July 11 - Bean (Cloud Gate), Spitting Faces (Crown Fountain) and Girl & the Goat Part Deux

Post wipe-out cuddle.  

Girl and the Goat Menu - not for the faint of heart ... Raw lamb, duck tongues, pig face, beef tongues ... you need to bring your courage as well as your appetite.  Of course, Jack loves it!

July 10 - Museum of Science & Industry and The Publican

July 9 - Nature Museum and Balena & Steppenwolf

Chicago has many, many museums and over 20 of them are must, must see!  Since we've only got 28 days on the ground here, we need to get busy! We decided to hit the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum this morning, even though the weather was clear, cool and beautiful!  Normally I would save this little gem for a rainy day but we're running out of time and the kids are running out of patience for another 'long walk along the lakeshore'.  So, we rolled in to the nature museum and promptly lost each other - me with Natalie and Jack with the older 2.  We made a conscious decision when we had child #3 that we were ready to move from man-to-man defense to zone defense.  Today was a zone day!  

That evening we had a so-so dinner at Balena and then saw a play about swinging at Steppenwolf Theater.  It was excellent!  I was thinking of my fellow Ross residents the whole time ...

July 8 - Tower Road Beach & Rocking out at Kuma Burger

This morning we drove up to Winnetka to go to the Tower Road beach with Cindy and her kids.  Since the winter was so bitter and so long here, Lake Michigan really hasn't had a chance to warm up yet - the water was 58 degrees!  That's the temperature of the water at Northern California beaches!!  You know, the by-the-time-the-water-is-up-to-your-knees,-your-feet-are-numb temperature!  It certainly didn't stop the kids though - they were in that water within minutes.  Then we spent a good long time searching for shells and sea glass and playing at the playground.  Yes, a playground at the beach!  Awesome!

Natalie fell asleep immediately after getting in the car, always the sign of a good day!  After washing the beach off, we rolled over to Kuma Too, the sequel to very popular and inconveniently located heavy-metal burger joint that has the best burgers in town (which is saying something for a town known for awesome bar food)!  It was not as busy or rockin' as the original but the burgers were as good and the kids were able to sit and enjoy the Megadeth on the stereo and the tattoos on the wait staff in relative peace.

We wandered south through the city, taking in all the sights and sounds of city life that we so miss all year.  These city summers remind me of why I love our home so much!

July 7 - Chicago Children's Museum & Girl and the Goat

As promised, Monday morning brought a renewed vigor to our vacationing.  Knowing that the Children's Museum at Navy Pier would be a HUGE hit, we decided to throw it into the trip early.  This time, Jack jogged to the museum and I took the kids on the el.  They were psyched to ride the train, Jack was psyched to have a little time for a run and I was psyched to avoid having to settle the inevitable skirmishes that break out when you pile 3 kids in a stroller built for 2 ... :)

We rocked that museum hard but still left many a room unexplored.  Perhaps we need another visit!  Jacqui conquered the rope tunnel and human wrecking ball!  Good day, team!

In the evening, we rushed out hoping to make it on time for our reservation at the Girl and the Goat and, although 30 minutes late, were greeted like old friends.  I'm not even going to wait for you to guess what was on the menu ... yes, pig face.  Chef Izard didn't even try to obfuscate the obvious - she doesn't hide behind fancy french phrases or nifty plays on words.  Nope, she busts it out.  Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face.  I guess that there's a flood of pig faces down at the Chicago Meat Market 'cause every chef in town is trying to get all fancy and pass these things off as something that we should actually be eating.   Don't be fooled like Jack was for the 3rd time; order cuts of meat that come from the yummy parts of the pig and leave the faces for Hannibal.

We walked down to Gold Coast and took in an improv show at Second City.  It was hilarious!

July 6 - Botanical Gardens and family movie night

We were all moving a little slowly this morning - the kids may be starting to fray a little from the 'vacation pace' we are keeping.  Jack and I are always a little frayed after a night out with Bill and Dana!  So, we took it easy and strolled down to the Botanical Gardens in Lincoln Park.  Easy walk, see some flowers, picnic on the grass ... done!  We all chilled in the afternoon and then enjoyed a homemade dinner - Daddy's famous spaghetti and meatballs - and family movie night.  I don't even think that Daddy stayed awake through the opening credits!  That's it for a break kids - come Monday morning, we'll be crankin' up the heat again!

July 5 - Green City Market & more Face Bacon

After grabbing our Intelligencia latte, we strolled down to the Green City Market to grab some grub for an alfresco picnic on the grass.  We meandered home through the city streets, stopping at North Pond to feed the ducks (whoops, didn't see the don't feed the ducks sign until it was too late) and a local playground to get our wiggles out.

