Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Look at what I won

I entered a giveaway at Made With Love And Glue and won this cute family stitchery and frame. Rachel makes these and list them in her etsy shop. You should check it out. She has some cute things. Rachel is customizing mine and will send it to me in the mail. Thanks Rachel can't wait to get mine.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Day at Navy Pier and Millennium Park

Here are some pictures of our day at Navy Pier and Millennium Park. We had a great time.

'The Bean" See the building's in the reflection.

As we were walking up to "The Bean"

This picture was taken standing under "The Bean" Weird huh?
Dawson and Ansley laying under it.



Me and Dawson


Dawson deep in thought.
Ansley

I told her to make a silly face at me and this is what she did.
Dawson at Millennium Park

This is at Millennium Park. It's really neat. They put faces up of people who live in Chicago every so many minutes and sometimes they spit out water. The kids love it.

Dawson and Ansley in front of one. You don't realize how big they are til they're standing in front of one.
I had brought the kids bathing suits in case they wanted to play in the water but it was alittle cooler that day than what we thought it would be so I didn't bring them from the car. My last words to the kids were you can get your feet wet but don't get your clothes wet.

Dawson listens. Ansley not so much. In this picture her clothes are already drenched. She said "But Mama I slipped and my skirt got wet so I figured I could just get wet now." Typical Ansley answer.
See my Dawson is still dry. He knew not to get wet.


I love this picture the way they're touching each other and talking.

Ansley decided to take a rest.








When we left this is what Ansley looked like.

Here we are at Navy Pier. Dawson,Ansley,and my sister Lindsay making faces in the mirrors.
Hancock from Navy Pier



Dawson,Ansley,and Daddy in front of the funny mirrors.


David,Dawson,Ansley,and I did this Funhouse Maze. It was pretty neat.




We ate here at American Dog at the Pier and had the best hot dogs. Yum.

Dawson and Ansley thought these fountains were neat.

A family picture.


Daddy and Ansley watching a show at the Pier.


My sweet Ireland at Navy Pier




Navy Pier

This is a view from the Ferris Wheel when we rode it.

Another view. The yachts there do dinner and take you out. Very nice to do without the kids.




This picture was taken on the Ferris Wheel also. It's rumored that the building straight ahead is where Oprah lives.




Me,my sister Lindsay,and Ireland on the Ferris Wheel.
Dawson and Ansley
The Ferris Wheel


That's it. I'll share another day our trip to the Museum of Science and Industry and a trip to Springfield to see Lincoln's Home.






























Sunday, January 17, 2010

Another Day in the Windy City

Here's some more pictures of our weekend in Chicago while visiting David. We did all the tourist stuff and took in The Field Museum and Hancock Observatory. We also did Navy Pier and Millennium Park but I'll show those another day since there's so many pictures. I have to say this is one of the best trips we've done. So much for the kids to see and learn.



This is the hotel we stayed at. I had researched and researched prior to our trip but I came across Stephanie's Blog at A Blue-eyed Boy Met a Brown-eyed Girl and saw her trip to the Windy City and this hotel and thought this would be perfect and it was. Thanks Stephanie.

We even had a doorbell by our door to use. The kids thought this was the neatest thing.


The other hit with the kids was the tv in the bathroom. They'd make up a excuse to use the bathroom just to watch the tv in there.


Our view from our room. We were right on the corner of Michigan Ave. and it was the perfect location.

We decided to venture out to The Field Museum after we got there and this is right across the street from it.



The Field Museum

Dawson and Ansley right outside the museum before we went in.


The Field Museum inside. This place is huge and really could use 2 days of going through if your the type of person who doesn't want to miss anything.


Another picture taken from upstairs. We LOVED this place and saw so much. I highly recommend it if your ever in the area. It's a must.


They had a Real Pirates exhibit going on called "The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship" while we were there and decided to buy tickets for that and it was worth it. Very interesting.

T-Rex "Sue". Sue is the largest complete dinosaur they've found so far. She's HUGE.



Another picture of "Sue" from upstairs. Sue is so big and her head weighs so much that they couldn't put Sue's real head on her body for the exhibit so it's in a glass display case upstairs.


Here's Sue's real head. I can't remember the exact weight of this head but I remember it was over 800 lbs.


Dawson and Ansley playing interactive games .

The gorilla "Bushman" He was in the Zoo in Chicago.
If you've ever watched the movie "Ghost in the Darkness" then you'll be familar with these lions. They had a exhibit there with the actual skin from the lions and had them stuffed. You could see the actual burn marks from the bullets where they were killed.
These lions terrorized the people of Kenya killing and eating over 140 people over a 9 month period while they worked to build a railroad. When they were finally killed one measured over 9 feet long from tip of nose to tail.
The kids in front of "Sue" They weren't to sure about standing in front of her and it took alot of convincing.
Our trip to Hancock Observatory was so neat. We decided to do this one at night to get a different view since we had done the Sears(Willis) Tower during the day. Here's a picture from Hancock overlooking "Navy Pier."

See the pool on top of the building to the left? Neat huh.
Isn't that view amazing?
They saw looking out from Hancock you can see over 4 states.
At Hancock they give you these headphones with a touchscreen with different points of interests and buildings to learn about. You go in order and it points out certain buildings and how they came to be and why they're important to Chicago. Here's Dawson,my sister Lindsay, and my husband David listening while they look at Chicago from the open area they have.
Here's a picture from the open area. This area is neat because you can feel all the wind and hear all the traffic.
I'll share another day our day to Navy Pier and Millennium Park.