Pere Marquette aka Operation Evacuate Chicago

Back in October, Freeman (who is much more in the know about these things than I am) got word that our city was hosting NATO and G8 Summits consecutively and launched Operation Evacuate Chicago.

 Yes, the plan was NATO would be held at the marker on the lower right-hand side of the map and G8 would be at the marker at the upper-left hand side (about 3 miles from the first marker).   That little marker right in the middle...that's our building.  Yup.   So Freeman reserved some time off and we nicknamed that week Operation Evacuation or something like that.   As I am sure you've heard, G8 was subsequently moved and NATO went off without any major incident, but we figured that being out of town versus spending the weekend (holed up) in our unit with three kids sounded like the best plan.

So, onto the fun part of this post.  We decided to do a little family trip to Pere Marquette State Park along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and some Grammy/Granddad time in Chatham (more on that in a future post).  Freeman and I had done some hiking at Pere Marquette pre-children and thought it would be a great first family vacation.

Upon checking-in, we got a map indicating the location of our cabin.  Here's Hamilton using the map to lead us.

And here's where he realizes he needs a lesson in map reading.

Here's Tonti cabin, our home for a couple of nights.  Since returning from our vacation, our children have created a Tonti cabin in our living room almost every day and then asked if we could please sleep at the real Tonti cabin again tonight.

I have a suspicion it had something to do with this bunk bed, which was promptly inspected for safety and bounciness.

All that jumping warranted a snack.  Who is that little girl next to Veronica, you ask?  Why, that's baby Caroline.  They do grow so fast!

 The first evening, we checked out the Lodge and taught Hamilton how to play checkers and then took an evening swim after dinner to tire the troops.

The next morning, before our first hike.

Hamilton was appointed the position of scout and took his role very seriously.  He made sure we stayed on the red heart trail.

What's at the top of the stairs?

They didn't really appreciate the river view.

The spider web was pretty cool, though.

Here's Hamilton at a second overlook after spotting the beaver lodge.

Veronica was a good sport, but it was at about this point that she really wanted a ride.   Good thing this overlook was the end of the trail.

So back to the car we went.

After lunch, we crossed the Illinois River on a ferry boat (a first for any of us) and let the kids nap in the back while we checked out the lovely rolling landscape of Calhoun County (incidentally, I have a cousin-once removed and a second cousin who live there...though we didn't find out until later).  For us flatlanders, it was a welcome change in scenery.  Then we headed back to the lodge for more checkers and running around, dinner and swimming.  Somewhere in there we relaxed at the cabin...where our doesn't-really-ever-nap boy looked something like this...

The next morning, we undertook one more hike before heading back to Chatham.  Hamilton again served as our scout, this time on the blue triangle trail.

Veronica wanted a picture as a scout, too.

Here I am trying to teach them something I know very little about on the side of the path.  Note to self, brush up on local earth science before embarking on another trip.  Oh well, they know that if I don't know, we can research the answer later!

Sweet girl...don't let all that sitting up fool you...she's still a baby, yet!

After our hike, we checked out the little nature/information center.  Hamilton was immediately drawn to the bones and skeletons (go figure).

Such a bad picture, but I love it because it tells so much about Hamilton.  I pointed at the poster on the wall and told him it listed the names of all of the flowers pictured.  He immediately sat on the ground and asked me to read it to him and repeated after me.

All in all, so thankful that NATO was uneventful...but also so thankful that the anticipation of it served as the catalyst for a short and sweet family vacation in the woods.

Veronica (the first)

As you may remember, our sweet Veronica is actually not the first dear Veronica in our lives.   And this weekend we had an extra special treat-- Sister Johanna aka Veronica was in Chicago on holiday and we were able to see her.  Most noteworthy was that she was able to meet our little Veronica (and Caroline, too).

Actually, we were a bit nervous for a moment, because on the long-awaited day of our visit, Veronica became ill.  We certainly hoped that she'd get well soon..mostly because we wanted her to feel better, but also because we'd be so sad to miss seeing her!  We are so thankful that she recovered quickly and we were able to get together.

With the change of plans, we ended up meeting at Ann Sather's for lunch after church on Sunday and then her friend and hostess, Bernie, was so kind as to invite us back to sit and visit (all afternoon!).  It was nice to catch up and hear about the other nuns at Turvey who we remember so fondly.  (And speaking as Jenny, it was cool to see Freeman hanging out with people who've known him so long.)

Hamilton really enjoyed explaining to Veronica (the first) that her name was Sr Johanna, but also Veronica.  I think he was pretty pleased with himself for being able to grasp that concept.  Our little Veronica just gave a big grin and said, "ron-CA" when asked any of the name-related questions.  And our content Caroline just smiled and slept and took everything in.

Freeman, Veronica, and Bernie (who all attended DePaul together and apparently lived in the same dorms for several years).

More photos!  Bernie's sweet daughter joined the picture and was so kind to share her cool toys with the Whitney children.

Veronica and Hamilton spotted all of the "hidden" objects in the Blue's Clues book.

Veronica and Caroline checking each other out.

