Windy City Part Deux

Our second day of adventures started by eating at a place called Yolks. It was a great breakfast place around the corner from our hotel.  The ironic thing about the place was they didn't even fix my scrabbled eggs right.  They were runny in the middle, like snot. Nice picture huh?  After our otherwise great breakfast we headed down to South Chicago to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. 

As we got off the train we could tell we were not in "Kansas anymore Dorothy". We had to catch a bus to go to the museum and it was taking a long time so we started walking.  It was a questionable area to say the least. Travis acted like it was no big thing and compared to New York it wasn't.

Once we go to the Museum we were so impressed with the size of it. We headed to a show about something- I can't remember because I fell asleep.  I was so mad at myself that we wasted time in the movie when we could have been exploring more.  Oh well, you live you learn.  I should have known, nothing has changed since high school.  Put a movie on and I am out. 

The Museum was AWESOME! We could have stayed a whole day from opening to closing there. They has stuff for all of our interests. I was loving the exhibit about the capture of U-Boat 505 and the WWII history lesson.  We went to an exhibit about agriculture.  Some of the stuff was funny to me that people didn't know about agriculture or the stuff they highlighted but then again I got my degree in an Ag related field.  I forget I come from a long line of farmers and others don't have that luxury. We went to an amazing exhibit all about weather and other natural phenomena like tsunami's and avalanches.  We spent a long time in this exhibit experimenting with the different machines to control the weather and phenomena.  They even had a lightning machine, or a Tesla machine.  It about gave me a heart attack the first time the lightning went off.  Travis was lost in this exhibit forever.  

We headed over to the human body exhibit which piqued Vanessa's interest.  I thought the exhibit was amazing.  I did have a small little mishap in the exhibit though.  I saw this side room that had a huge white screen about how a woman's body changes during pregnancy, and since I am in the midst of my childbearing years I wanted to watch the movie the screen was playing.  I watch the movie and keep in mind the rest of the room was super dark.  When I went to leave I noticed behind the screen/wall were all of the fetuses that showed the progression from conception to full term baby.  I thought "Awesome I want to look at theses." I was about half way down the line of fetuses when I started walking and I wanted to start at the first and we were short on time so I was walking fast when all of the sudden I was getting taken out at the shin and face planting it into a bench.  My eyes had not adjusted to the lack of light and there happened to be a bench along the back of the screen/wall.  I wanted to cry but I got up and looked around to see if anybody was laughing at me.  I got a lovely huge bruise to showcase my lack of observance for the rest of the trip.  

We hit a few more exhibits before we tried to go back to the Planetarium.  We caught a bus that I am pretty sure nobody had showered on for the last month before we were able to catch the train.  We got to the Planetarium about 5 min before they closed.  Apparently, the planner didn't look at closing times.  I should have been fired.

We decided we had enough time to hit the Sky Deck/ Sears Tower.  We made our way over there with the help of our trusty navigator Travis.  He was amazing at getting us to the bus we needed and where we needed to go. When we got to the sky deck it was pretty busy so we had to wait in line to get into the glass boxes that literally hang out from the side of the building.  We had a lot of time to sit and ponder how high in the sky we actually were.  While waiting we were joking about the people who were freaking out when they stepped out on the glass thinking we were going to be just fine.  Not true, in my old age I have become a chicken.  Travis had no problem what so ever but when I stepped out there, my feet started sweating, I got a little panicked to say the least.  As we sat down to take the pictures I just kept thinking what if I fell. There was a lot of butt clinching going on- inside joke. It was amazing though to see the city this way.  I can not believe the men who used to build sky scrapers and walk along the iron I-beams.  Thinking about it now I am starting to break a sweat. 

After Sears Tower we found a Giordano's, which everybody recommended for their deep dish Chicago style pizza.  When we went inside the hostess said the wait was about an hour but that it took about 45 min to and hour for the pizza to cook.  She said they will take our order and until a table opens up we were okay to sit at the bar.  What is worse than 3 LDS people taking up space at the bar ordering a nice foam Diet Coke and some Lemonades?  They moved us a long really quickly it seemed when we didn't order a drink.  The hostess was not lying about the wait time for the pizza.  We were all pretty famished.  It is always hard to remember to eat while on vacation when you are having fun and just on the go.  Next time I will be more prepared and have more snacks. We finally got our pizza and it did not disappoint.  It was amazing, I gained a few pounds from eating it but it was all worth it! 

Windy City Part 1

Once upon a time back in February, Travis found out he was going to a conference in Chicago, but it wasn't until September.  It seemed like it was a lifetime away at the time but by the time summer got here and things needed to be planned and made definite time went by so fast. 

