Chicago Vacation: Part 2

Sunday we went to the Chicago Field Museum. We gave the kids a list of choices of things they wanted to do and the first choice on everyone's list was the Field Museum. (I mean, who wouldn't want to go to a museum with a big poster of chocolate on the side!)

The museum was really quite large, and the architecture was very cool.

This is Sue, the world's largest T Rex skeleton. I expected it to be bigger, but I guess if it had skin on and it was running toward you, it would seem pretty scary.

A little bit of evolution, of course, but we do what we always do in that case and ignore it, and go with the fact that the Bible says that God created everything in seven days.

These are the lions of Tsavo. A very interesting and frightening story, indeed. In the late 1800's, workers in Kenya were constructing a railway. Two lions stalked around the campsight and over the course of nine months, killed and ate I believe 140 workers! A movie was made about this, The Ghost and the Darkness. The two lions were finally killed and then eventually sold to the Field Museum. They were in very poor condition (I think it said they had been turned into rugs!), but were able to be reconstructed and still have the original skulls.

The museum had an amazing display on Ancient Egypt. I have always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt. It is one of my absulute favorite periods in history. Maybe because it's just so different (and bizarre) from what we know today. You started off in a pyramid recreation, which took you downstairs to a huge collection of artifacts, mummies, even a boat. Here is Timothy on an Egyptian bed.

I was really surprised at how many mummies they had. And, at how many of them were children. They even had an infant mummy. It really just brought a well of sadness over me. Those were somebody's children. Even 4000 years ago, mamas still loved their babies. It made me thankful for my healthy children.

The museum had an awesome area for kids. Here are some of them gathering corn at the Pueblo village (there was even a small Pueblo house).

The kids had fun in the sound proof music room.

We were at the museum for about four hours, but I honestly could've stayed all day if I were by myself!

This is Soldier Field where the Chicago Bears play football. It's across the street from the museum.

The wind coming off of Lake Michigan was C.O.L.D.


Then it was off to Portillo's for some Italian Beef. What is Italian Beef? You say you've never heard of it?

Well, it is only deliciousness on a bun.

It must be a somewhat localized thing, because we've been all over the country and never seen it outside of Illinois. It's basically a shaved roast beef, marinated in some sort of broth and seasonings, slapped on a bun (that gets soggy from the broth) with peppers on top.

This isn't a picture of my actual sandwich because I wolfed that baby down before I could even think about getting my camera, but my it looked exactly like this.

The kids got Chicago style hot dogs, but since they are not adventurous, they opted to leave the Chicago off the top. (I think they all were switched at birth.)

Finally, we headed back over to Grandma and Grandpa's for goodbyes, since we were leaving the next evening and Grandpa had doctor's appointments.