I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Chicago!! I had only decided about two weeks ago that I would be going to Chicago for Memorial Day, so it was weird to have such
short notice in planning a trip. The main reason I went is that Anne will be graduating (from Northwestern with her Master's degree) and I had not yet been out there to see her. We had a blast!! We got the Go Chicago card for $55 and it allowed us to go to a variety of museums, attractions and tours. Anne's friend, Kenny, joined us for the weekend as well. Anne and Kenny met while at Georgia Tech and Kenny is now living in Rockford and is an OBGYN.
So on Saturday morning, we took the "L" train to downtown Chicago. Our first stop was the John Hancock building. It's the second-tallest building in Chicago. It was really cool to see the entire city. Unfortunately we were not able to see as far as we would have liked. On a clear day, we should have been able to see several neighboring states, but it was raining on Saturday, so our view was rather limited. It was so rainy that Anne and I had to clean the windows. We did what we could.
Our next stop was Navy Pier where we caught an architecture boat tour. It was very interesting. Our tour guide told us the background of the types of architecture we saw and learned various tid bits.
We learned that
Donald Trump was told that he cannot have the tallest building in Chicago, so his Trump Tower is going to be one floor shorter than the Sears Tower. We also found out that there are several pieces of buildings and such from around the world (like the Great Wall of China, various cathedrals, the Taj Mahal and the Twin Towers) embedded in the exterior foundation of the Chicago Tribune building.
There was also an awesome little family that was a little obsessive
about taking pictures and more specifically, about taking pictures in which they were standing in front of the tour guide and essentially distracting everyone else on the boat. They made such a spectacle of themselves that I couldn't resist taking a picture of them myself!
We made quick stops at Navy Pier and Millennium Park. We stopped by a statue of Bob Newheart who gave me some good advice. We saw the big bean statue and two very cool water fountains that had the faces of
kids on them and the kids would spit out water. Anyway, it was pretty cool.
We made a quick stop at the Art Institute of Chicago. We saw some of the impressionist paintings. It was a very impressive collection. We even saw "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. That painting cracks me up.
We then took the bus to Shedd Aquarium. Thanks to the Go Chicago card, we were able to bypass the loooong lines and go straight to the will-call desk. They have a variety of displays based on different regions of the earth.
It was about lunch time by the time we got to the aquarium, so I had my first Chicago hot dog. Between the two of us, they're not as good as New York hot dogs. Of course, I'm not a fan of hot peppers. If you don't know, a Chicago hot dog has diced onions, relish, NO ketchup, mustard, tomatoes, hot peppers, and the dog all on a poppy-seed bun. The aquarium also had an amphitheater of sorts where they had dolphins doing tricks. I must say, if I were a dolphin, there's no way I'd do all the tricks they do for a lousy fish. We also saw the beluga whale display. There was a baby beluga born last year, so the mom, dad and baby whales were all swimming around in a relatively small aquarium. I tend to feel bad for animals kept in captivity.
All day we had been walking like crazy and all day it had been raining like crazy!!! I think they had more rain on Saturday in Chicago than we've had all year so far in California. We took the bus to the Sears Tower. We went all the way to the top. I believe there are 108 floors. Fortunately, the weather cleared up long enough for us to see a decent amount of the city.
We then walked about 30 more miles (kidding) to go shopping at H&M and the Adidas store and finally to Giordano's for some Chicago-style pizza. Ravi (who had been in a mini-marathon that morning) joined us for dinner. The pizza was sooo good and Chicago deserves to be famous for a pizza like that.
I am reading the Bearenstein bears book about Strangers to Emma. The book handles a difficult subject very well.
My last day in Chicago was spent at Lake Michigan. We brought a ton of food to the park and had a BBQ. Some of Ravi and Anne's friends joined us and it was a lot of fun. Fortunately, the weather was completely different from Saturday and we really enjoyed the sun and the time to just relax.
It's basically bean bag toss for grown ups. 
You set up two targets about 20 feet apart. Then you toss a bean bag (filled with corn, of course) and try to get it into the hole. You get 1 point for getting the corn bag to land on the board and 3 points if it goes through the hole. The net score is added to the winning team's score. The team that reaches 20 points, wins.
It's my new mission to make as many people as I can aware of frog-eye salad because it is sooo good. Andy can eat almost an entire bowl all by himself.
taking pictures as well. 
short notice in planning a trip. The main reason I went is that Anne will be graduating (from Northwestern with her Master's degree) and I had not yet been out there to see her. We had a blast!! We got the Go Chicago card for $55 and it allowed us to go to a variety of museums, attractions and tours. Anne's friend, Kenny, joined us for the weekend as well. Anne and Kenny met while at Georgia Tech and Kenny is now living in Rockford and is an OBGYN. 
So on Saturday morning, we took the "L" train to downtown Chicago. Our first stop was the John Hancock building. It's the second-tallest building in Chicago. It was really cool to see the entire city. Unfortunately we were not able to see as far as we would have liked. On a clear day, we should have been able to see several neighboring states, but it was raining on Saturday, so our view was rather limited. It was so rainy that Anne and I had to clean the windows. We did what we could. 
