Chicago is truly a beautiful city. We had a wonderful weekend with my aunt and uncle. We even came in on the same weekend as my cousin, Katie. I had not see her since she was three. She is a little taller!
The Charland's had quite a weekend planned for us. Our adventures started on Friday morning at Blackberry Farms. In the middle of the Great Plains, amongst all the farmland sits a small little town called Aurora. Blackberry Farms is located right outside of town and can best be described as an antique farming community with many museums and live demonstrations of what life was like over a hundred years ago. Here is a beautiful picture of the farms:
We took a train ride and a tractor ride:
Turns out we came in just in time to celebrate my Aunt's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday Fran!
All of us, ready to go...
The lovely Simpsons!
I thought this was a very nice picture of Kevin and me:
We headed to Chicago and had a fabulous lunch at a restaurant called Louie's Bar. The picture below is the building it is in:
So, we don't usually take picures of menus, but just take a look at some of the burgers available:
Does the second one seem a little strange? I mean, seriously, an egg on your burger? Do you not have enough fat and cholestrol with just the burger? Well, Kevin thought he would give it a try:
Even though he said the burger was delicous, he will never live it down. He was asked several times for the rest of the weekend if he wanted a fried egg with his food.
One of my favorite parts of Blackberry Farms, was the replica of a small town in the 1800s. You actually went into a building that had two main streets with many shops that would have been popular back then. You could not go into in shops, but instead just looked through the windows. It was quite fascinating.
Here is Kiera walking down the street:
Taking a peek in the music store...one of her favorites!
There were also many animals around the Farm. Practicing all of our animal sounds really paid off. Kiera was excited to see all of the animals and knew all of their sounds.
They had a girl painting pottery. Kiera was very interested, but a tad shy (she definately does not get the shyness from me)...
The one room schoolhouse was very neat as well. They actually had a lady dressed up and "teaching" the children how school was back then. Kiera is all ready:
Kiera experienced many "firsts" in Chicago. She had never been on a train ride or a tractor ride. She had never seen her second cousin and she had never had a cookie with cream in the middle. So, we gave her one and she loved it! She took her finger and very carefully scraped the icing with her finger to eat. Who needs the cookie, when you can have the icing?
The above picture was taken right after a very nice picnic with the bees! Not thinking, we packed Kiera a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich with a side of mandarin oranges. I think these are bee's favorite foods. They were all over us. Katie did not really enjoy sharing her lunch with the little critters. The rest of us did not mind too much. Kiera kept looking around like, "What? What is the problem?" She doesn't know to be afraid of bugs. I am not really afraid of bugs, so she probably won't be either.
They had a girl painting pottery. Kiera was very interested, but a tad shy (she definately does not get the shyness from me)...
The one room schoolhouse was very neat as well. They actually had a lady dressed up and "teaching" the children how school was back then. Kiera is all ready:
Kiera experienced many "firsts" in Chicago. She had never been on a train ride or a tractor ride. She had never seen her second cousin and she had never had a cookie with cream in the middle. So, we gave her one and she loved it! She took her finger and very carefully scraped the icing with her finger to eat. Who needs the cookie, when you can have the icing?
The above picture was taken right after a very nice picnic with the bees! Not thinking, we packed Kiera a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich with a side of mandarin oranges. I think these are bee's favorite foods. They were all over us. Katie did not really enjoy sharing her lunch with the little critters. The rest of us did not mind too much. Kiera kept looking around like, "What? What is the problem?" She doesn't know to be afraid of bugs. I am not really afraid of bugs, so she probably won't be either.We took a train ride and a tractor ride:
Turns out we came in just in time to celebrate my Aunt's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday Fran!My cousin, Katie is also in the picture.
After a fun filled Friday, we were anxiously anticipating Saturday. This was the day we were getting Kiera a babysitter and heading into Chicago. We saw the broadway production of Mamma Mia. I was absoutely in heaven! I knew that I found a new interest...theater! The singing was amazing and I just loved how they told a story through music. Kevin enjoyed himself as well. We will definately be going to more shows. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures in the theater.
A fabulous picture of my Uncle and Aunt prior to the Mama Mia show. This is taken in their backyard--which is quite a nice place to relax.