To start off our vacation we dropped the kiddos off at my amazingly helpful moms' house.  We headed up to the airport the next morning from my mom's to cut the driving time at 5 in the morning.  We got to the airport and Travis got a text alert saying our plane was delayed.  We thought this was silly since all of the boards and the crew at the desk said we were right on time.  Seriously, 20 minutes before boarding they changed their minds saying the plane was now delayed.  Man, if we would have known we could have been exploring or something not waiting by our gate. We ended up waiting like 3 hours for our plane, which meant our connection in Denver may leave without us. To say I was panicked is a understatement. Vanessa was meeting us in Denver and flying on to Chicago with us.  We were all supposed to eat at Denver but we got off our plane ran to the next gate in Denver and boarded.  The lady at the ticket counter asked, "Are you guys from Salt Lake?" we said "yes", she said "Oh good, we could only hold this gate two more minutes for you guys, good thing you made it."   Thank the Good Lord, I know Vanessa was sweating it too.  She was worried what she was going to do once she arrived in Chicago by herself.  The flight to Chicago was a bit long and we were all famished.  Apparently, now days they don't give peanuts and a drink for free anymore.  We bought some snacks but we learned our lesson.  ALWAYS, ALWAYS pack a huge snack bag, for waiting in the over priced airport and for the over priced flight food.  

Once we landed in Chicago we headed to our hotel which was downtown.  I love public transportation.  We were able to take a train basically to our hotel instead of having to get a taxi.  We checked in at our hotel and headed out to find a place to eat.  We must have hit a jackpot because some people we met on the train were also eating there and the place was packed.  It was place called Millers, I think.  We were all in much better spirits after a nice hot meal.  We headed back to the motel after hitting up McDonald's for a little ice cream. 

We woke up early on Thursday morning to ensure that we could get all we wanted to out of our Go Chicago Go Passes.  Those passes paid for themselves and more.  I am so glad LeAnne told us about them.  We wanted to go to the Navy Pier first.  We were told if we wanted to get a good time to go on the Architecture Water tour we needed to book early, so we got there right when it opened to request a sunset river boat ride.  While we were at the Pier we thought we should explore and do the Ferris  Wheel and other attractions our pass got us.  Turns out the only thing that interested us was the Ferris Wheel.   

Since the Navy Pier didn't hold out attention very long we decided to head back into the City and hit up some other fun things.  We caught a bus and decided we wanted to go to John Hancock Building.  On the way to the John Hancock building I saw a sign for American Girl Dolls.  Are you kidding me?  I had to go in.  I loved those books as a child, I even have the Samantha doll.  I would love another doll, but according to some I am a little too old to have dolls.  We learned that in the bottom of a lot of the buildings down town there are tons of shops and stores.  I was in HEAVEN.  Too bad, shopping was not on everybody else's agenda. After the American Girl store we went to the Lego store, that place was awesome yet so expensive. I thought we could all use a chocolate break so we headed over to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop.  We have been to the one in San Fran. but why not hit up another one? We got a much needed boost of energy and headed over to the John Hancock building.  It was amazing what the Civil Engineers and Architects have accomplished.  It was fun to be able to see the tops of the buildings and see pools and gardens, City living could be for me, not Travis but I could do it. As we were walking around the Observatory there was a movie playing about the history of the building. I told everybody we should watch it, it looked interesting. Apparently, Vanessa and I were more tired than we thought.  I don't even remember falling asleep.  Thank you, Travis for snapping this awesome picture.   

Once we woke up and remembered we are on a tight schedule we headed out to find the Chicago History Museum.  We decided to walk up there since it didn't seem like it was that far away.  I am so glad we walked because that is how you really see the city.  We ended up walking through some amazing little neighborhoods and we even walked through a movie set.  We were really worried at first because we saw SWAT trucks and fire engines and police then we realized, everybody is just standing around.  The show is called Crisis or something like that.  

The Chicago History Museum was AWESOME! I love history.  It was so fun to learn about this crazy city.  This city has a very colorful history.  We closed the museum down much to the my travel companions dismay.  It is tiring to go the museums and stand and walk around. Don't get me wrong though they did enjoy it, but I think everybody's feet were a little sore after the walk and standing for so long. We headed back to the Pier for our Architecture tour after the museum.  This time we took the bus.  On the way there we decided we were all FREEZING.  The wind had come up and it was cold.  We decided if we were going to survive this river cruise we needed a coat! We headed back to the mall and hit up Aeropostale.  Yay, for cheap jackets.  I loved the fact we were like a walking advertisement for Aeropostale.  

We got to the river cruise just in time to get a great spot in line and a great seat. Vanessa was struggling on the cruise because she was exhausted.  She came off of a week of night shifts right before the trip. The river boat cruise is a must if you ever visit the windy city. Seriously, people are so ingenuitive. What the engineers did to make the building work and how they built them.  Amazing.  I loved learning about all the buildings.  It was amazing to me how many of the buildings were made so the people who lived in them never had to leaven them, even for work. Crazy city people!

