Sunday, July 15, 2012

Chicago

Now for step one of Operation Update Blog!
Okay. Here we go.
Skipping over a Head-to-Head meet,
a new backsplash, 
and a clown, 
   I will now proceed to tell y'all about our spring break. 
   Ahem. 
"We just got back from the Windy City, 
the Windy City is mighty pretty..."
(I hope you enjoyed that Brinli.) 
   Anyway. We went to Chicago, Illinois, also known as the Windy City. It was pretty fun and we took enough pictures to sink a ship. I will only include the best for your viewing pleasure! 
This is the trunk of the cramped, cramped car we went in. Fortunately we stayed in a hotel or we never would have survived.
   We started off with a trip to the Field Museum, which was very awesome. Unfortunately none of the exhibits came alive for us. I guess you have to visit there at night. (For the totally bemused in the audience, this is a reference to Night at the Museum.) 
Our family (minus me, the photographer) with Sue. Great face on Samuel, eh? 
We actually discovered that the head on the actual Sue is a fake (the real one is too heavy) and the real head is upstairs. Samuel seems fairly unfazed by the dinosaur head. Dad and I might have freaked out a bit...

We took some pictures in the gift shop which are, I must say, rather awesome. Behold:
Dad and Samuel in...actually, I have no clue what these are, except for the fairly certain fact that they are to be worn atop the head.
If you're a little confused right now, this is a panda hat. This is Mom's panda pose. Isn't it awesome? :)


The next day, we visited the neato Shedd Aquarium. The bulk of our pictures were taken here. Lucky for you, I will only put a few of the skillion jillion pictures we took on here.
In the entry, we noticed this cool shark. It's like a blimp you steer with a remote control. (If anybody out there is thinking of getting me a random present, I hear you can also get a dolphin version of this.) 


We took tons of pictures of the jellyfish exhibit. I never knew that jellyfish were so weird.
These little guys are called egg yolk jellyfish. Weird, huh?
These are way weird: upside-down jellyfish. They just lie on their backs with their legs in the air. They must live very boring lives.

We also visited the penguins.
Just one example of why I need a penguin! The zookeepers were petting penguins on their laps, with a long line of hopeful penguins waiting impatiently in a line. When they left, all the penguins followed. So cute!
A bunch of adorable penguins penguining around. The line in the picture is the glass.
Lunch break!
These are weird little worm thingys that live in holes in the ocean floor. Evidently their one purpose in life is to poke their heads out of their holes and amuse people. 
Look! I found Nemo! 
This is a huge snake from the Amazon River. I'm glad it was in a cage, because I think it wants to kill me. 
Now, scary giant bullet ants. Don't know why they were in an aquarium, but I think they also want to kill me. 
This is how we ended up: Dad and Samuel asleep, Mom sitting on a bench probably about to fall asleep, me trying to figure out where we are, and Andrew taking embarrassing pictures. (This is the least embarrassing, included only for accuracy.) 
After wandering for a while, we came upon the gift shop and took more goofy pictures.
 Star Wars...and otters.
 Harry Potter...and otters. It doesn't get much better (read: nerdier) than that.
I love how Samuel is holding the snake by the throat (the only safe way to hold a snake.)


At the Museum of Science and Industry, they had a Mythbusters exhibit in which you could try some of the safer exhibits, those not involving explosions. 
Dad tried to pull a tablecloth from under some (plastic) dishes, leaving them standing there. 
I tried to get dressed in a "superhero" outfit as fast as they can in movies. I failed miserably. But don't I look great? ;)
Mom tried to dodge a bullet. She didn't do so well.
Gift shop pictures...I think Dad should have bought that beret, don't you?


We also went to the Chicago Art Institute, which was way cool.
They had these nifty lions out front. I really like this picture.
The little round things are not, as Andrew believes, primitive yo-yos. Although they look a lot like them. They are teeny tiny boxes. 
My favorite part of the museum was the Thorne rooms, a collection of itty bitty rooms. They are so realistic it's almost scary. I could have stayed there all day. 
 Me and Samuel, appreciating art...we were getting a little tired at this point (probably like you are right now, reading all of this-I'll wrap it up soon) which is why we were sitting on the floor. 

Mom, Dad, and American Gothic...
We had lunch at a little Italian restaurant before heading home. 

Here I am in front of the restaurant.

We had a great time and will hopefully be coming back to Chicago sometime!

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