Vacation catch up

Thanks to late nights and the normal Phelan ridiculous schedule we keep on vacation, this is my first chance to get caught up on activities from vacations.  Away we go:

Thursday - We got up early and began our mega CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) tour of the city.  It actually went really well and continued our vacation long string of perfect transfers and use of a system we have very little clue about (thanks Navigator Sherri).    We took two separate buses to get to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.  It was a fun place to go, probably not quite worth what we paid to go, but the kids had fun.  We did lots of exploring.  Kate is heavily interested in space stuff right now, so she enjoyed it the most of all.  Drew and Ben had a fun time in the kids explorer area which included a mock space toilet, right up their alley.  It was a very windy day, not helped by Adler being on an exposed isthmus on Lake Michigan.  Next stop was Chick Fil A on Michigan Avenue, mainly because we like the food, the kids will gladly eat there, and we knew how to get there which took a bus and a train to get back downtown.  This led to Ben's unbroken string of somehow falling asleep on every crowded, loud, and bumpy trip we took through the city.  After eating, we took a stroll through the city to the Navy Pier which is a bit like a mall/carnival area.  Fun place.  Harry Caray's restaurant is there.  We also went to the Children's museum which had free entry and played around.  Fun, not quite as fun as the ones around Atlanta, but the kids had a blast.  Back to the hotel and bed.

Friday - Time to check out of the hotel which was awesome.  It may be our favorite we have stayed in, at least up there with the Village Inn in Virginia during our DC trip.  We trekked back to Lincoln Park Zoo (awesome, awesome zoo) to kill a couple of hours to give the kids a chance to check on the baby goats and chicks and to see how cows get milked.  No hands on experience there which Kate found disappointing.  We toured the zoo a bit more and got to se the few animals we missed on the first pass.  Drew's favorite was the polar bear, Kate's the giraffe, Ben the zebra.  After that it was time to hit Wrigley for the Cubs game.  We stopped by Wrigleyville for souvenirs, hit the McDonald's across the street for ice cream before the game (the grounds crew happened to be in there) and then walked into Wrigley.  Our seats were great, total score there.  Probably 40 rows slightly to the right behind home plate.  Great views.  It was a decently chilly day, but pretty fun to be there with 38,000 fellow Cubs fans.  We all had our Cubbie gear on.  First pitch and guest anthem were by Martin Sheen.  He is one short dude.  The field, park, and neighborhood are 100 years older than the Atlanta area, but a million times better.  Safer area, better integration with the surrounding homes and stores, convenient, great views, and the ambience was everything one would expect.  It was also a perfectly representative Cubs game.  They were up 3-1 in the top of the 9th with 2 outs and 2 strikes on the Astros who then hit a two run homer to tie it.  Bottom of the 9th, they got a runner to rd but failed to score and went to extras.  They ended up winning in 12, but we had to leave after 9 due to the 6 hour drive towards Cincinnati.  All in all, going to Wrigley was better than I could have hoped and I think I have Kate and Drew hooked and Sherri at least partially converted.  She even wore a Cubs shirt.  No sports bigamy, she has to pick between the Braves and Cubs now.  Ben had a blast flirting with the 25 year old woman behind us.  This involved lots of laughing, peekaboo, and apparently some nose picking on his part.  Long drive to Cincy.  Remember those monolithically weird windmills I wrote about on the way to Chicago?  Turns out the only way they can be creepier is to come upon them when the sky is totally dark and you see a vast landscape of blinking red lights so planes won't fly into them.  And, on the close ones, you can vaguely see the blades spinning in the red light just to let you know they are still there.  Stayed at another decent hotel, keeping the good hotel streak alive.

Saturday - Started the day at the museum which was pretty cool.  Dinosaurs, floods, artifacts, Kate and Sherri got to see the planetarium.  The boys went to a snake show and touched a lot of them including just the three of us holding up a 100 pound boa constrictor.  That was nifty.  4 hour drive to Knoxville where we are right now at a Best Western.  I'll come back and fill in the Sturday stuff tomorrow.  Ready for a shower, Kate, Drew, and Ben are all now asleep and we will be soon also.