Weekend in Chicago

I've mentioned before how much I love Chicago. It is a beautiful city with lots of fun things to entertain the whole family. On Friday, we celebrated Sophie's birthday with a trip to the Shedd Aquarium, and a ride to the (almost) top of the Sears Tower. All 4 of the kiddos had fun looking around the city, recognizing various landmarks we have visited over the past few years.

Here are a couple pictures of the amazing views. The pictures really don't do the city justice!

On Saturday, we got to meet Lyle for lunch. He was in Chicago for the weekend taking part in a Moot Court Trial competition. They don't call it the Windy City for nothing... it was really windy! But luckily it wasn't too cold.

He and his law partner were off to the Art Institute of Chicago after lunch, and we decided it sounded like fun, so we got in line behind them.

Andrew is modeling a "bracelet" he made in the kids craft center. Elliott had a lot of fun explaining various styles to the kids, including this cubist work. Ethan was very interested in his Dad's explanations. We bought a museum guidebook, which Ethan looked at quite a bit today also. Andrew liked to go around and read the descriptions of all the paintings.

Ethan was also desperate to visit the African art section of the Museum. 1-He really love his aunt Joojie, and 2-He really likes how animals are depicted in African sculptures. He wasn't disappointed, as evidenced by all the photos he made Elliott take in that section.
This is my personal favorite. Click on it to see a close-up. It was made sometime in the 1800's... I wondered if it was an early voodoo doll or something...