Wednesday, May 30th

So, we got up fairly early on Wednesday and hopped on a long bus ride for the science and industry museum. We knew the kids would love this place, and they did! It's absolutely huge! We actually ended up staying there all day. It was really crowded in the morning, with school field trip groups, but thinned out after lunch and was more enjoyable. 

 Here is a picture of the kids in front of U-505, an actual German u-boat that was captured by the Allies and is now displayed with tons of other artifacts in a huge wing of the museum. I really wanted to go inside of it, but Brian, being the money conscious one that he is, wouldn't let us (it was $8 a person extra to go in). It was fascinating seeing all the history around it. They had replicas of the bunks, you could look through actual periscopes and see actual torpedos from the ship. What a fun exhibit.

 I love this picture. Will cracks me up!

 So, the last thing we did for the day at the science museum was seeing a play called "Poop Happens" What we didn't know is that it was an audience participation thing, and we were the only ones in the audience!! So, all the kids got up on stage and helped recreate the digestive system using props. Xander got the lovely pleasure of pushing out the final product through a bag (see bottom picture). It really did look and act like real poop, although thankfully didn't smell like it. They made it with chocolate and oats and some water.

We had a pretty long, about 40 minute, bus ride back to the part of town we were staying in. All the kids fell asleep on the bus back. We got off the bus and walked a few blocks to eat dinner at a deep dish Chicago-style pizza restaurant. Yum! On our walk to the restaurant, Xander ran into a flock of pigeons on the ground and made them all fly up and make a mess. That kid is so wierd sometimes. Dinner was great and right across the street was Willis tower (formerly Sears Tower). Here are all the pictures from that. Unfortunately, it was a little cloudy and foggy, so we couldn't see very far at the top, but I think the kids thought the plexiglass ledges were cool. (Brian and I were a little wierded out, though). 

Our hotel was only a few blocks away, so we walked back and everyone fell into bed. It was a long day of a lot of walking! The kids had lots of fun experiences this day.