We Take Ourselves With Us

So we're off for FanExpo to get our geek on but along the way, I had a chance to see the President. Sadly, although my seats were awesome, I didn't get to ask him my pressing higher ed policy question: "In restructuring Title IV funding gate keeping by regional accrediting agencies, how are you factoring in a basic truth: Idris Elba should have been selected as the next Doctor?" Here are some pics: And, then I was off for the border.

On our last day, we slept in a bit, knowing we were off to The Little Goat Diner for lunch.  While our schedule never allowed us to get into Chitown's must-eat The Girl and the Goat, we got in at the better place anyway (says Ned).  Well, we did score a prime booth at the open window in Stephanie's cooler than cool and crazy delicious diner.  We ate fried pickles and pickled onion rings, tomato & apple soup, Kalbi ribs, pulled pork, and wing style burgers.  So good! From there, we set off for a short trip to the Field Museum, taking in an exhibit on the Cave Paintings of Lascaux, a trip through an ancient Memphis marketplace, an encounter with mandating lions, a room full of priceless gems, the iconic Sue the T-Rex, and a great exhibit on Bioluminescence that Ned and the kids caught last summer at AMNH while I was in meetings (told you we love museums!).  Of course, there wasn't enough time to do it all, but we didn't do too bad :) And, we had time for more ...

Sunday was our water day.  We met up with Meredith and her mom to kidnap the birthday girl for a splashily fun outing at the Millennium Park fountains and Bean, and the Shedd Aquarium . Every city should have gigantic video installations that spit water on you, but as far as we can tell, Chicago stands alone.  The kids loved these when they were toddlers and love them even more now. And, who doesn't want a sculpture that serves as a the world's cutest mirror?  Hello, Bean! After getting soaked, the kids dried off in the lakefront breeze as we hiked the mile or so to the Shedd.  The Shedd is full of plain fish, exotic fish, freaky fish, jelly fish, red fish and blue fish.  Plus, a bunch of Beluga whales, a few dolphins, some sharks, a lot of rays, some turtles, sea horses, penguins and a bunch of starfish and urchins you can touch.  Meredith--aka, Harper's Shadow--had a blast.  As did Harper, who rarely finds someone who sees her as an authori...

No one does museums like the Kress-Davis family.  We show up when they open and leave as they're kicking folks out the door!  Are there special exhibits?  We'll see them all.  Can we participate in something?  Sign us up?  Are there games to play, movies to see, lots of stairs to walk?  Sign us up! We saw   Animals Inside Out , a magic Fairy Castle , a crazy huge IMAX movie about the Last Reef (which made us feel horrible about wearing sunscreen while snorkling), the real U505 German Sub, chicks being hatched, and tornadoes and tsunamis being formed.  We made our own toys, danced in slow motion, ran in fast motion, simulated earthquakes and landslides, visualized our DNA, and trained to be submariners, and charted international airline routes.  In short, we spent about 7 hours at MSI-Chicago and still missed stuff.  Here are some highlights: We love museums!!!!