Saturday, September 8, 2007

Chicago - Day 3 - Field Museum

Well, I guess it was actually day 3 that we took the subway. Anyway, I think the main reason it was a little "scary" was because it was almost empty. There were only 3 other people waiting. Anyway, we made it and it is a FAST ride! At each stop, you stop very quickly. You have to really listen for your stops or you'll get messed up. Thankfully, we made our stop just fine.

Our big stop for the day was the Field Museum. Wow!!! We could have spent several days here. We actually spent most of our time at only 2 exhibits - Egypt and the birds.



Doesn't this remind you of "Night at the Museum?" (There is a large T-Rex at the end of this grand hall.)



We didn't get to the museum until almost noon. (This is the day that transportation took about an hour.) They were having a tour of the Egypt exhibit at noon, so we decided to start there. We'd studied Egypt last year and my mom is interested in it, too.



This was one of the best parts of our trip. The tour lasted 30 minutes and our guide, John, was great. He was impressed when Alexandra answered some questions and knew about amulets. After the hour tour, he said he was free to answer questions. Well, we stayed with him for another 30 minutes as Alexandra asked questions (and so did I) and he showed us more of the exhibit. He told me that he had been a teacher who had been taught that homeschooling parents were "bad." But, after giving tours to both public school kids and homeschool kids, he is very impressed with homeschoolers. And, I just needed this reaffirmation - that I'm really doing a good job and she's really learning. And so am I!!! (This photo shows John writing Alexandra's name in heiroglyphics!)

After lunch (McDonald's on-site), we went to the bird exhibit. There are hundreds of birds! And, Alexandra was so excited. We saw so many birds we've seen on our birding trips, read about, etc. She was literally jumping up and down. We probably were in this area for over 1.5 hours - just looking at birds!
This was a cool hand-dryer we've never seen before. Alexandra decided to "dry" her whole body!
That night, we went to Navy Pier which we'd visited 3 years before. We walked around, watched a magic show, and let Alexandra ride this swing ride before riding the ferris wheel. This was the biggest ride she's ever been on, and I found it pretty scary! But, she LOVED it!
Here's a photo of Alexandra after our ride on the ferris wheel. I was suprised that it never speeds up... and it never stops! You get one time around and then hop off so the next group can hop on.



We went out for chicago-style pizza that night at Deau's. (I think I'm spelling it right.) My mom loved it all, I loved the crust, and Alexandra loved the stringy cheese.


Our last stop of the night was a little grocery store. They had a sign that said if you found the cow, you would win a prize. While I was paying for some fresh fruit, my mom and Alexandra searched for the cow... and found it! She won a pack of 3 delicious candy bars. She was so happy!

1 comment:

  1. This is my kind of day! Loved the whole thing. I loved the comments your tour guide made. :-) I'll bet it's because homeschoolers aren't shy about talking to tour guides. GB can keep one talking as long as they are willing to talk...LOL! He'd have been side-by-side with Alexandra putting that guy through his paces. The ps kids just want to get back on the bus so they can throw more spitballs.
    HA!~ You laugh, but it's true. Been there, done that!
    Omg! That pizza! Was it as divine as it looked? Mmmm, I wish computers had smell-o-vision!
    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how glad I was to finally see a picture of you. And what a great picture it was! You look fabulous! And everybody looks color-coordinated...LOL!

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