We're back from our museum-filled trip to the Windy City. Here are the highlights from day 1: The Field Museum (The Museum of Natural History.)
Getting ready to go inside, notice they're not tired of getting their picture taken yet.
The Field Museum:
Dinosaur Sue - the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found:
Giraffe guts and stomach - don't worry they're not real.
Not too sure about that alligator:
The best part of the Field Museum - The Underground Adventure. We were "shrunk" down to 1/1ooth our normal size, to see what's going on in the soil.
See how big that penny is?! (It said "in soil we trust.")
Worm!
We've got lots of these earwig buggers coming in our house:
Spider!
Laying in bed that night, Sam asked me, "How did they shrink us down like that?!" So I tried to expain how they made everything really big so we'd just look small. He seemed relieved! Will, of course had it all figured out right away.
Ancient Egypt:
Here's what I'd like to think I'd look like as a mummy:
Sam and Will tried to move a pyramid block but Will quickly realized it wasn't going anywhere. Sam could have stayed there all day trying to move that thing! Notice he even says to the girl, "One, two three, pull!" Sweet guy!
View of the main hall:
Wooly Mammoth:
Stegosaurus:
Max did a lot of good pointing on this trip:
Damon and I both agreed that we're not sure we'd do the Field Museum again. Lots of it wasn't interesting to the kids. Think of the U of I McBride museum times, like 1000. (And isn't that plenty big, as far as the kids - and their mom - are concerned?!) Lots of stuffed animals and birds. Lots of indian artifacts and history. We bought these City Passes which saved us nearly 50% and included four museums and one big building, otherwise we probably wouldn't have gone. It was however a good first day activity choice since we only had a half day and the kids were not yet burnt out on museums. (I think the boys will be glad if they don't see another museum for awhile!) The Underground Adventure was definitely the coolest part of the Field Museum for the kids. It was an extra fee to enter, but was included in our City Passes.
We decided to eat downtown since we didn't want to battle rush hour traffic so we hopped in a cab and told him to take us to a good pizza place. (The kids and my first cab ride!) The kids were totally quiet and sat stiff as boards the entire way there! They were a bit wide-eyed about the whole experience! We'd heard of several of the restaurants the cabbie mentioned and decided on Gino's East. I'd been there once before for a high school band trip! Excellent pizza and a fun atmosphere. Even though there's usually a line down the block to get in, we beat the crowd by arriving at 5 and got right in! The kids did not buy that it was ok to write on the walls...or the chairs...or the table. Yep, I've raised 'em right.
Evidently they do think that it's ok to stick their tongues out at their mothers. 
Actually I think someone was tired of having their picture taken after only the first day!
Will wrote this on the wall: "Smiley face=Wii. Sad face=homework." 
Ok, he didn't actually write it, but he could have. He agreed with the statement wholeheartedly.
Gino's East was right off of Michigan Ave, so we walked it a bit. The summer statues were decorated mannequins using recyled objects. I still say a Whimsical Herky is a much better idea.
On the cab ride back, it was a little different story: "Yeah, we're cool...we've got this whole cab thing down!"
Back at the hotel it was time for some swimming, which was all the kids really wanted to do all week anyway:
That's it for day 1! Yes, I'm my father's daughter and my sister's...well...sister. So I take a lot of pictures, so sue me.
Bottle rockets with a homemade pvc pipe launcher:
Hmmm...both captains chose their dads first. I, on the other hand, was one of the last to be picked!
Everyone's favorite scene:
A new area was open called the Biosphere:
Just like the Slip in the Slide, the older and bigger you get, the smaller the size of the museum gets, according to my nephew Jack. 
...and ding dongs.
Lots of slides:
Sam was super brave (basically because he didn't realize what he was getting himself into, but that still counts) and went on this ride, called the G-Force, with his Dad.
It did this:
Max hung out underneath the umbrellas and tried to stay out of the sun. 
Jeep had a big section set up where you could rock climb:
Ok. Back to the airshow. The highlight of the day was the Blue Angels. The videos don't do anything to capture the intensity of seeing them in person. It is so unbelievably loud and fast and there's so much power and precision in what they do. You feel the noise through your whole body. It was impressive. Plus it just made me proud to be an American. I so appreciate what the military does for us each and every day.
but she really does love him:
I mean what's not to love?!
