Remember The Field Museum's pirates exhibition we mentioned last week? Well, Levynn's been there, done that - and then some.
She spent her first two days of museum camp - officially known as Summer Worlds Tour - at the Field. Monday's focus was African animals, from what Mom and Dad have been able to gather, but today seems to have been all about pirates. Check it out.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Museum camp starts today!
Levynn came to Mom and Dad this morning and said, "No more days of waiting!"
Her group will be at The Field Museum today, followed by Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium later in the week. All are located at Museum Campus, where Soldier Field also sits.
Her group will be at The Field Museum today, followed by Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium later in the week. All are located at Museum Campus, where Soldier Field also sits.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Christmas in July
Dad and Levynn went to Union Station today for Disney's "A Christmas Carol" Train Tour, a free event which has made Chicago one of many stops around the country before the movie opens Nov. 6. (In case you didn't know, it's a 3-D film from Robert Zemeckis using motion capture animation like in his "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express.")
Mom wasn't interested, which was for the best, as we learned, because Lincoln would not have tolerated the wait. Dad and Levynn were in line for more than an hour, as if it was Disney World! Fortunately, there was (a little) entertainment.
The train - parked in Union Station's Track 1 - featured concept art, animation examples, costumes, scale models, and a dummy outfitted in motion capture gear. We also got hands-on with a touch-screen computer, morphing our faces into movie characters.
Levynn is Belle, who was Scrooge's fiance back in the day.
Dad is Tiny Tim.
After the train tour, we walked to a separate location within the station for a 3-D movie preview in an inflatable theater.
Doesn't Levynn look stylish?
Mom wasn't interested, which was for the best, as we learned, because Lincoln would not have tolerated the wait. Dad and Levynn were in line for more than an hour, as if it was Disney World! Fortunately, there was (a little) entertainment.
The train - parked in Union Station's Track 1 - featured concept art, animation examples, costumes, scale models, and a dummy outfitted in motion capture gear. We also got hands-on with a touch-screen computer, morphing our faces into movie characters.
Levynn is Belle, who was Scrooge's fiance back in the day.
Dad is Tiny Tim.
After the train tour, we walked to a separate location within the station for a 3-D movie preview in an inflatable theater.
Doesn't Levynn look stylish?Saturday, July 25, 2009
About that park
Shortly after we moved into this new apartment, we mentioned the park that's across the street from our building, that we can see from our windows and that we imagined would look beautiful in the summer. Well, we're a month into summer now, so it's about time we confirm that, yes, the park - Washington Square Park - really is beautiful.
Today it was the setting for the Bughouse Square Debates, a series of soapbox speeches celebrating the First Amendment and part of the neighboring Newberry Library's annual book fair. The festivities also included kids' yoga this morning, and Levynn enjoyed that. She knew most of the positions, thanks to the Wii Fit and the book "My Daddy is a Pretzel."
After naptime this afternoon, Dad and the kids wandered into the library to browse the book sale, which is humongous. We bought five children's books for $5.50, an experience that convinced Dad and Mom to return for their own interests tomorrow!
Today it was the setting for the Bughouse Square Debates, a series of soapbox speeches celebrating the First Amendment and part of the neighboring Newberry Library's annual book fair. The festivities also included kids' yoga this morning, and Levynn enjoyed that. She knew most of the positions, thanks to the Wii Fit and the book "My Daddy is a Pretzel."
After naptime this afternoon, Dad and the kids wandered into the library to browse the book sale, which is humongous. We bought five children's books for $5.50, an experience that convinced Dad and Mom to return for their own interests tomorrow!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Back to the family fest again!
Mom had to work an unusual 10 a.m. overtime shift today. So Dad decided that, after he went to the farmer's market to get our CSA share, he and the kids would walk with her to work and then continue to Millenium Park.
It's China Week at the Family Fun Festival, presented by the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, and Levynn and Lincoln made masks and watched a calligrapher translate their names.
Lincoln is the Monkey King, and Levynn is a panda. She colored the eyes and tongue, then decided to scribble all over the face like Lincoln did.
The calligrapher may have misspelled Lincoln's name in English; he didn't speak the language well, and Dad didn't have the heart to say anything about it. But the translation should be correct because a woman first wrote the name down in English on scrap paper, figured out the proper translation and wrote it below that, and then handed the scrap paper to the calligrapher. So perhaps he mistook the "ln" for an h." Or maybe he just squeezed the letters together too tightly!
We also passed through Pritzker Pavilion, where the Grant Park Orchestra was rehearsing.
It's China Week at the Family Fun Festival, presented by the Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, and Levynn and Lincoln made masks and watched a calligrapher translate their names.
Lincoln is the Monkey King, and Levynn is a panda. She colored the eyes and tongue, then decided to scribble all over the face like Lincoln did.
The calligrapher may have misspelled Lincoln's name in English; he didn't speak the language well, and Dad didn't have the heart to say anything about it. But the translation should be correct because a woman first wrote the name down in English on scrap paper, figured out the proper translation and wrote it below that, and then handed the scrap paper to the calligrapher. So perhaps he mistook the "ln" for an h." Or maybe he just squeezed the letters together too tightly!
We also passed through Pritzker Pavilion, where the Grant Park Orchestra was rehearsing.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
More art
We returned yesterday to two places we had visited recently, the Family Fun Festival at Millenium Park and The Art Institute next door, to involve the kids in some more little art projects. It was Kaleidoscope Family Day at the latter.
