Birthday surprise!

I have been keeping a secret these past few weeks. (And boy am I bad at that!) I have been sneaking around and planning a surprise for Danny's 40th birthday. I arranged to have my friend MaryJane babysit overnight so that I could whisk Danny away for an evening in Chicago.

I made reservations at the 4-star Amalfi Hotel in Chicago a few weeks ago. I was sure that the gig was up when Danny noticed the charge from Orbitz, but he assumed that it was an academic conference-related charge and didn't question it. Also, I told (warned) the kids about the trip the day before, but they totally forgot and didn't rat me out. So, when MaryJane showed up on Saturday afternoon, Danny was pricing gutter pipes on line and was completely and totally surprised.

The Hotel was gorgeous! And it is in the middle of everything! We were able to do a little window shopping, admire the architecture and walk around Millennium Park.

Also, there was another surprise: I had arranged to have Danny's friend Matt (and my friend Beth) meet us for dinner. Cafe Iberico seems to be in a Google black hole. I had noticed that the street address of the restaurant didn't match the hundreds on Google maps, so I called the restaurant and asked them if they were on the corner of LaSalle and Kinsey, and they said yes. However, they are actually on the corner of LaSalle and Superior, many blocks away. I told Danny that we had 6:00 reservations (they actually don't take reservations) so we had to hop a cab (I love Chicago!) to get there "on time." We got to the restaurant before Matt and Beth, so I had to secretly call them on the phone and sneakily get the hostess to give the two of us a table for 4. But Danny was completely surprised when Matt and Beth showed up!


Here's Danny's description of the event:

"I had no idea we were leaving for a night in Chicago. When MaryJane showed up I thought maybe she and Susan had plans. I was so surprised I felt my brain working about two steps behind what was happening. It was especially surprising that the kids had kept the secret. They were quite casual about it all. Susan produced a packed suitcase out of nowhere and we left in 15 minutes!

The drive to Chicago was easy and the hotel was beautiful. We got to walk around with the holiday shoppers and spend a little time in some very snazzy stores, including an entire store devoted to olives (one of my favorite foods) and a Lego store with a life-size Darth Vader - the picture is sure to give me some street cred with the kids.

Then we went to a fabulous tapas restaurant. I was a little suspicious when they set the table for four but couldn't for the life of me think who would be joining us. Believe me that I was stunned and delighted to see Matt and Beth. The food was fantastic and the company was even better. I enjoyed a wide variety of drinks and was glad not to be driving back to the hotel.

The following morning (when I finally woke up) we walked around admiring the Chicago architecture in freezing sunshine and ended up in Millennium Park. It was a wonderful end to an unbelievable trip.

Did I mention I have the best wife in the world?"

Memorable Memorial Day

Today we somewhat spontaneously decided to go to Chicago. Actually, we had planned to go to Chicago today, but we had done absolutely nothing in advance to make this likely to happen. We neglected to wake up early, gas up the car or plan what we would do in Chicago. (Also, we had been out late the night before.) After replanting our shrubbery, we managed to haul out of Normal by noon.

On the ride up to Chicago Joseph's other ear tube fell out. He was so excited! There should be an ear tube fairy to give kids a silver dollar when they lose an ear tube! And of course Danny and I are excited: no more silicon ear plugs when Joseph bathes or swims!!!

People have been telling us to go to the Museum of Science and Industry, but I didn't have high expectations. I was way wrong--this was the BEST MUSEUM EVER! It is a huge place with massively high ceilings stacked with all sorts of eye candy. It is a(n) historic building that has been completely updated with a modern floor plan and flow. The exhibits are current, well-researched and very ($$$) high-tech. The museum also is a happy medium between being slow-paced and hands-on versus being high-throughput (Smithsonian, etc). There were many participatory activities but it was not congested and frustrating.
Also the kids got in for free for the Memorial Day holiday.

We spent as long as we could in The Hall of Transportation where there was a scale model of Chicago complete with working trains.


There was an exhibit called NetWorld which explains how the internet works, information is coded, transmitted, etc. The kids each got a little microchip necklace that codes and sends information throughout NetWorld. Both kids loved dancing around in the hall of 1's and 0's.

Sam climbing the quarterly earnings wall in the toy manufacturing plant.

Joseph enjoys the farm exhibit on poop.

The kids had never been to an IMAX show. They were frantically excited to see "Dinosaurs Alive!" in 3D. Highlights included several grisly life-and-death battles and a dinosaur pooping. There was also the story of a young geologist digging for fossils. For me, the 20-foot tall 3D grad-students in their grubby field clothes were kind of off-putting.


AstroJoseph busting out of his suit, and AstroSam being attacked by a strange alien.

The kids spent a long time in the Genetics exhibit watching the chicks hatch.


After the museum, we went to Reza's, the bestest Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern restaurant of them all! The food was truly fantastic! After having eaten at Reza's, I realize that I have never eaten good authentic Middle-eastern food. (Just crunchy hippie middle-eastern food.) The falafel was fantastic, and the sauces were way better and fresher than anything that I have ever had. The restaurant was historic, ambient and lovely. There were also all sorts of glamorous and dashing middle eastern people having an enormous graduation party with a live band which made things more festive.

Pictures taken by Sam:


The photographer himself.

Pictures taken by Joseph:


The angry young artist.

The ride home. My favorite apartment ad:
"Odyssey Apartments: if you lived here, you would be Homer by now."

Goodbye Chicago!

We Go Chicago

This week the kids were on Spring break. Among other fun and games, the kids have started their own blogs (see the links below). I took off work Wednesday, and we drove to Chicago for edutainment and window shopping. We spent most of the day at the Field Museum which was awesome. It was a great museum, although neither the webpage nor the floor plan of the museum sold it very well--once we got there, we had no idea where we were going or what we would see. However, we were continuously surprised by the diversity and detail of the exhibits.


Sam decided that he wanted to read every word of each display, so we proceeded methodically through the mammals, reptiles, dinosaurs, and the evolution of life (with added bonus extinction!)

Tyrannosaurus Sue, the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton of them all...

Watch out for the giant sloth!

A rare picture of Sam without his cheese-eating grin (the trick is tickling!)

After the museum, we went to historic Old Town. (I needed some "foundations" to go with my maid-of-honor dress, and Normal was surprisingly lacking.) Old Town has all sorts of neat little (gentrified) stores that are missing in Normal. The kids played in a courtyard park. We smelled things in the spice store. We tasted many fantastic olive oils and vinegars, and bought a pricey (but transcendent) bottle of Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar at the Olive Oil and Vinegar store.

We spent a long time lèche-vitrine at the chocolate shop, which seemed to specialize in random molded chocolates like chocolate T rexs, swans, tools, toothbrushes, etc.

There was also a fantastic aquarium store with the best invertebrates that I have seen since I left CA. (I am a fan of the invertebrates. In my opinion, if your tank doesn't have great invertebrates, then why bother with fish--just keep a tank full of rocks and mold.)

A good time was had by all. The kids were very good with the 2.5 hour drive each way, likely because of the portable DVD player. (They saw Destroy All Planets on the way to Chicago and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians on the way back). I was worried about the dog, because we had never left him alone and loose in the house for such a long time, but he was completely fine. When we got home, the kids went to sleep right away, and slept for so long that they were still out when I left for work the next day.