so the gal suggested going to a nearby automotive sales/repair place.

First I went to the Jeep place, he refused to work on my Nissan, but gave me directions to the Nissan place. They said they would be happy to put it in, but they don't carry balls in stock. So, then I had to drive to the automotive store (right next door to the place where I was to get the u-haul). First we had some miscommunication and he thought I wanted the receiver which he didn't have in stock, but then when we figured out what I was talking about, he had plenty balls in stock for minimal money. Back to the Nissan place and the kind guy there installed it. He had mentioned a bolt, so I figured tools would be involved...there was a pin and a cotter pin....I could have done that. I spent about an hour doing what I could have done in about 5 minutes had I known the proper place to go and how easy it would be to install...LET THAT BE A LESSON TO ALL WHO READ THIS.

Okay, the last four days, including today, have been busy, so I have fallen a wee bit behind. Time to catch you up.

Tuesday morning, the kids did some school work before we headed to the State Farm Water Park. Last year, we were given passes one day to the State Farm Water Park, it is for State Farm Employees, not contractors, and their guests. We were really tickled to get to go, but the day we ended up being able to go was so cold (last July) that I sat there under a towel most of the time. The kids of course were fine with the chilly, misty day, but it still dampened the experience. So we asked if we could try again this year. They were kind enough to extend us passes for one day, and we got to enjoy three hours of lovely warm water, before thunderstorms closed the park. The kids had fun with the two diving boards, two water slides, lazy river, splash area, and swimming areas. I played a lot with Katrina and I read some until we had to go.

Once we returned to the apartment, I did a little packing, then got showered and ready to go to Daniel's going away party. We left the children with strict instructions for them to spend the couple of hours in separate rooms and not bother each other (they have a terrible tendency to pick on one another and argue). We met at a local pool hall and about 10 people that Daniel has worked with came by for a couple of hours more or less. We played some pool, chatted, shared a couple of drinks and some food. Got home and did a little more packing.

Well, yesterday was day 8 of our great Illinois adventure. On Thursday, we will be heading back home, but whe still have a lot to do yet.

I spent yesterday morning getting my webmail set up. I have been using Outlook for ages, but some times when we go out of town, Outlook doesn't want to work properly. The problem with that is that I never set my webmail page up with my contacts and since I don't have everyone's email memorized, it is a pain. Now my contacts are all imported into my webmail and I was able to set my spam settings on my webmail account to automatic delete. Now instead of getting 200 junk mails a day, I am down to 10. Thank goodness! While I played computer guru, the kids did school work, then we went to Anderson Aquatic Park in Normal yesterday. They have a huge little kid area with lots of splashy toys and a fun slide.

They have a life size chess board and Katrina and I enjoyed playing with that. I had a picture, but it was too fuzzy to share.

They have two large one slides, a diving board area, a 5 foot swim area, then a 3.6-5 foot swim area. I read most of the time we were there. After we were there for an hour, Jack was ready to leave (Xbox Live has been calling his name and he can't play it at our house). So I called Daniel who picked him up on his way home from work. Then Katrina and I stayed until 8. The last hour or so, I played in the pools with her. Afterwards, we had to stop and check out the nearby playground.

You know, these flat states are very, very windy!!!! Doesn't matter what time of year it is, there always seems to be a nice breeze, or a steady wind blowing. Today in Bloomington, the winds are roaring through with gusts up to 40 mph! Katrina and I went out for a bit and a gust just about ripped the truck door out of my hands! We are expecting a wintry mix tonight (hey, we can get that at home in Virginia!), but they are calling for an inch of snow and maybe a couple of inches of snow on Tuesday. We head home on Thursday. I have asked Daniel to drive back with us. It is just such a long drive and I don't like driving in this wintery weather.

I am feeling better, though not 100%, but at least I do feel better. Almost human again! Must say the mochas from Starbucks really make my throat feel better!

Today, Katrina and I went out to get a few things. She was looking around on the internet and found a recipe for making some pet treats. So we picked up the ingredients for that. We also picked up her present for Santa as we had forgotten to get that when I took the kids Christmas shopping last week. She has bought a present each year for Santa for several years. An extra Santa hat and various Christmas ornaments. This year, she got five small ornaments that are from the characters in Rudolph-the Red Nosed Reindeer. Santa always leaves her a thank you note. The other thing we were looking for was a winter coat.