When the river boat cruise was finished we headed back to Michael Jackson's Steakhouse.  We saw the menu earlier in the day and thought "Hey that isn't that bad, we can do this".  Much to our dismay we were not dressed appropriately and apparently we saw the lunch menu not the dinner menu, $50 for the cheapest plate, you have got to be kidding me.  We instead headed to a little Italian place that was not very good and we sat outside and got rained on.  Not cool but we finished the night with Pink Berry! That stuff is so good.  I could eat it everyday! 

GHOST BUSTERS

This building used to be the biggest building in the world area wise before the Pentagon was built.  The Kennedy's owned it but sold it.  

This is from the top of the Ferris Wheel

Outside the John Hancock Building

"Please Travis, just let me buy one doll.......just one.......for Jaylee, yeah for Jaylee!"

The set of Crisis

Top of John Hancock

Panoramic of River boat cruise

Sears Tower in the background

First Day of Many Days of School

Sawyer started pre-school.  He was so excited.  He gets so sad when he asks where someone is and I tell him they are at school.  " I want to go to school mom".  I hope he continues to enjoy going to school and learning new things.  He said he loved going to school and he had fun playing with the kids.  He loves Ms. Carma, she is amazing with the little kiddos. 

Where is the Trail????

In preparation of hunting season Travis found an area of the mountain he wanted to scout out and put up some hunting cameras.  "We can just hike right into it Laraine" he said, "It won't be that bad", he promised.  " "just over that hill" he said.  Boy, were we in for a little adventure.  

We started off by driving up this crazy road/4-wheeler trail,  more of a trail if you ask me and we were driving our Suburban.  I am sure people were looking at us like we were crazy. We finally got to our destination once we had been scrambled in the car from all of the jostling. We loaded up the kids, and the trail cameras and were off.  The beginning of the trail was rough because it is an old 4-wheeler trail that they had dug massive holes in to deter ATV's.  The holes were full of water and cow dung, which was fun to dodge.  The hike for the first part wasn't too bad.  It was gorgeous and a gradual up hill but nothing I couldn't handle.  When we got to our first big hill I thought "I run a lot, heck, I just did a half marathon,  I got this."  There is a saying that says something like "A hiker makes a good runner, but a good runner does not make you a good hiker."  I was humbled going up that big hill.  My heart was pounding out of my chest.  I had a brief though, well I guess if I did of a heart attack this is a lovely place to die.  Just bury me here. 

We eventually made it to the top and looked at the area Travis wanted to put his cameras.  The area looked like prime deer country, the only problem.  Between us and the area was massive amounts of scrub oak, otherwise known as torture and lots of swearing. Due to the amount of oak we couldn't tell how steep the terrain actually was, but we soon found out on our way down the mountain.  

Travis walked in front of me in case I fell he could stop me, but let's face it if I fell into him we would all fall.  We wouldn't go too far though because we would get tangled in the branches of that awful scrub brush.  Fortunately, we didn't end up falling but we both had scrapes all up our arms and at one point Travis was holding a branch for me and it slipped.  The branch hit me right on the bridge of my nose.  I may have shed of few tears, that is just what happens when you get hit on the nose though. We made it about half way there and I was seriously contemplating laying down and calling in the helicopters.  This was not a small hike like I was promised, anymore.  The map lied to Travis.  The ups and down were so intense. Eventually the kids were hungry so we stopped for snacks and sent Travis to see how far we needed to go. 

This is where we wanted to go back as you can see it was still down a hill and up another hill. The picture does not do it justice

When Travis returned he decided we were not going to go where he thought he wanted to go, Thank the Good Lord!!! We could turn around, oh but all that up hill.  Seriously, shoot me now.  We started out and it wasn't that bad.  We found some places to put the cameras up and I started to head back while Travis put the last camera up.  The hike up the mountain was intense but we had found an area that wasn't as infested with scrub oak. Again, my heart was pounding out of my chest and I was sucking massive amounts of air. Travis was not too far behind me and he was looking similar to how I felt.  We eventually made it too the top with not much time to spare.  When we got to the top we saw a huge storm rolling in.  We had to high tail it down the trail which with a baby on your back is not very easy.  The last 500 yards of the trail the heavens broke open and the thunder and lightening were giving up quite a show right over our heads.  To say I was a bit anxious is an understatement. We made it back safely and had lunch in the back of the Suburban while we waited out the floods. 

HAHAHAHA, we stole your chips mom! 

Stop Mom, Stop! 

When we got home we had to work in the garden to prepare it for our next adventure of going to Chicago!!!! As you can see Jaylee got her fill of dirt for the day while helping dig potatoes.