We left the girls in the capable hands of our Chicago sitter and jetted off to meet Jack's cousin Bill and his wife Dana.  Our partners in travel and sometimes, crime!  We showed up early to score a table at Longman & Eagle - a gastropub with a Micheline star, not to mention one of the hottest hipster joints in town!   While we worked our way through the cocktail list,  we ate, laughed and got caught up!   If you can believe it, there was Tete de Cochon on the menu!  Now my grade 9 french is a little rusty but you can't fool me - that's pig head!  Dammit.  Of course Jack had to order it.  It's like a dare.  In this case, it turned out to be a very delicious dare - it was prepared just like classic pork rillettes which is going to be good no matter what part of the pork it comes from!  

PS - this is day 23.  This is the halfway point of our trip.  : /

July 4 - Independence Day in a Norman Rockwell painting

This morning we drove up to Winnetka to celebrate Independence Day with our dear friends Drew and Cindy. The parade, although seemingly all politicians and realtors, had exactly the feel of a mid-century celebration in middle America! Moms in summer dresses, kids on decorated bikes and dogs devouring discarded bowls of ice cream. After the parade, we headed back to the house for an epic water gun battle between "the cousins", and lunch. Then we cleaned up and headed to 'the club' for dinner, festivities and fireworks. Now, my set of life experiences doesn't include much time at a country club so our visit to West Moorland was fascinating to me! They had an amazing set up for the kids (games, dancing, bouncies and even a zipline) and a luxurious spread of food featuring all the mainstays of Americana - even hot dogs and apple pie!

The kids had a genuinely fantastic evening - it's so rare that they can really enjoy a little freedom - running between the sweets table and the bounce house at their whim.

July 3 - Face Bacon ... yum!

We woke on our first full day in Chicago to sunshine and a pleasantly cool breeze. Yesterday's rain cleared all the heat and mugginess from the air and we stepped out to a fresh day. Well, truth be told, jack and the kids stepped out into a fresh day and I stayed back at the apartment to unpack and get organized! Heaven! Jack took the kids to the zoo and I puttered to my heart's content. I also enjoyed my first run along the lake. Running in Chicago in the summer is so unlike running in San Francisco that you almost can't compare them. City skyline up ahead, lake to the left and literally hundreds of winter-weary urbanites - a little white and a little flabby - running, blading and biking along side you, all with a look of sheer bliss on their faces. "Ahhh, sunshine!! Let's not waste a drop!"

In the evening, we joined our friends Frank and Sarah for dinner at El Ideas. A restaurant that evolved from an amateur yet very enthusiastic home chef who threw elaborate dinner parties (hmm, sounds familiar)! It's byob and frank generously raided his cellar and provided a beautiful pairing of wines to accompany these innovative dishes! Course 4 was the pork face - thinly sliced face bacon accompanied by chanterelles, gooseberries and mustard.  Highlight of the night was the dish inspired by a Wendy's mainstay - dipping your French fries into your Frostie! Chef Foss's version -- soooo good!

Since guests were encouraged to walk around and check-out what was going on in the kitchen, we got a shot of them plating the face bacon.

This is my frosty - french fries already inside.  

July 2 - Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' (part 3)

We left Newmarket in a flurry at 6:45 this morning to try and beat the morning rush hour traffic in Toronto and the evening rush hour traffic in Chicago.  Mission Accomplished.  Even with 2 and a half stops (we gave up on stop #3 when 2 of the restaurants we tried for lunch were both out of power), we made it here by 3:30 local time.  Summer in Chicago, here we come!

For those placing bets, we didn't do nearly as well on the electronics on this drive.  We broke down and handed them out almost immediately and were feeling pretty miserable about that decision as we hit Lakeshore Drive to the plaintiff wails of our girls ... "it stopped working", "it's out of batteries".  Oh the horror ...

July 1 - Happy Canada Day

Ah, Canada Day.  Time
to dig out your Roots T-shirt,  paint a
leaf on your face and grab a Sleemans Honey Dark with one hand and a Timbit with the other.

We celebrated by heading down to the Sky Dome and watching the Blue Jays school the Brewers!  It was such a fun day.  Well, let me be more specific.  It was such a fun day for me.  Charlotte and Natalie were done before they got there and Jacqui tapped out around the 5th inning.  Jack knows the way to our girl's hearts and mercifully took them out of the park for ice cream and a spin around the playground while the rest of us stayed and rooted for the home team.  We made it to the top of the 8th and then witnessed the win while listening to the game in the car.  Sometimes, you just gotta know when to call it quits.  We rewarded the kid's patience with a trip to the splash pad in New Market and then home for bath, dinner, Mario Kart and bed!  Tomorrow we are on the road again - back to Chicago to start phase 3 of the Midwest Tour.

June 30 - Fore!

This morning we left the 5 kids in the capable hands of Megan and Kaitlin and went to Warkworth for a friendly round of golf.  After a slow start, we all got into the swing of things and finished up with respectable scores.  It was a fun and relaxing day out.