I was looking in Lynchburg before we came here to Bloomington. We didn't get a lot of time to look and only made it to Walmart. They had one, yes, one winter coat for girls!!!!! IOt was pink with "Virginia Tech" written on it! What in the world????? There were plenty of coats for young men and I had no problem getting a nice one for Jack. So Katrina and I figured there would be a better selection here in Illinois...and guess what!? We were right, there were rows and rows of coats and she found a very cute pink one that came with a brown scarf and mittens.

This afternoon we are going to go see Madagascar 2. I really want to go to see Australia, maybe sometime over the holidays when Daniel is home.

Sorry that I haven't been around for a few days. I did get in on the bloggy giveaways carnival with some help from my friend Laura, at Laura Williams' Musings.

We spent most of the weekend enjoying our last weekend in Bloomington and getting packed to come back to Virginia. Daniel says the apartment is really lonely without us there. I can tell you that it was a whole lot emptier after packed our stuff up. I didn't think it was all going into the Xterra, but it did...well, most of it - we will be getting the rest when we go back when Daniel's gig is done. We loaded up Sunday, but unlike when we came home the end of June, we weren't chomping at the bit to get back to Virginia this time.

We didn't leave Bloomington until around 9:30. And we spent the night in West Virginia. When we got to WV, we started running into traffic due to road work that was being done at night. After my third 15 minute wait, I decided we were done and we checked into a Wingate outside of Charleston.

The Wingate was very nice. Those puffy bedspreads must be all the rage these days in newer hotels. I want one for my bed...light, but very warm and comfy. We had a good night's sleep and went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast.

Ever since we arrived back in May, Daniel has mentioned us going to State Farm Water Park. It never seemed to be in the cards though. Since he is a contractor, he is not included among those who get to take advantage of the very nice recreational area that State Farm has set up. But, his boss told him this week that she would get passes for the kids and me to go and we went today. It was 74, cloudy and started raining about 4. I was literally sitting with a towel wrapped around me while the wind blew. The kids weren't bothered by the cold and in fact told me I would get warm if I just got in the water. While the water was heated and it probably would have been warmer than sitting in the chair, I knew that getting in meant only one thing...getting back out and I just wasn't up for it.

Well, here we are back in Bloomington. One week from today we will be half way back to Virginia. We have had a wonderful couple of months and we are looking forward to going home.

So, for our last 36 hours in Michigan City, I am sure you are wondering what we did. Sunday we hung around the condo in the morning. Reading, playing DS and being lazy. In the afternoon we went to the beach. The kids and I played in the water. Daniel went out for a bit, but said it was a bit too cold. Katrina and I grabbed a raft and paddled and kicked through a deep area to a sandbar that was probably 100 yards from shore. It was neat being way out there and being able to stand. We played around for about an hour, then Katrina and I let the currents/waves take us back to shore.

While on shore, the kids decided one last great sand adventure must happen.

Well, we had another lovely day yesterday, although it was an inside day. We woke up to cloudy skies and pouring down rain. It finally stopped about 12, but everything was saturated, so we decided that yesterday would be a good day to do the one excursion we had planned while we were here. Before we went though, the kids spent the morning playing on their DS and I spent the morning reading.

Daniel has been interviewing some people for a project he is working on, so he wasn't done with that until about 2:30, then we all got dressed and headed for the car and New Buffalo, MI which is about 15 minutes away. For those of you counting...that means another state magnet for our refrigerator...yippee!

We were heading for Four Winds Casino and Kid's Quest. It took us almost as long to find a parking space as it did to drive to the Casino. The place was packed! The first thing we did upon arrival was check the kids into Kid's Quest (and think to ourselves that maybe we should stay there too.

I keep wanting to call Michigan City, Lake Michigan City....my apologies to anyone I may have confused. We are staying in Michigan City, Indiana which is situated on Lake Michigan and we are about 10 minutes from the state of Michigan....

