Baptism Day

Here is little Grace, held by Matt, Chris' cousin. She was the 37th (I think) child baptized in this gown, that Chris' grandmother made.
What a cutie!

The baptismal party

We asked all those in attendance who were baptized in the gown to join in a picture. They are standing chronologically, from left to right in each row.

A little bright, but here are all the relatives who attended. What a great celebration!

St. Peter's Lutheran Church

The whole reason we went to Chicago was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Peter's and to attend the baptism of Chris' cousin's daughter. On Friday night, we met the family at St. Peter's for dinner. The school is way larger than where I teach. They have pre-k through 8th grade, which luckily for us includes two gyms. Most of Chris' Arlington Heights family works for the school/church, so we were able to use their gym to burn off some energy before dinner.

We found all sorts of PE equipment, including jumpropes, dodgeballs, scooters, and basketballs.

The kids are often just happy racing around. Little did they know that Cindi would win the "shuttle run."

Field Museum of Natural History

On Saturday, we once again boarded the train and headed toward downtown Chicago. Our destination this time: The Field Museum, filled with dinosaur bones and animals. Katy and Jonathan fit inside a dinosaur footprint. The kids in front of "Sue," the famous T-Rex.

Looking out the window, we got this beautiful view of the Chicago skyline.

All six kids were posing, until Joey ran off...can you tell where he was sitting?

Lunchtime in the museum. Don't ask how much we had to pay for lunch. At least the food was good.
Benjamin imitating the bird

It was absolutely frigid outside. Here we are, waiting at a bus stop, freezing.

Jonathan especially enjoyed all of the animals.

The boys took a nice picture of the adults, didn't they?

The last exhibit we visited was the Egypt exhibit.


This curator was amazing and talked to the kids for a long time.

An Egyptian bed

Museum of Science and Industry

After 1 1/2 hours on public transportation, we spent the morning and early afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. Here the kids, including Craig, played in the hands-on section. Jonathan enjoyed looking at the airplanes. Maybe he'll be a pilot some day?

We watched as some chicks pecked their eggs. None emerged while we were there, but some were close.

Jonathan's favorite part was the miniature train set. It was huge, and he spent a long time, walking around and studying it.

The other kids thought it would be funny to be "run over" by a train.

The last thing we did was decend into the coal mine. It was too loud for Jonathan, but the other two enjoyed it. We had a fabulous tour guide and learned quite a lot about the coal mining industry.

Sears Tower

On Friday night, we went up to the top of the Sears Tower. It's currently called the "Willis Tower", but even Jonathan's souvenier says "Sears Tower." The view was incredible - we were there right at sunset - and the highlight was the glass box. The boys (even Craig) got a kick out of sitting/standing/laying in the glass box over the city. Here are some pictures, in no particular order, and with no organization:

Art Museum

On Thursday, we met Cindi and her family at the train station, and went to downtown Chicago. The Art Museum is free the whole month of February (nice surprise!) so we spent the evening there. In the basement is an entire room of miniature rooms from different eras. Here's Mom standing next to a room. Here's what the inside looks like. The detail is incredible.

The kids all did great at the museum. Note to self - go to art museums on the first day of a trip, before the kids are sick of museums.
Jonathan was as fascinated with the icicles as the art!

Jonathan and I enjoying the Egypt section.

None of us really got the modern art. Here's Jack's favorite.

Similarities????
What a famous piece. I, of course, remember it from Ferris Buehler's Day Off.

It's quite a large painting!

First snow pictures

When we arrived in Chicago, we first went to the rental car place in Arlington Heights. Much to the boys' delight, the parking lot was filled with piles of snow. They quickly learned some facts about snow... ...it sticks to your clothes even when you try to jump it off.

...it covers your gloves.

...it's fun to climb but makes all of your clothes wet!

...it's really cold to be in without a hat and scarf!