One project at the family fest had stations, each representing a city neighborhood, with materials to make trading cards with images or designs befitting that neighborhood. We picked Chinatown.
There also was a station for the Loop, and among its images were the lion statues that sit outside The Art Institute. But we did that one better and stopped for our own photos with the lions themselves.
We also stopped for a pirate for the first time. Those scallywags are everywhere right now, promoting The Field Museum's temporary exhibit about pirates. This was in a bus shelter on Michigan Ave.
One project at the family fest had stations, each representing a city neighborhood, with materials to make trading cards with images or designs befitting that neighborhood. We picked Chinatown.
There also was a station for the Loop, and among its images were the lion statues that sit outside The Art Institute. But we did that one better and stopped for our own photos with the lions themselves.
We also stopped for a pirate for the first time. Those scallywags are everywhere right now, promoting The Field Museum's temporary exhibit about pirates. This was in a bus shelter on Michigan Ave.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Funny girl
Dad was sitting in the recliner, but not reclined. Levynn asked him, "Do you want me to put this (foot) thing up? And then you can be really arrested."
Dad and Mom looked at each other and then Mom looked at Lev and Lev said, "Oh Mom. Not like jailed arrested. Like calm."
Of course. :)
Dad and Mom looked at each other and then Mom looked at Lev and Lev said, "Oh Mom. Not like jailed arrested. Like calm."
Of course. :)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Checkups
Levynn and Lincoln visited our favorite pediatrician for their routine exams today, and all is well as usual. Mom toted the kids there on the train while Dad waited for the maintenance guys to replace our HVAC filters.
Levynn measured 42 inches (between the 25th and 50th percentiles) and 35.5 pounds (10th to 25th), and Lincoln measured 36.25 inches (90th) and 27.5 pounds (25th to 50th). Both are on the same healthy tracks, and for that we're very fortunate.
Just this week, we learned that the 2-year-old brother of Levynn's friend from our old Louisville neighborhood recently was diagnosed with leukemia. After he was born, Levynn decided one of her babies needed his same name - so of course their family is very special to us for many reasons. So hard to understand how things like that can happen to sweet kids.
Levynn measured 42 inches (between the 25th and 50th percentiles) and 35.5 pounds (10th to 25th), and Lincoln measured 36.25 inches (90th) and 27.5 pounds (25th to 50th). Both are on the same healthy tracks, and for that we're very fortunate.
Just this week, we learned that the 2-year-old brother of Levynn's friend from our old Louisville neighborhood recently was diagnosed with leukemia. After he was born, Levynn decided one of her babies needed his same name - so of course their family is very special to us for many reasons. So hard to understand how things like that can happen to sweet kids.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Hurray!
We managed to stay for an entire Grant Park Orchestra performance at Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavilion tonight, thanks to farm-fresh cherries and raspberries and the friendly little girl sitting with her mom nearby.
And Levynn captured these shots with her Kidizoom.
And Levynn captured these shots with her Kidizoom.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
West Kentucky and East Tennessee
We have so many photos and videos from our eight-day vacation to those beautiful regions that we'll mostly leave you with a selection of those here. Our stops included Paducah, Ky.; Ten Mile, Tenn.; and Kenlake State Resort Park in Hardin, Ky.
Sunday
First we visited Grandy and Roy and Byron, Christina and Clark in Paducah.
First we visited Grandy and Roy and Byron, Christina and Clark in Paducah.
The kids are waiting for the 5th of July fireworks.We left for Granddaddy and Susan's house in Ten Mile in the morning.
This is our one family ride on their big boat.
Levynn's helping Granddaddy pump water out of another boat.
Note the lovely lawn.
Hmm, that looks familiar.
Yes, that is a fishing rod.
We had a picnic and waded in the water in the Great Smoky Mountains on this day.
There's that lawn again, now all dug up for septic system repairs. (We had nothing to do with that!) But we could still walk through it to the lake.
Here comes that fishing rod again.
We arrived at the Garrott Family Reunion at Kenlake the previous evening, and the kids were reunited with Clark.
Can you tell it was a long week?But we had fun. Special thanks to Granddaddy and Susan for their hospitality. We'll be back.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy birthday, Lincoln!
That started Lincoln's second Fourth of July birthday celebration, and it continued - as it did a year ago and possibly will in years to come - at Taste of Chicago in Grant Park when the festival opened for the day later in the morning.
Mom and the kids ate mostly sweets, including Lincoln's birthday cheesecake below (he had apple pie last year), while Dad went for such fare as the crawfish boil.
We also ran into this fella roaming the grounds.After we had our fill of food (expended our tickets, in other words), we walked a little north to Millenium Park for the Grant Park Orchestra's first Fourth of July performance in its 75-year history. We didn't stay for much, though, in part because it started raining hard. Oh, and it was time for the birthday boy's nap. Life is so unfair.
But that snooze freshened him up for a rendition of his acclaimed new song "The ABCs" - a ditty some of you have heard in person. For the rest of you, here it is:
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Making shapes
Lincoln was playing with our toy beaded necklaces tonight and made a triangle out of one of them. Dad's not sure he did it intentionally the first time, but he did it several more times as proof it was no fluke.
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