We got back today from visiting Ben's parents in Lincoln. It was a very short trip, but good. Got to see two of the brothers, one sister-in-law, and a niece. While we were visiting with this on Thursday, I spent a long time crocheting the baby blanket I'm working on for a friend. It's going a lot faster than I thought. I'm so happy! It looks great! This is the first blanket I've done since I learned to crochet a couple of months ago, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I've got three weeks before her shower to finish it. There's hope. On a less happy note, it rained all the way home. Yech! It made the three hours seem much, MUCH, longer.

Note: For hard-core fans :), if you want to see more pictures from Chicago, you can go to my flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/benandmelodie

Trip to Chicago

Well, that is our trip to Chicago in just a few pictures. It was a great time. We had lots of fun with Seth and Kristine. Definitely a success... Now I'm going to bed. Long days of fun are still long days. We were out late and up early. So now I need to rest! :)

They also had a miniature model of Chicago which was too cool not to take a picture with. 

They also have a 747 hanging from the ceiling. 

They have a U-505 German submarine on display. It was huge! They built the building around it! The display was very interesting. 

Next we drove to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was great. I should have scheduled more time. They had a ton of space stuff. This is Ben's face as an astronaut. :) 

This statue, depicting John G. Shedd, whom the aquarium is named after, is outside of the aquarium. I thought it was a cute statue. 

Then we went to the Shedd Aquarium. The dolphin show was really fun. The dolphin tank is a glass sided tank looking out over Lake Michigan. Isn't it cool? 

We got up early in the morning so that we could go to an early Easter morning church service before we hit the museums for the day. We went to the Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago. Abosolutely beautiful architecture. This is a picture Ben took Friday night of the church. Except for the Old Water Tower, which survived the Great Chicago fire, the church is the oldest building on Michigan Avenue north of the river. Inside and out, most everything is original. The service was nice. They sang two Charles Wesley Easter hymns, which I wasn't thinking we'd sing, it being a Presbyterian church. Mostly classical music. They had a brass ensemble and organist accompanying the choir. They sang several pieces from the end of Handel's Messiah. The organist was very good. He played several pieces as a prelude and postlude. Needless to say, I enjoyed the service experience. 

Then we rode the El around downtown. Just to say we'd done it! :) 

Here we are at Millenium Park. The Jay Pritzker Pavilion is the silver sculpture in the background. 

Here we are at Millenium Park. This is in front of the Millenium Monument and Fountain. 

The public library is right across the street from Millenium Park. We took lots of pictures there. I was taking a picture of Kristine when Ben snapped this picture of me.

And we passed the public library. I love libraries! I wish we'd had time to stop in. 

Then we walked north on Michigan Avenue. We passed the Art Institute - next time we're going there! 

Here's a moon rover (or maybe the moon rover?) that was at the planetarium. 

And here's the Adler's Planetarium. We had great fun looking at all the space stuff and seeing the planetarium sky show.

And here's Ben and me. It looks great, but it was pretty windy, and therefore, cold. Ben hadn't brought his jacket and he was freezing! 

On our way over to the Adler Planetarium, we stopped for some pictures against a great view of the downtown skyline. We asked a guy on the street to take the picture so that we had a picture of all of us together. 

The Field Museum is so large, we didn't get to see nearly everything. We saw all the dinosaur things, then went through the Ancient Egypt exhibit. Here we are going into the "pyramid." 

We saw Sue, the largest most complete T Rex ever found. 

Then we went to the Field Museum. It was a beautiful day! Perfect for sightseeing! 

This is Soldier Park where the Chicago Bears play. This was the view off the other side of the bridge. 

Then we walked a couple of blocks to the Field Museum. This was about in the middle of those 3 blocks as we walked across a bridge. 

We took the El back into downtown on Saturday morning. 

And here's a picture of us. Again, waiting..... But it was worth it. The pizza was amazing! 

Then we had pizza at Giordano's. Here we were waiting a very long time!