Chicago CBD - Part One

A couple of Mondays ago, on Albert's last day of freedom, we took the train to Chicago! We chose to take the train as supposed to driving into town as it is VERY busy on the roads and also the parking is VERY VERY expensive (about $35US a day). The train ride (just for comparison) costs us about $25US, so a bit cheaper. I'm not sure about the time you would save if you drove, the train took us about 40minutes. The train is a 'double decker' train which was the first time the girls have been on one of these trains. 

We had an absolutely AWESOME time, the weather was very sunny and so very hot. We took from home, waterbottles filled with icecubes and it didn't take long before it was all melted. 

We did what every tourist does when they get to Chicago, no doubt, and visited Millennium park, complete with an outdoor concert venue, the BEAN, an awesome fountain/art and a very nice walkway over the freeway. We also saw the lake for the first time, another fountain (pretty spectacular), saw the Vice President's motorcade, fed some squirrels and had an icecream. (Very grateful to go inside and eat something cold, when it is so HOT.)

We did a lot of walking that day and finally took the train back home. Albert directed us on the wrong train home (it was peak hour and so it was an express instead of stopping at every stop). The very nice conductor sympathised with us and told us to ride to the end of the line and then hop on the next train going back to our stop. At bedtime I asked the girls what they liked best of the day, and the majority said 'missing our stop, and having to have an extra train ride!!'. It's the small things isn't! 

Here is our day in photo's with more tomorrow :). 

Zara showing Murray the trains

Greek Revision while we wait

'Double Decker' Train

Sisters

Kate and ....

Proof that I came too ;)

Murray and ?

Eating our lunch

Kiwi's get hungry

The Bean

Albert and girls

Me and Girls

Inside the Bean

Can you see me?

No wonder my backpack was heavy!

Been there!

Crown Fountain

Splashing Kate

Zara 

Isn't that impressive, the face changes

Grace, not trying to get wet

The Crown Fountain was a blessing on this VERY hot day. I even enjoyed going barefoot to cool off. 

More tomorrow....

Grace's 9th Birthday!

Here is a picture post for the grandparents, feel free to ignore :). 

Our Tradition although we missed Tabby

Reading Michaela's homemade dolphin card!

One of the present - My Little Pony DVD

A My Little Pony

The main course!

A much wanted Skateboard, it's even purple!

Having a go

Getting Better

Sisters offering 'helpful' advice.

The girls and I went to the playground that Grace chose. 

Grace's birthday dinner at Taco Bell with a surprise visitor, Mrs K (aka Flo)

Chocolate Heart Birthday Cake

Blow....

and again :)

Another update

Girls waiting at the train station for their first glimpse of Chicago city!

We've been in holiday mood for the last couple of weeks as Albert has still been home and so the blog posts haven't been regular! I've got so much to share with you all but that is going to take a few hours for me to put together :) so I thought instead of you waiting until I've cleaned my house, baked, cooked, ironed, read aloud at least 10 books (ha, ha), finished my library books ;) I would give you a bullet point summary. For most of the points I'll have a blog post to come now that we are settling into a routine!

• Car - We've bought one. More in another post. 
• Library - We have managed library cards for all of us and even managed to win an 'egg drop' contest. 
• Kate's birthday money - we've been shopping and its RED
• Chicago CBD - We've made the trip (by train) to the CBD, AWESOME. Will definitely be several blog posts, so much to see and do! Part 1 and Part 2
• Utilities - All of those are changed over and connected, phew! that took some time! (Very grateful to advice from past students for coming over a couple of weeks early to get all those nitty gritty things organised as things over here take time!) Having no credit history is an expensive exercise!
• House - is very nice will give you a photo tour soon, or if you can't wait skype us and we'll show you :). Most important points, it's got aircon and a dishwasher, what more do I need?
• Squirrels! We've seen a few around, very cute :)
• Our first American birthday - GRACE!
• Vice President - We SAW the motorcade, very impressive!
• Thunder storms - We have been through at least 3 so far, the last one occurred on Saturday night which left us without power for about 4ish hours. Had sandwiches for dinner ;). Mental note, buy matches so that I can still light the stove and also invest in a torch! (cellphones are Ok but not a good substitute for a torch!)
• Playgrounds - Been to quite a few now, having a car makes this easy :). Again the weather has been so hot that even playing outside is not possible during the heat of the day. 
• Baking - Done my first USA baking out of a packet, ha ha, who's the AWESOME baker! (Disclaimer: the packet was donated as part of the grocery basket)
• Seminary Students - We have already had a few dinners with and are getting to know the students and their families. 
• Greek Studies - Albert started on Tuesday last week and has been VERY busy since learning Greek. He is doing very well in his mini tests every day. On Thursday this week he has a 'midterm' exam with the final the week after. I'll get him to write about this :)
• Lawn mowing - deserves a post all by it's self, you'll see once I post the pictures. (as part of our lease, they get a lawn mowing company to mow the lawn!)
• Neighbours - We have lovely neighbours and the girls love playing with their granddaughter! 
• Sonlight curriculum - We've pretty much decided to go with this, for several reasons, it's very comprehensive and very academic! The down side is that it is not cheap :( but VERY cheap compared to the private Christian school here. 

Girls Beds!

We've been so blessed with people's generosity, just about all of our house has been furnished by people from the URC churches. Here are some photos of the girls in their brand new bunk beds with brand new bedding, all matching! It even came with a matching 'fun' pillow!

Kate and her friends. More on her friends to come :)

Zara's bed

Big girls bunks

Grace and Jules's

Motel and our first day in Chicago

After getting our bags and getting into the truck (on the wrong side!) we were off to our Motel. Our house that we were moving into wasn't quite ready yet and so they put us into a motel for the night. This worked out very well as the motel had internet and so we were able to skype our parents. The motel also had a pool which the girls really enjoyed. The change of temperature was a big shock but we're getting used to it now. 

We didn't take advantage of the motel's free breakfast as it was too early and slept in, instead! We had a late check-out and after a swim and a shower, we re-packed. We were hungry and so our first American meal was Taco Bell which Albert went and got. We all very much enjoyed it!

Lifeguard

Spa Pool

Michaela the swimming instructor

Our life

Waiting for lunch

Our first American meal

Very nice Taco's

Our evening dinner at a different Taco's place

Icecreams for dessert -
We ordered a small which was HUGE!