So, what did we do yesterday? Well we read books in the morning. After lunch, we went to the beach and spent the afternoon. The kids did more digging, swimming and building. I spent some time in Lake Michigan too, it was very chilly at first, but once in, very relaxing. The advantage of a huge lake over an ocean is that you don't have those waves trying to knock you over all the time!

We came back, got all cleaned up and had dinner at Matey's Restaurant and Beer Garden. I enjoyed their seafood/prime rib buffet (it was all about the seafood for me). Jack and Katrina had some fantastic chicken and fries. Daniel had steak and crab cake dinner. They were hopping and the chef walked around in his chili pepper pants, greeting everyone and talking to them. It was obvious that this place was a favorite with locals because many people came in and greeted the chef personally.

The food was excellent, the atmosphere/ambience was friendly, and the service was fantastic. Right before we arrived, a group of about 20 came in. This tied up the staff for a bit and they kept apologizing to us for the delay, but let me tell you, they were on top of things, and the only delay I noticed was when we waited briefly to get our menus. One of my favorite moments was when the busboy came by and asked if my hubby was finished. Daniel had eaten his potato, his steak, his crab cake, but he hadn't eaten his veggies. The young man admonished Daniel for not eating his veggies and told him there would be no dessert for him tonight...it was funny!

We had to go by Meijer's to pick up a couple of things. Daniel neglected to pack his swimsuit and I forgot to buy ketchup (Jack can't live without ketchup for his chicken and fries). We also picked up two 1.00 rafts for the kids to play with in the pool and the lake. We came back and played in the pool for about an hour before heading in for the night to watch Stargate Atlantis...one of our favorite shows.

A very nice, relaxing and fun day!

Daniel was done with work early yesterday and we were delighted to head off on our last big weekend excursion. We arrived at the condo at about 1:30 pm. It's very nice. we have a view of the harbor, we are a short walk from the beach (which is still a little long for my problem knee so we will be driving), and the kids love the spiral staircase that leads up to the loft (where they have a bedroom, bathroom and lounging area...)

The only drawback is we are on the third floor...my knee is definitely not happy about all of the steps.

Yesterday, Jack and Katrina and I visited Anderson Aquatic Park in Normal, IL.

For 13.00, we gained several hours of admittance into a lovely water park with two waterslides, a diving board, two pool areas, and a spray area (which was mostly populated by toddlers) and a reasonable concession stand.

Jack and Katrina really enjoyed diving in. Here are some pictures of them having fun.

Today, we went to meet a couple that Daniel knows from work and their family. Lisa and Ryan have four children ages 2-13. We met for a picnic lunch of gondolas, chips, fruit and cookies. Gondolas are a local treat made by Avantis. Yummy bread with salami, ham, lettuce and cheese. I went to Meijer's and found some wonderful fruit for us...we had cherries, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, bananas, and grapes...I love summer time!

The kids liked the spray park! I got a couple of good shots of Katrina at play.

When we booked our trip to Chicago, Daniel used Expedia. He wanted a top notch place to stay in the Windy City and let me tell you, he definitely found it.

The Sofitel Water Tower is located at 20 East Chestnut Street. Many wonderful things are within easy walking distance including: The Historic Chicago Water Tower, Water Tower Place, The Hancock Building, Navy Pier, Michigan Avenue (Magnificent Mile), and McDonalds (for those picky eaters).

The accomodations are luxurious. We had two rooms, one for the girls and one for the guys. Katrina and I had a king size bed with the softest mattress and pillows you could imagine. There was a desk and chair. And a bathroom with a shower and a bath. Instead of the tiny bottles of shampoo and conditioner that one usually receives, there were larger containers that lasted our entire vacation. There was a mini bar/refrigerator, which we didn't make use of. A flat screen television. Robes to wear, a safe and plenty of closet and dresser space. There were magazines and information on places to see in the Windy City.

Daniel and Jack's room had a bath that was the same as ours. Daniel had a king size bed and his bedroom could be closed off by doors. Then there was a living room type area with television, sofa bed, computer table which we also used as a dining table, a coffee table and chairs. Plenty of space for us to spread out in, relax in and eat in.