Today was an exciting day as Elizabeth decided (well, actually I did) to cash in her coupon that I gave her for her birthday. The coupon was for one trip on the train to downtown Chicago for a day of adventure and fun. For those of you that I have not talked to (or don't have trains constantly running in your area) - there is a unique phenomena that happens. Little kids love trains, and want to see as many as possible. Adults who drive become incredibly upset - or maybe thats just me - when they have to wait for the trains to pass by. My kids have taking to cheering 'Yeahhhh train!!!' when the gate goes down in front of me and I sit stewing in the car. All th
at said, Elizabeth loves trains so I wanted to make sure she got a nice long train ride with a fun day spent downtown where we could see large buildings and also go to a museum. We took the 8:06 to downtown and Elizabeth loved the ride. Everyone was quietly reading their books, paper or blackberry, and the only thing you could hear every 10 seconds was 'LOOK DAD, LOOK AT THAT PARK! LOOK AT THAT! THERE IS ANOTHER TRAIN...OH MY GOODNESS...' and I had to constantly remind her to use her library voice inside the train. We made it downtown without much hassle, and I quickly realized that we were not in Union Station like I thought we were going to - which means I was lost. As I was loading Elizabeth up a business man came over to me and said 'Excuse me, you look lost. Can I help point you in the right direction?' With all the confidence I could muster, I let him know I was helping my daughter into our stroller and was about ready to go exactly where I knew I was going. After 28 years of life, nothing changes....
ALOT of walking, map usage, retracing of steps and a taxi ride later, we made it to safely to the museum. Elizabeth was quite impressed with the size of the museum, I was more impressed with how ugly Soldier Field is now after the renovations (you can see it in the background of this picture...just click the picture to make it bigger). Soldier Field is right across the from the field museum (get the joke in the title now?) in case you think I would drag my daughter all the way to the stadium just to see it. I've been there before - and lets be honest, the bears are terrible.
In case you are not aware, the Field museum is Chicago's natural history museum - and it really is great. I snapped a picture with
Lizzy next to the T-Rex in the main lobby. When I asked her if she knew what it was, she had no idea. I'm not sure if we've not told her what a dinosaur is, or if she has only ever seen pictures of them with skin on. Either way we've got some work to do. We also goofed around and took a whole bunch of pictures of ourselves - one of which turned out half way decent (see above).
Lizzy next to the T-Rex in the main lobby. When I asked her if she knew what it was, she had no idea. I'm not sure if we've not told her what a dinosaur is, or if she has only ever seen pictures of them with skin on. Either way we've got some work to do. We also goofed around and took a whole bunch of pictures of ourselves - one of which turned out half way decent (see above). 
After three exhibits and lunch, she was pretty sure she wanted to go back on the train and go home....but I made her come to the Egypt exhibit because it is my favorite. Even though she was tired, she did muster the strength to try and pull the stone shown in the picture. Little did she know it weighs 6000 lbs - and I also believe it to be bolted and caulked to the ground. Even so, she was a little disappointed, but we pushed on home after that. We caught a bus over to state street and I decided to walk back to the train. Elizabeth fell asleep almost immediately, and doubled over (sleeping) in this little umbrella stroller we had. I realized that if I jogged, I could catch the 2:40 train back home. It must have been quite the site to see some bald headed man jogging through the streets in sandals and jeans with what appeared to be a child doubled over in distress in the tiny stroller. Fear not, no children were injured in the making of this story. We made it to the station and caught the train. While trying to transfer Elizabeth to the seat, she woke up. The first thing she said was, 'Why are we on the train - I want to be in the museum!' Oh well, you can never make them all the way happy. At the end of the day, I feel good because as Lizzy was leading prayer at dinner tonight she said, 'Dear Jesus, thanks for a wonderful day on the choo-choo and at the museum...'Besides this exciting day to Chicago, we also had a very nice weekend with m
y immediate family. Both my brothers, their wives, and Christy and I were able to make it up to Michigan to hang out with them and my folks. Even though it was a little chilly I let Sam and Lizzy play in the sand on the beach. Also, my middle brother and I did a couple mile walk from downtown Grand Haven out to the light house. Here is a picture of the Lizzy and I facing out towards Lake Michigan. The waves were probably 8 to 10 feet near the pier, which makes me happy I was not surfing with the three other crazy people we saw out there.
With Elizabeth up in Michigan with my parents part of last week, I was able to get alot of reading done. I read Death by Suburb for our small group at church. It was a really easy read and had several good ideas. The thing that got me was less his stressing that the suburb life could seriously impact your Christian walk - that I get and agree; but rather, your reaction to dealing with the threat. He mentions that some people in response to this will do a stint in missions or enroll in a seminary....those are both things that I'm doing! Even back in January while at our LAM orientation, I did raise the question, 'Christy, should we be staying in the states instead of going to Costa Rica? There is alot of need here too, if we stayed here and focused on missions...' Luckily (well, actually not by luck), I don't second guess our decision. I feel very comfortable with God's call in our lives to go to Costa Rica and serve at La Palabra after much prayer - but - the book was thoughtful enough to jog my memory of that struggle. I also liked how he stressed quietness, and to a degree, simplicity in life. One of the books that Christy and I will be reading is the Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster which I think will be a great one on that topic with alot more meat.
Anyway, its getting late, and I've smelled really bad since dripping in sweat after running in Chicago. This was simply made worse by the 1.5 hours of racquetball I played right when I got home. I'm going to clean up and hit the sheets.
Until next time...
y immediate family. Both my brothers, their wives, and Christy and I were able to make it up to Michigan to hang out with them and my folks. Even though it was a little chilly I let Sam and Lizzy play in the sand on the beach. Also, my middle brother and I did a couple mile walk from downtown Grand Haven out to the light house. Here is a picture of the Lizzy and I facing out towards Lake Michigan. The waves were probably 8 to 10 feet near the pier, which makes me happy I was not surfing with the three other crazy people we saw out there.With Elizabeth up in Michigan with my parents part of last week, I was able to get alot of reading done. I read Death by Suburb for our small group at church. It was a really easy read and had several good ideas. The thing that got me was less his stressing that the suburb life could seriously impact your Christian walk - that I get and agree; but rather, your reaction to dealing with the threat. He mentions that some people in response to this will do a stint in missions or enroll in a seminary....those are both things that I'm doing! Even back in January while at our LAM orientation, I did raise the question, 'Christy, should we be staying in the states instead of going to Costa Rica? There is alot of need here too, if we stayed here and focused on missions...' Luckily (well, actually not by luck), I don't second guess our decision. I feel very comfortable with God's call in our lives to go to Costa Rica and serve at La Palabra after much prayer - but - the book was thoughtful enough to jog my memory of that struggle. I also liked how he stressed quietness, and to a degree, simplicity in life. One of the books that Christy and I will be reading is the Freedom of Simplicity by Richard J. Foster which I think will be a great one on that topic with alot more meat.
Anyway, its getting late, and I've smelled really bad since dripping in sweat after running in Chicago. This was simply made worse by the 1.5 hours of racquetball I played right when I got home. I'm going to clean up and hit the sheets.
Until next time...
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