We reiterate

Forget spring.

According to weather.com, and confirmed by our sweat, the temperature and heat index reached 88 degrees and 97 degrees, respectively, in Chicago on Thursday. That began a potentially indefinite stretch of 80-some-odd-degree misery here.

The one saving grace: the wind, the same wind that we cursed in the winter. It might be all that keeps us sane during the much-anticipated Printers Row Book Fair on Saturday.

Hot town, summer in the city

OK, how 'bout we just forget spring altogether! Chicago already has kicked into summer gear, with neighborhood festivals dotting the city and downtown events seemingly happening by the day.

We bused to Millenium Park this afternoon to see the free preview of Cirque Shanghai: Gold, which opens at Navy Pier on Wednesday. It was short but sweet. We're making plans for many more events in the weeks ahead.






City baby here wanted to know what was this green stuff poking him in the legs.

Here's Cloud Gate, which we showed in an earlier post, but you can see it all this time.


We also stopped at the nearby playground, which Dad and Levynn visited once during our month living the high life downtown. In case you can't see, she's wearing a National Baseball Hall of Fame hat and a Kentucky State Fair shirt here. She's feeling much better, by the way.


Lincoln recenly started swinging at playgrounds and gets a kick out of it.


It's hard to see what's behind Levynn in the distance, so there's a better shot of it below.


It's Buckingham Fountain, the centerpiece of Grant Park. It's quite a sight.

It's spring!

Yes, today, June 1 - just 19 days before the summer solstice - we finally are ready to declare that spring has arrived in Chicago. We're expecting the temperature to pass the 75-degree mark for the third day in a row, and the forecast calls for 70s and 80s in the days ahead.

Believe it or not, we needed the heat on overnight a week ago. Then the mercury soared to 84 degrees on Memorial Day, so we took in (part of) a Class A Kane County Cougars game - that's in Geneva, a far west suburb of Chicago. Levynn and Lincoln wore their new Cat in the Hat shirts.


Levynn performed "Y.M.C.A." with the crowd, just as Dad only recently taught her to do. This looks like the C.


This morning, Mom participated in the Run for the Zoo's 5K Fun Walk at Lincoln Park Zoo. Levynn was registered to run in the event's Gorilla Gallop, but she's sick and awoke at 6 a.m. in much need of rest. So Dad stayed home with her and Lincoln while Mom walked.

Out on the town

UPDATED

We spontaneously undertook an adventure Tuesday afternoon, turning what was going to be a normal day for most of us into a whirlwind for all of us.

As usual, Levynn went to Kiddie Kollege at the YMCA in the morning. And Mom already had registered for a 5 p.m. open house about Northwestern University's continuing studies program at one of its buildings downtown (but don't jump to conclusions; we just were curious).

Well, during lunch, Mom and Dad decided that it was a nice day for the zoo, too - and that we could just wing it.

So wing it we did.

We hopped on the 77 bus, rode it to Notebaert Nature Museum, crossed Fullerton Parkway and walked into Lincoln Park Zoo. We spent about two hours there and saw most of what was there to see - although the kangaroo, an animal Dad is sure he's never seen in person, unfortunately was hiding from us.

Just based on that visit, we're inclined to say that, compared to the Louisville Zoo, it has a more interesting collection of animals and is easier to navigate (because it has no hills!).

Here are some shots:

These are boas, which freak Mom out.


This is a little croc.


These weird rodents, Pantagonian maras, look like the mutant offspring of a rabbit and a donkey.


Lincoln loved the close-up view of these Oryx. He's obsessed with dogs now, by the way.


These are not the real gorillas.




These are the real gorillas.


This rhino moved more in 30 seconds than we saw the two rhinos in Louisville move in all our visits combined!


Dad and Lincoln heard this bad boy roar (seemingly at the two females) while Mom and Levynn raced to the bathroom. That was just a coincidence.

Anyway, somwhere along the way, it was established that Dad, Levynn and Lincoln would go with Mom to the open house. So we caught the 151 bus outside the zoo, rode it down Michigan Avenue and then walked a couple blocks east on Chicago Avenue to the school building. Dad and the kids sat on the floor in a hallway for the (short) duration of Mom's stay; Lincoln slept in Dad's arms, Levynn colored, and Northwestern reps chatted with us as they passed.

