Chicago

We like to go to cold places when chances are high that it's going to be cold and snowy while we are there. We went to Chicago last weekend and it snowed on the way there and on the way back with temperatures in the teens and wind chills in the single digits. However, the weather did not discourage us and we had a great time!

Jason found out BYU would be playing Illinois there at the basketball stadium. Even though we knew the game would be late, we thought it would be a fun adventure. We drove Friday after school and arrived at our downtown hotel later than expected, due to the weather, but it was good practice for staying up the next night.

After a fabulous breakfast the next morning, we took the L and a couple of buses to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was one of the best museums ever! We got a pass so we can use the reciprocity around here and we might even go back to Chicago over the next year and use it again. A lot of our time was spent doing the holiday special exhibit and we still want to see some of the other regular exhibits we didn't get to see.

Tree coming into the museum.

Awesome, huge, model train display.

I loved this model waterfall part of it.

The holiday exhibit was Christmas trees around the world. We also enjoyed a Scottish dance show and as we walked back to the main museum from the auditorium, we saw Santa. And guess who wanted to stand in line to see him? Victoria and Austin. Karissa and Erik went to see some other things with Jason since they felt like they had enough time with him at the Detroit parade. They didn't allow outside pictures, so no pics of them with him.

Norwegian Christmas tree.

Puerto Rican Christmas tree.

Swedish Christmas tree.

Waiting for the L.

On the bus.

We saw a few other quick exhibits and got a bite to eat at the museum's food court, which was very impressive and reasonable for a food court at a museum.

After traveling back to the hotel, we took a very cold dip in the pool, hoping it was going to be heated, or at least a more comfortable temperature for wintertime in Chicago. We saw the Cloud Gate (aka Bean), ate the best thin crusted pizza in Chicago, according to Oprah, and froze our buns off outside between being in buses or buildings. Jason treated the kids to Dr. Pepper so they could make it through the game, which started after 8:30. It didn't matter that Erik had Dr. Pepper and some candy during the first part of the game, he still was super tired at halftime and fell asleep shortly thereafter. We lost the game, but still scored a lot and could have won if we had made that last 3 pointer.

The Cloud Gate

The big moment!

Super fans!

The hotel always had Granny Smith apples in the lobby which, to my surprise and delight, everyone but Victoria (mostly because she has braces) enjoyed snacking on every time we went past. When we left to go to a sacrament meeting on the way home on Sunday, we grabbed a few more apples. they were delicious!