Sojourn in a Far Away Land - Chicago

We decided to drive up to Chicago for the weekend. We stopped in Springfield, Illinois on the way to see the performance of The Civil War musical that we had seen practicing the week before. It was outdoors, so we paid the blanket price and sat on the lawn. It was a warm night, and the programs were printed on the fans in our hands. It was a neat idea to help people stay cool. It was very good. The kids liked it a lot. In fact, Benjamin goes around singing the chorus to one of the songs all the time. The producer noticed us as he was walking around during intermission and was so excited that we had come back to see the production. I was impressed he remembered us. We asked him if there was a soundtrack available, and found out that the musical had been on Broadway, so we will be looking for the soundtrack.





This is an excerpt from the song, "For The Glory." They really did do a good job! (pardon the camera woman, though, because Benjamin kept jumping into my lap)

The next morning we were up bright and early to go to the American Girl Place. The girls (including mom) were very excited. Dad just accepted it and endured. I think he did enjoy how excited everyone was, though.
We started off with breakfast in the cafe. My kids did not have dolls yet, so the cafe had "loaner" dolls to eat with. The food was very good, and the dolls had their own dishes and goodies too.
Benjamin had a lot of fun feeding his doll blueberries.
Afterwards we let the kids go pick out a doll. Yes, much to the chagrin of my mother we did let Benjamin get a doll too. But it is a BOY toddler doll, and there was no way we were getting out of there without him getting a doll too.
Emily picked a doll named "Emily" which is Molly's friend (World War 2)
Elisabeth picked a doll named "Elisabeth" who is Felicity's friend (Colonial times). Going to Williamsburg and dressing up last year really made a big impression on Elisabeth, and she is excited about the colonial theme.
Leilani picked Julie, who represents the 1970's. Not the time period I would have chosen, but she loves her doll!
We ended our day at American Girl Place by attending the musical performance that they have that showcases all the different American Girl characters. No one under six is admitted, so Alan took the two younger kids to play at the Lego store while we were at the musical.
When we were done at American Girl place we took a double decker bus tour of the city. The kids wanted to take their dolls, but Dad insisted that they leave them in the car.
Chicago is a very pretty city. I was surprised by how clean it was. There is a lot
of fantastic architecture too.
These apartments look like corn cobs, and the cars parked on the bottom half look like they are going to fall right out.
They had many beautiful parks and fountains.
We went to the top of the John Hancock building. We were going to go to the Sears Tower, but there was only a few floors difference, and we were told that the Hancock building had a shorter wait because it was less touristy.
The view was fantastic. I had never seen a Great Lake before. Lake Michigan is beautiful.
I was surprised at how many buildings had swimming pools on the roof.

They had some fun photo props up there and lots of windows.
We went to the Field Museum. It was pretty neat. We didn't have enough time to see everything, but we saw the dinosaurs...
and the mummies...
and the prehistoric indian stuff.
Then we walked down by Lake Michigan, and a nice lady offered to take a family picture of us.
We parked by Soldier Field, so we had to take a picture so I could show Benjamin someday that he had been there.

For any of you who are sports ignorant like me, it is where the Chicago Bears play football.
I was kind of impressed, though. I have seen a lot of sports arenas on this trip and they all seemed to be named after some corporate sponsor. This field is dedicated to "the defenders of our liberty." It was a fun trip. We would like to go back and visit again someday.