Yup, they decided they liked each other!

Crayons and a new book to color in...that's pretty exciting stuff.

And then, of course, sharing her work with Veronica, as well.

Veronica-bonding

The sisters  ( I so rarely dress them alike, I couldn't resist a quick photo)

As I type this, Veronica is on an airplane back to Turvey, England and the Abbey where we last saw her three years ago.  So much has changed in our lives since then and it was a precious opportunity to be able to share a snapshot of our lives circa 2012 with her.

Oompah!

It is such a huge blessing to have family close by (even though we don't see them as often as we'd like).  Truth be told, it's one of the big reasons keeping us in the area.  Our kids are loving getting to see their grandparents often and really get to know them.

Today, my dad came in to check out Hamilton's swim lessons.  He was able to join us for lunch and stay until about 20 minutes before they crashed.   I loved having all the help (and don't take it for granted).  And all Hamilton and Veronica could say as he was leaving was, "I want to go with Oompah...I want to go to Oompah's house."   We're still working on the be-thankful-for-what-you've-had, but really, it's so sweet that they love him so much.

During this visit, we were between cameras--between one being left at church Wednesday night and a new one arriving the next day--so thankfully Oompah took some photos!

The older two know that when Oompah arrives, there's usually a yummy treat involved (and thanks to him they can spot a Dunkin Donuts sign with no problem).

Watermelon is also an Oompah treat!

And Mac n Cheese! Check out the cool solar system swim trunks.

We just got two photos from the pool before being told we that there were no cameras allowed.  Oops!

Even though Veronica's not in lessons, they allow her to stay on the zero-depth end of the pool with me while Hamilton's off learning to listen for fish.  She can't wait to be part of all the action!

Here is the beginning of the sequence on what Caroline's up to.  She's up...

and rocking...

and stretching...

but after all the show, it's the army "crawl"when there's something worth getting to.

After all of that moving earlier, Caroline needed a nap before getting in the water.

After swim lessons, Oompah came home with us to hang out more.  Here he is reading Katy-No-Pocket.  Hamilton loves, loves, LOVES being read to and really thinks the end of this story is hilarious.

So there you have it...an afternoon with Oompah.  And, for the record, all three children were asleep within 20 minutes of his departure (and truth be told, I wasn't far behind).

Trains, Subs, and Explosions

Have you ever been to the Museum of Science and Industry?  I have, too--but only on field trips and other organized excursions.  Until our recent visit, I had absolutely no idea how humongous it is.  I mean, it houses an entire submarine in one section of one wing of it (that you could completely miss in a daylong visit).  And the exhibits are pretty amazing, too.  And they have demonstrations and hands-on experiments all day long.  And they have a kids room that looks vaguely like the Wonka factory, but involves balls and kids, not candy and Oompa Loompas.

Freeman works kitty-corner from the library and is able to visit on his lunch breaks.  He does an awesome job of scanning for the highly coveted Museum Passes--which get you into a museum free.  (Side note:  It is a bit funny when you see the passes for the Mexican Fine Arts Museum checked out---because admission is always free there...but I digress).  In any case, he scored big back in February when he found a MSI pass in.  So our Saturday of fun was planned. Mid-morning, we hopped on a #10 bus(another side note:  Hamilton has a dream of riding all the CTA bus lines and this ride got him one step closer.  Twenty (or so) down, one-hundred ten to go!).

In all honesty, having Freeman around makes any outing more fun.  The kids had such fun with him and, as an added bonus, you'll see a picture or two of me.

One of the original Zephyr trains.  This is on exhibit in the front hall, before you even get your tickets to enter...that's how big this place is!

 

Checking out the inside of the Zephyr.

Watching the "explosions" demonstration (sorry about the Maclaren's reflective glare).

Different elements burn different colors.  I don't know that the lesson stuck, but they did like seeing fire.

Mapping DNA

Caroline taking it all in.  (Yes, I know I wasn't using the Moby correctly here. Oops!)

Awesome huge train display showing Seattle and Chicago and how freight trains are used cross country.

Keeping an eye out for trains.

Idea Factory aka Willy Wonka Factory

Sleepy baby

  There was a vacuum tube that kids could send balls up that would take them across the room and back down a "river" to end at this reservoir.

He could have stayed there all day.

And we let him get wet in February.  I don't remember what these water shooting contraptions did, but there were lots of science-related ball activities. 

Veronica found the reading nook and wanted me to read all about geological strata to her...

...but then she found the water.

I don't think this section was made for two-year olds.

Veronica's all about solutions.  Need some height?  Find a chair.

Now intercepting balls is much easier!

We also checked out an interesting, though slightly creepy, exhibit on circuses.

Hamilton wasn't a fan of the animatronic creatures...maybe because he couldn't identify that one with the paw-print shaped spots.

And this is what I was telling you about.  Seriously...an entire U-Boat...inside.  With halls and halls of information about the damage it inflicted, the lives of those inside, and its capture.  Fascinating.

Just writing this post makes me want to go back.  We didn't even check out half of what they have.  But there closed now, so I'll just have to settle for going to bed.