Chicago 2009

Where to begin? We had a fabulous trip to Chicago! Here is our little journal:-)
Saturday, December 26th...TRAIN RIDE!!!

The train ride was great!  We left from Jefferson City (thanks to Ann, Blaine and Patrick for seeing us off!) at about 10:30am for an almost 10 hr train adventure, including a 1&1/2 hr layover in StL.  The kids loved being able to roam without car seats to confine them.  It was a lot less stress for Darran and I, as we were able to read, play with the kids, rest, whatever.  We arrived at Union Station in Chicago around 8:45pm.  Off to the Embassy Suites (a great, family friendly hotel that allowed all of us to have a bed--no small feat for a family of 6--, a hot breakfast, pool time, and was conveniently located less than 2 blocks from the subway).

Sunday, December 27th..first subway and city bus rides, Museum of Science and Industry, and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (where Claire lost her first tooth--see previous post)

R2D2 mailbox outside the Museum

Christmas trees from around the world

Mom and Jeff were able to spend the day with us as well, so here is the fam near the german submarine exhibit.  The Museum of S&I was really one of our favorites.  So many things for the kids to do and see and they were at the perfect age for it!

On the city bus, after a long day at the Museum.

Silly brothers at the Rainforest Cafe

Monday, December 28...American Girl and the Lego Store followed by Sears Skydeck and Gino's East Chicago style pizza

Well, we thought this would be a "down" day.  Boy were we wrong!  We spent a whopping 2+hrs at the American Girl Store (thankfully the boys were allowed to check out Nintendo DS' while the girls shopped..great idea on AG's part!), followed by another 2 hrs at the Lego Store.  The kids got money for Christmas with which they could spend at these stores, if they wanted.  Boy, did they want to!  Emma even got her doll's ears pierced, so she could truly be just like her:-)  We then went to the Sears Skydeck.  Although the kids loved the Skydeck, Darran and I felt differently.  The view of the city was awesome at night...I just didn't need to go out over glass to enjoy it:-)  Pizza at Gino's East was fabulous!  Thinking about it makes me hungry for more!

 

Kit Kittredge dolls (Claire's)

                                     Just Like Me dolls (Emma and Suzie Q)

Build your own minifigures...

Darth Vader from Legos

    some 1200+ feet above the city

Tuesday, December 29...Field Museum and Adler Planetarium

The Field Museum is such an awesome place!  The kids loved the resemblances to things in the Night at the Museum movie.  We could have done without the Planetarium, which was a bit disappointing.  I'm not sure if it was just too old for our kids or what, but the view from the Planetarium was at least worth the trek there.

Kids with Sue (aka Rexxie:-)

Boys with Pterodactyl

    View from Adler Planetarium

Wednesday, December 30...Shedd Aquarium and the Art Institute of Chicago

Well, I am sad to say I took no pictures at Shedd.  Hard to believe as this is the one place I really wanted to go.  However, the crowds were insane here and I just wanted to not lose my children:-)  Kids did love what we saw here--octopus swimming, turtles, beluga whales, otters, sea dragons and more.  Unfortunately, the crowds got the best of us and we opted to head over to the Art Institute.  This is one place that Brendan really wanted to go to.  He loves art and was really looking forward to visiting the Art Institute.  They had a couple of kids areas, where the the kids were able to build puzzles of sculptures found in the museum, to do rubbings, to try on armory, and more.  We spent some time looking at the famous Monets, Picassos and more from the Impressionism gallery, as well as the Miniature Rooms area.  All the kids really enjoyed the Art Institute.

 

Thursday, December 31st...trip back home:-)

Took the train back.  So thankful not to be driving, especially since it was snowing along our route home.  We were nice and cozy in the train.  This is a picture during our stop in StL.  We only had about a 45min layover in StL, so we opted to stay on the train.  Had the whole car to ourselves!

"Mom was really on this trip" photo

Couple of side notes:  Our kids were true city kids...they loved traveling by bus and subway/El.  Chicago was beautiful this time of year and the cold really wasn't bad while we were there.  Owen couldn't stand seeing the snow all the time without touching it.  Probably could've used a day to just find a place to play in it:-)  All-in-all a great trip.  So glad to know that we can actually take four kids into the big city by ourselves!  We've come a long way from our last big family trip to Florida (summer 2005), where we needed lots of extra hands!

Claire loses her first tooth in Chicago!

Before dinner...

After!

