Our Trip West

Ok, so if you read my last post, we spent a long weekend east of WNY in early July. Later in July we headed west of WNY for another long weekend. We made it as far as Chicago! In the hopes of showing Mireia even more of the land we know, we decided to take her to Chicago to see another great American city. We drove the "long way" through Ohio to avoid customs and stopped for an overnight in Ann Arbor to visit with Aunt Alice, Aunt Ellen and any cousins that happened to be in the area. We arrived in AA at noon-ish on a Friday and met up with cousins, Dan and Janette, and their girls Morgan and Kiera! Sofia was excited to meet cousins she had never met before. We met at a cool museum in Downtown called the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. There were lots of displays on how things work, including a ball bearing exhibit from Uncle Tom's company. Sofia and Morgan enjoyed the water tables the most. I enjoyed the section that was closed off for toddlers only to play in. It was quieter and more contained. It was nice to let Sof play where I wasn't asking her to slow down and wait for me. She liked the water table there and all the rubber sea creatures that floated along it. There was a pretend house and books and puzzles to play with too! It was fun! We went on a long ride through the city after that and met up with everyone for lasagna at Auntie Alice's! And homemade birthday cake to celebrate her b-day the following day~Yummy! The next day, we New Yorkers headed out to Chi-town and Aunt Jessica and Uncle Ralph's house. We enjoyed dinner on their deck, and time with them and Cousin Ann and her husband Rob. Sofia and Mireia again were faced with befriending a dog. This time only 1, Maggie, much more sedate than two black labs! I think Sof was really taken with Maggie by the time the weekend was over. Sunday morning, we drove into Chicago and parked in a garage under Millennium Park as Uncle Ralph recommended. We spent the day walking around the city and went up the Sears Tower. We also rode a Trolley Bus, which was free-yeah and took us around to see some sights like Navy Pier and the river and shopping areas. We then wandered around Millennium Park where Sofia found another fountain to play in along with many other children! This fountain was much more elaborate than the one in NYC and was created using two towers covered in LED screens. The images on the towers would change to show different faces, up close and even blinking if you watched long enough. Water would spray our of a hole positioned by the mouth of each face and would also pour down the sides, much to the delight of the kids who brought bathing suits! We listened to some live music there and I enjoyed a wander through a perennial garden. There was also a huge shiny thing called "The Bean". It is a sculpture that looks just like a giant dollop of mercury was dropped in the middle of the park in a bean-ish shape. We could walk right up to it and look at ourselves in the reflection. You could also walk underneath the curve and see lots of reflections--so cool. I have never seen anything like it! We bought souvenir shirts and couldn't resist an Obama '08 shot glass and then headed back to R & J's for brats and burgers on the grill. It was very relaxing to hang out in the Adirondack chairs and to look out over the wildlife preserve that backs up to their yard. Everyone else saw a raccoon and deer, but me! Oh well! On Monday we headed back to Michigan and happened to catch my mom's bother, Uncle Bill and Aunt Sherry coming home from their weekend on the lake, so we stopped to visit and to take about an hour's break from the car. It was a great spontaneous thing that just worked out! We stopped in AA for pizza and more visits and then headed for home! It was another memorable trip!