Just thought I should add that my Uncle is my Father's brother and favors him a great deal. Can you see any resemblence between him and me?
All of us, ready to go...
The lovely Simpsons!
I thought this was a very nice picture of Kevin and me:
We headed to Chicago and had a fabulous lunch at a restaurant called Louie's Bar. The picture below is the building it is in:Can I just say that I love clocks? It was only appropriate that we eat in a place tucked under a beautiful clock. Pure coincidence, I swear!
So, we don't usually take picures of menus, but just take a look at some of the burgers available:
Does the second one seem a little strange? I mean, seriously, an egg on your burger? Do you not have enough fat and cholestrol with just the burger? Well, Kevin thought he would give it a try:
Even though he said the burger was delicous, he will never live it down. He was asked several times for the rest of the weekend if he wanted a fried egg with his food. The best was, "Hey Kevin, you want an egg on your S'more?"
Other sights around Chicago:
In this picture, my Uncle is actually showing me where he worked (IRS) before he retired a couple of years ago. The Sears Tower is right in the middle with the white towers. His building was next to it. He told me that the Sears Tower might have been a target during the 911 attacks, so he had to evacuate as well, since his building was so close.
We visted a HUGE downtown library. It was many stories tall. The children's section was bigger than most entire libraries. I just love this quote:
An unique picture of the raised train tracks downtown.
More sights:
That night, we enjoyed the crisp Fall air, by sitting outside and making S'mores over a small fire. Kiera wanted nothing to do with an actual S'more, she just ate graham crackers. Thankfully, Kevin did NOT have a fried egg on his!
As just as quickly as the weekend started, it ended! We had an absolutely wonderful time. My Aunt and Uncle were so kind and accomodating, we will for sure go back. In fact, there is talk of a meet up in NYC for a real Broadway Show! I can't wait. 
Acutally, about 6 pm we found a really cool museum that had large exhibits that resembled a real airport. It was really neat. Too bad we didn't find it sooner. Kiera only got to play in it for about 15 minutes. Then it was time to go to the gate of our 5th flight (and last flight leaving that night). We actually got the last two seats on that flight! Whew! 9 hours in one airport is 9 hours too many. Of course, Kiera did wonderfully.
As you can see, we had a fabulous time. I have also added an album of our trip if you wish to see a few more photos!
In this picture, my Uncle is actually showing me where he worked (IRS) before he retired a couple of years ago. The Sears Tower is right in the middle with the white towers. His building was next to it. He told me that the Sears Tower might have been a target during the 911 attacks, so he had to evacuate as well, since his building was so close.
We visted a HUGE downtown library. It was many stories tall. The children's section was bigger than most entire libraries. I just love this quote:
An unique picture of the raised train tracks downtown.
More sights:
That night, we enjoyed the crisp Fall air, by sitting outside and making S'mores over a small fire. Kiera wanted nothing to do with an actual S'more, she just ate graham crackers. Thankfully, Kevin did NOT have a fried egg on his!
As just as quickly as the weekend started, it ended! We had an absolutely wonderful time. My Aunt and Uncle were so kind and accomodating, we will for sure go back. In fact, there is talk of a meet up in NYC for a real Broadway Show! I can't wait.But, I wish the story ended like that! One of the perks of being a frequent flier, is the headaches you put up with flying standby. Our original flight left at 12:05. We got the airport at 10:30 and were bumped off of 4 flights. Here is how we entertained a one year old all day:
Acutally, about 6 pm we found a really cool museum that had large exhibits that resembled a real airport. It was really neat. Too bad we didn't find it sooner. Kiera only got to play in it for about 15 minutes. Then it was time to go to the gate of our 5th flight (and last flight leaving that night). We actually got the last two seats on that flight! Whew! 9 hours in one airport is 9 hours too many. Of course, Kiera did wonderfully.As you can see, we had a fabulous time. I have also added an album of our trip if you wish to see a few more photos!
1 comment:
What an amazing trip!! The pictures are fabulous! I can't believe that Kiera is getting so big... she looks like a little girl now, and not at all like a toddler. :-)
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