We have many pictures to sort through from Christmas and our Chicago trip...but I had to get this one up there right away! Claire lost her first tooth while we were in Chicago, at the Rainforest Cafe no less:-) It really surprised her and she didn't know whether to be worried or excited, so I think she was a little of both. She lost it during dinner...I'm not sure how she didn't swallow it! Yay Claire!

The folks at the Embassy Suites were nice enough to give us an envelope to put her tooth in and, thankfully, the Tooth Fairy found us all the way in Chicago!

Cheap entertainment for the Alberty Christmas....

My children love, love, LOVE to sing. Here they are pretty much screeching in competition to be heard, but you get the general idea. They love to rock the house to the Glee CD...ok, who am I kidding?? WE love to rock the house to the Glee CD:-) They have no idea what Glee is, but they love the music (this one is a Journey classic)! This was on Christmas Day night with the Alberty family and a perfect start to our annual Christmas present opening marathon! Evelyn loved watching them, as you will see near the end, and, I expect, will be joining them next year!

Merry Christmas!

Alberty ladies "Cookie Bake"

Memories in the making...

the Alberty ladies have decided to put on an annual "Cookie Bake."  It is really just an excuse to have more time to hang with each other...and who doesn't love baking cookies??

Participants included:

• "Nanny" Ann
• Emma
• our newest female Alberty member- Evelyn (11 months old)
• our gracious host, Kelly
• Great-Grandmother Clarice (a spry 92 year old!)
• Claire
• and yours truly 

Four generations of Alberty ladies, spanning 81 years apart.  A small miracle in itself:-)  We made Candy Cane cookies, M&M Chocolate bars, Stamped Ginger cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms, and Russian Tea cookies all before we ran out of steam.

Expert bakers: Emma and Claire

Candy cane cookies

Hershey kisses for the Peanut Butter Blossoms

Greatest cheerleaders...

 

Evelyn:-)

Clarice

What a blessing to be able to share this time with the family.  The boys spent some time with Uncle Patrick, who was here visiting from NYC.  Any thoughts of feeling sad from not being invited to the cookie bake were quickly dispelled by the invitation to spend the afternoon with Uncle Pat.  If only he could be here every year for this!

Anyway, a great time was had by all....Here's to next year!

Last day of school...and FIRST SNOW OF THE YEAR!!

What is better as a kid than having it snow on the last day of school before Christmas break?  It was a perfect snow...nice and wet but not sticking to the roads.  Here are some pics of the kids building a snow family.  They couldn't wait to get home and change into their snow clothes.  We started to lose some daylight, so not sure how great a job we actually did.  Sure had fun though!!

Claire Bear:-)

Brendan, our champion builder!

Owen, hamming it up (as usual!)

Emma, look at that smile:-)

The finished product!  Only were able to make the "standard American family" with two children, a mom and dad:-)  Not enough daylight (or patience!) to replicate the Alberty family!!

Our furry friends enjoyed their first snow as well...

Lilly and Elvis

Charlie

Owen lost a tooth!

Owen lost his first tooth!

I have a feeling the Tooth Fairy is going to be frequenting the Alberty household a lot in the upcoming weeks.  Owen lost his first tooth and is very close to losing a second tooth.  You can see in the picture that his permanent teeth were actually pretty much already in right behind the baby teeth.  We were starting to get close to resorting to primative methods...threatening plyers, tying string to tooth/door and slamming door, etc.  Finally he was bored enough while home with pneumonia that he just kept working on it.  Mom had to do the final honors but it came out with one pull!  Way to go Owen!

Check back for Claire's first tooth which I'm sure will be coming soon as well!!

New Camera

Well, I had to take a little hiatus due to the fact that my camera turned up broken.  Boo!  Not sure how that happened but found out unexpectedly when trying to take pics of our annual Christmas Tree farm visit.  So no pics of the hours of searching for the perfect tree, or of the blister Brendan got because he didn't wear the proper socks for his boots, or of the bees swarming the apple cidar because of the uncharacteristically warm after-Thanksgiving weather, or of Darran cutting down the tree-we-chose-because-we-lost-the-crowd, or of Darran tying the tree to the top of the mini-van.  Alas, my friends and family, maybe it is all for the best.  You'll have to use your imagination in order to chuckle at THIS family!

Anyway, the problem has hence been solved.  We decided to come into the 21st century and get a camera with HD video capabilities so that we might actually get a video of these children before they graduate high school.  I hope to figure out how to share those on this blog so that you can truly appreciate a moment in our crazy lives:-)

Stay tuned...