Chicago Is My Kind of Town

Here's a picture of a couple of my favorite things: the Chicago skyline, and my girl Hadley. This was taken at the Shedd Aquarium last week. Hadley, my dad, and I spent the day there looking at the aquatic life. Although, if Hadley were to recall any of it, she'd tell you that her favorite part was playing in the submarine.

This thing was pretty cool, and I'm trying to figure out a way to recreate it in our home (yes, Jesse, you should be a little nervous). Give Hadley anything with buttons on it, or gadgets that you need to push, pull, shift, whatever, and she's a happy camper.



Thankfully, we didn't find the sub until we'd looked around for awhile, and watched the water show which was really fantastic. Here's a picture of the "theater" before the show started:

We got to see penguins, beluga whales, seals, and a couple of hawks. It was really fun to take Hadley to this, because she got a kick out of watching the different animals swim and jump out of the water.

We also saw some stingrays and other fish in the exhibits walking around the museum.

And there was a place where kids could put their hands in the water and touch starfish, etc.


Hadley kept getting annoyed that her hands were getting wet, or that the water would splash on her. Well, kid, that's what happens at sea. This part of the museum was getting me dangerously close to my scuba diving experience off the Great Barrier Reef. I tried to stay calm and not think about breathing under water.

Here's a picture of Hadley and I outside the Aquarium. We are standing in the same spot as my mom and were in another picture that was taken when I was a baby.
Hadley also rode the el during our trip to Chicago. She and my dad road it back and forth between Austin and Forest Park (I think, I can't remember how far they went), and except for the submarine, I think that was a real highlight for Hadley. She is still talking about it.

During our trip to the midwest, we learned that my brother is getting married. Here is how my mom and I took the news:
But can you blame me? This is what she does with her free time:

I mean, I agree that bacon is delicious, but c'mon, Kellee.

I had a chance to visit with a good friend of mine from high school who came in for the weekend because she was up for an award for excellent reporting (she's on the morning show in Madison, WI). She has two kids as well so it was fun to watch the four of them interact. Harper, however, was very fond of their dog. Here she is with one shoe off (I can usually get her to at least wear one), playing with Maddie.


The child hates shoes, but loves dogs. I'm not sure how to relate to that.
The older kids went nuts when Sarah said she had Dora and Diego movies. Here they are huddled around her telling her which one they wanted to watch. I should've taken a video of it because each of them were telling Sarah every detail of their favorite Dora or Diego episode. It was sort of like watching Nick Jr. on speed.

I'll end this post with a shot of two more of my favorite things: the Chicago skyline and my girl Harper.