Home again, home again
We're back!! We just spent a fabulous couple of days in the beautiful city of Chicago. I'm always reluctant to post while on vacation, because of the whole empty house thing. So now we're back and I can blog about it to my heart's content.Steve had business there, so we did that for the first couple of days, then spent the rest of the time playing. Unfortunately, the one thing I forgot to bring on the trip was my camera, so no pictures. Oh well, there's always next time.
We stayed at the breathtaking Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago (don't you just adore Priceline???). The hotel was amazing and just blocks away from everything.
The hotel was built in 1871 as a wedding present, but burned down 6 days later in the great fire. They rebuilt, thankfully, and it was simply fabulous.
My little sister was with us for the first couple of days, and she got to go see Wicked, 6th row center. Happy, happy Steph.
I have an aunt who plays in the Chicago Symphony, so she took us to see a children's concert where they played Mussorgsky/Ravel's Pictures at an Exhibition. There were puppeteers telling the story from the music using Japanese Bunraku puppets. Amazingly enough, all of my children (including Calvin) were spellbound and good as gold. She gave us a CD of the music and my kids have listened to it over and over. Seeing the conductor deconstruct the music for them, then watching it with the puppets gave them a multi-faceted sort of appreciation for it, I think.
Then Steve took the kids swimming, and I went to the Art Institute for a Cezanne to Picasso exhibit. It was so incredible. I used the headset and soaked it in, all by myself. Aaaah. That was definitely a high point.
We went to my cousin's vocal jazz/swing concert that night, and again, amazingly, the kids sat through the entire thing. I think it helped that by that point Calvin was very very tired.
We played at Navy Pier and went on the Ferris Wheel (introduced at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893) and saw a 3D Imax movie about lions. So so fun.
And now my sleepy kids are happy to be in their own beds, and I'm trying to catch up on laundry and get back into the swing of normal life. It's funny, isn't it, what a narrow slice of life blogging presents. This trip was fabulous. It was wonderful family time, we saw great things and did a lot. But blogging can't possibly capture the entire picture, in the whole realistic grittiness of whines and overtired kids and restaurant escapades. It's so easy to just capture the perfect moments, and neglect to mention that Calvin screamed the entire way home from the airport, when he'd just plain had enough. So know that we had a fabulous, but very human time!
posted by Becca at
10:46 PM
1 comment(s):
It all sounds lovely even the full disclosure. I admire you for having the courage to travel with three little children. Citcat is so difficult sometimes I shudder to think of traveling with her. We haven't yet taken her on a real vacation. Every few days she says she wants to go to the beach and she pretends to lay out a towel and tells me that it is sand. She points to the ocean. i should really take your lead and go on a vacation.
By
Anonymous, at
8:27 AM
Post a comment
<< Home