Our next stop was Navy Pier where we caught an architecture boat tour. It was very interesting. Our tour guide told us the background of the types of architecture we saw and learned various tid bits. 
We learned that 
Donald Trump was told that he cannot have the tallest building in Chicago, so his Trump Tower is going to be one floor shorter than the Sears Tower. We also found out that there are several pieces of buildings and such from around the world (like the Great Wall of China, various cathedrals, the Taj Mahal and the Twin Towers) embedded in the exterior foundation of the Chicago Tribune building.
about taking pictures and more specifically, about taking pictures in which they were standing in front of the tour guide and essentially distracting everyone else on the boat. They made such a spectacle of themselves that I couldn't resist taking a picture of them myself!
kids on them and the kids would spit out water. Anyway, it was pretty cool. 
We made a quick stop at the Art Institute of Chicago. We saw some of the impressionist paintings. It was a very impressive collection. We even saw "American Gothic" by Grant Wood. That painting cracks me up.
Fast forward a couple weeks. For mother's day we had arranged to make dinner for Andy's mom and family. As we were contemplating what to bring for dessert, Andy decided that 
he would make cookies by himself and from scratch. Of course, I was all in favor of the idea. I must admit, aside from not knowing where everything is in the kitchen, he did an excellent job! The cookies looked and tasted great and I didn't 
help him at all!! Of course I had to document the process. 
to be with her from Wednesday, April 4th to Sunday, April 8th--our longest visit with her yet. We had a lot of fun and thanks to a calendar I created, the week was filled with all kinds of activities. This first picture is of Andy and Emma at Carolina Beach where we hid a Letter Box. Letter boxing is a lot of fun and is something we picked up from Andrew and Amy (my brother and sister-in-law). Essentially, you go online to http://www.letterboxing.org/ to find where letter boxes are hidden and then when you find them you can stamp their notebook and stamp your notebook. It's basically a free, fun way to learn about new places that you wouldn't have known about otherwise.
Grandma Carol made a rainbow quilt for Emma that is absolutely amazing. It has a black kettle at the end of the rainbow that you could put things in and so each day that we were there, something magically appeared in the kettle. There was also a sun that hid under a cloud that could be attached with Velcro. The flower buds were also detachable with Velcro. She even had Emma design one of the flowers that had pink petals and a heart-shaped button in the center. Emma loved the quilt and played with it quite a bit.
We spent Wednesday afternoon at the Wilmington Children's Museum. It's a really fun place. It's got a huge pirate ship--complete with a cannon that fires foam balls, a craft room, an animal room, a science area, a grocery store, a dress-up area and an outside play area. There's a lot to do and we have a lot of fun every time we go. This time, Emma gravitated toward the craft room where she made a birthday cake out of play dough and then made little animals that attended the ensuing birthday party. (Her birthday was April 9th and she was very excited about it too!) It was a lot of fun. 
On Thursday, we mostly hung around the beach house (where we stay when we go to NC) in Carolina Beach. We built a fort and Emma colored a crown--which we cut out for her to wear so she could reign over the pillows. 
We also spent some time at the beach on Thursday. Being the spoiled Hawaiian beach lover that I am, I must say that I was very impressed with the beach in North Carolina. The sand was very fine and there were no rocks or seaweed. Overall it was a very nice beach--the water was a little cold, but nice. We picked a great day to do beach activities too because the rest of the week got gradually colder. We built sand castles, collected shells, made sand angels and Andy and Emma danced in the waves (my favorite part of the whole experience--Andy is a very talented dancer!!) We had a lot of fun and avoided getting sunburned too--a major feat for our haole skin!
up the eggs that had their number on it. Emma's number was 8 and while she g
ot off to a slow start, she found all her eggs and had a blast doing so. We then went into an auditorium for a presentation on alligators and to watch a movie about alligators. We spent some time walking around the aquarium as well. Emma showed us all kinds of fish. 
r hockey--definitively. The pizza there is not the best, but kids seem to love it anyway. Emma redeemed her tickets for a purple ring and a spinning top.
Whenever we're with Emma, we typically spend hours playing with Polly Pockets. Polly Pockets are a manufacturing marvel! They are 4"-high dolls with tiny plastic clothes and accessories. It's absolutely amazing to see the little clothes and shoes and everything they have invented. Emma just loves changing their clothes and imagining up activities for Polly and her friends to do. 
ut a birthday cake and of course there were presents. We let Emma cut her cake and she did an excellent job. She cut each piece in a
triangle that was no larger than about two bites! It was great. Jon and Carol gave her more Polly Pockets and they brought some Polly Pockets from Evan and Seth (Andy's nephews). Andy and I gave her some Barbie Fairies and a board game, Sequence--for kids We played Sequence a few times and I'm not sure if Emma didn't quite pick up on the strategy of the game or if she was trying to let one of us win, but she preferred to put her token on the animal she most preferred rather than the one that would let her win. Regardless, she won all four rounds! 
