How much fun can you have in one weekend?

This last weekend, we went to Chicago as a family to have a fun time, as well as get together with my brother, Aaron, and his wife Jenny. For Christmas, we gave them "tickets" to the musical "Wicked"... except by the time we got around to buying the tickets, it wasn't showing in Chicago anymore. So, we waited until a show came that we really wanted to see. For the next two weeks, "Fiddler on the Roof" is playing in Chicago, with Topol playing Tevhe (he played Tevhe in the 1971 movie that everyone knows and loves). It's his farewell tour (he's 73). So, we got tickets for Aaron and Jenny to go, and then decided we wanted to go also, so we made a weekend out of it. Friday morning we drove to Chicago, and went to a beach to eat lunch.
Needless to say, the boys didn't eat very much, but they had a blast running around on a perfectly groomed and deserted beach. We didn't get into the water, but the sand was nice.

We then went to the Museum of Science and Industry. Here's a picture from the back side. It really was beautiful, and the inside was pretty cool also. We have a membership at the local museum here in Ann Arbor, and we got in for free. The membership here cost less than it would have cost for all of us to go in together.
Here's the whole crew (except for me and Jonny) walking to the museum.
It would take days to go through all the different parts of the museum, but we did hit some of the good ones. The museum has a room with a 1200 ft mock-up of the transcontinental railroad system. They have quite a few trains driving about, with a full mock-up of Chicago, as well as Seattle.
I had to put in a picture of the John Deere tractors for Grandpa YumYum. They also have a spot where they hatch chicken eggs. Jenny was the most excited about this one... I think she's ready to have a baby, and is trying to relive the experience of birth...

There's a small climbing wall (I don't really know what it had to do with the exhibit, but it was there, and the boys liked it...)

There was also a place where you would stick your head in front of a camera, it would take your picture, and project it onto a mannequin... Jonny figured it out pretty good...
...but I don't think Benjamin really understood what was happening.
There was also a U-boat (U-505) from WWII that is permanently at the museum. The boys were pretty interested in the story behind the boat, and were excited to be able to see the size of the real boat.
Finally, they have a kids zone with all types of machines and levers to move little balls around the place. Here's Ben with one of the machines.

No Industrial museum would be complete without a John Deere tractor. The boys loved it!

After the museum, we drove out to our hotel. We've found the best way to see Chicago is to stay out by Midway airport (the hotels are cheap), and then take the "L" train into the city from Midway. We stayed in a Hilton that was a tall tower (we got a great deal on Priceline). Here's a picture. If you look closely, on the 10th floor (there's 12 total) over on the right, you can see the boys waving to me...
We decided that since we were in Chicago, we should eat some of the local cuisine. We received a strong recommendation for "Giordano's Pizza". We bought their "World Famous stuffed Pizza". And let me tell you, it deserves to be world famous. Just look at that Pizza! (By the way, if you are in the continental United States, they will make a pizza, freeze it, and then ship it in Dry Ice for you if you really want a good, authentic, Chicago Pizza). Here are the boys enjoying the pizza. We bought them a Cheese pizza, because we didn't want to waste the real one on people who wouldn't appreciate the masterpiece...So, Friday night Jenny and I went to Fiddler on the Roof, while Aaron and Jenny watched all the kids. We didn't take the camera, so we don't have photo's, but it was a magnificent show. Topol carried the day.

Saturday morning we were going to go into the city and walk around Navy Pier. But, this is what the weather looked like when we got up...We lounged around the hotel, had a great swim, and were hoping the weather would improve... Benjamin decided that a little help was needed. He got out our paper bowls, and decided that they would work as a anti-rain dance. He really is a cutie.

Well, the weather cleared enough so we decided to take the train in to the city. All we did was ride the loop until it came back to the airport. The boys really loved it, though at the beginning it was a little bumpy for Benjamin.

Here's the skyline.
And by the end of the trip, Benjamin had decided to take a nap.

Saturday night Aaron and Jenny went to the musical, and also enjoyed themselves. This morning we got up, celebrated Aaron's birthday with a single candle, and drove home. We had filled up with gas in Chicago, expecting that we would be able to make it all the way home without having to buy gas on the Sabbath. We had driven a little more than expected in Chicago, and then made a wrong turn in Kalamazoo on the way to Church, and realized we would be really, really close to making it home. Our minivan has a feature where it estimates the miles left until the fuel runs out... It hit zero about a mile from home.... But, we made it. Hopefully there's enough gas to make it the mile to the closest gas station tomorrow, otherwise we'll be walking...

Have a great day! We sure had a great weekend. If anyone else wants to have a fun weekend with us, just give us a holler. We love to do things with people!