Then it was dinnertime. Dad had spotted Gino's East, an old favorite from his college days, on the walk to the open house and directed the family there afterward. Only Levynn ate pizza, however, because the deep dish would have cooked for 45 minutes - and Lincoln wasn't going to stand for that. He was a trooper, though; he ate a banana at the restaurant and didn't get his bottle until we returned home a little after 8 p.m.

That's right. After taking the 151 bus back to Belmont Avenue near Lakeshore Drive, Mom wanted to walk all 2 1/2 miles to the house. So we did. And while we were at it we stopped to grab a frozen custard cone at Scooter's!

Clark comes to Chicago

A little more than a month after Grandy and Aunt Christina visited us, the two of them came back this week with Roy, Uncle Byron and none other than Boy Cousin Clark. His first Windy City experience was well worth the wait.

The three-day stop included time at Navy Pier, Millenium Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, Lincoln Park Conservatory, Chinatown and a lot of public transit.

The cousins certainly enjoyed each other's company. Clark even pulled Lincoln out of his shell, as you can see in this shot taken in the hotel just after the crew arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. While Levynn tickles Clark, Lincoln approaches his freshly-buzzed head for the first of many smooches. We believe Clark was the first person other than Dad, Mom and Levynn to receive that slobbery honor.


The two older cousins rode on the train at Navy Pier, where the veteran showed the rookie the ropes.




Mom and Aunt C piled all three onto the slide at the Children's Museum. Hold on!


Then Levynn and Clark rode the merry-go-round with Mom and Aunt C.


Mom captured this wild shot while the crew was standing under Cloud Gate in Millenium Park.

"Night at the Museum" is child's play

UPDATED WITH VIDEOS

Remember that goofy Ben Stiller movie from a couple years ago? It should have been filmed at The Field Museum. We thought the Museum of Science and Industry was big last week. But The Field Museum swallowed Dad and Levynn today.

We started in what is best described as a still-life zoo. Seemingly every animal species known to man was on display, and that was just one part of one side of one of the three floors!

It wore us out. But looking back at it, there was some fun stuff. Check it out.


Bongos! Like the bongos at the Louisville Zoo!


"From time to time I dream that I'm a manatee, undulating underneath the sea."

That's an inside joke.


Levynn couldn't quite grasp the fact that some squirrels can "fly." It is kinda creepy, isn't it?


Here, Levynn is a barnacle. And the poor girl obviously doesn't know what to make of it!



Woolly Mammoths! Run for your lives!


Walk like a primate.


That reads "Primate" behind the glare. You see where this is going, right?





"Don't mess with me. I'm a primate."


"And don't mess with her."

Sue the T-Rex is Levynn's favorite dinosaur, and she better be your favorite dinosaur, too.


"Gimme five, dude."


Aaaaaaaaa! The mythic grizzly bear of the ancient Americas!


"Finally, more dinosaurs," Levynn said.


And that's Sue's cousin.



But Dad thinks this was Levynn's favorite part of the museum, based on how much it captured her attention. Put it this way: You won't see anything like this - which is just a snippet of what we witnessed - at your local aquarium. And to give you a little perspective, that creature is as long as Dad is tall.

CREE-PY!

Editor-in-waiting?

Levynn was wondering about the age of 24 yesterday. She just was. So Mom asked Dad what he imagined Levynn would be doing at 24.

Always hoping she will be a peacemaker, Dad blurted out "the youngest U.S. ambassador to the United Nations."

Well, Levynn has a different plan for herself, as you can see.

“I need to work really, really hard on my letters so I can make a newspaper one day,” she said.

I say hello

He's a music man

But this is not a con.

Derby doodling

Friday was spent preparing for our first Derby Day outside Louisville since Mom and Dad moved there in November 2001. Dad and Levynn undertook their own projects.



Mom, in particular, felt nostalgic for much of the 48 hours around the race and even looked a little misty after she sang along with the playing of "My Old Kentucky Home" in the moments before the horses left the starting gate Saturday evening.

But we all know this for sure: Louisville was good to us.