Our weekend

Dad and Levynn got a taste of the Chicago History Museum during a summer reading party in August, but he had been thinking for some time that it's worth a more thorough visit. So he took the kids there Saturday morning.

There's an old "L" car you can walk inside, and here are the kids sitting outside with, uh, an old passenger, maybe.

There also is an old locomotive engine, and the kids climbed into that, too.

We actually saw swan boats like this in a pond the first time we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo. But we didn't seem them again, and we discovered the reason in this exhibit: the zoo ended the rides sometime last year. So this "ride" is as close as we'll get.

After we returned home, Mom prepared a picnic lunch for all of us to eat at the park across the street. The Banned Books Week Read-Out - sponsored by the American Library Association, the McCormick Freedom Museum and the Newberry Library - was starting there.

During our picnic, Mom tossed a small piece of apple to the ground on a whim, and a squirrel snatched it. Check it out!



On Sunday, Mom took the kids to the beach for a while. Later in the day, Lincoln, smart boy, did this: