Saturday, June 11, 2011

Chicago: U of C Reunion




We had the good fortune of hanging out with several long-time friends over the weekend. We met up with Sara, my former roommate and frequent blog reader, to see her new southside home in progress and to tour the U of C. It was really fun to take Alice to the places where I spent so much time and to have her see Sara again. Here are some pictures.......of particular note, I got to very briefly reprise my role as Robie House tour guide! Notice the unusual bricks! the horizontal lines! the newly restored courtyard wall! the hidden door! can you believe this Frank Lloyd Wright treasure was a dorm for years!!!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Chicago: Zoo





"goodnight gorilla" is a favorite book in our house these days. For those of you not familiar with children's paperboard books, the basic synopsis is that Gorilla sneakily takes the zookeepers keys and very quietly lets all the animals out of the zoo. They then follow the zookeeper home.

Last weekend, when we were at the zoo, Kirke and I very excited took Alice to see the gorillas thinking that she would enjoying seeing them in the flesh. In retrospect, we realized that this wasn't the best idea, since Alice kept on sitting on top of Kirke's shoulders waving "all done" and anxiously crying. We finally realized that she was afraid of the gorilla and asked, "are you concerned that gorillas might follow you home?" to which she answered, emphatically, " yeah!".

There is no photo evidence of that experience, but here is Alice checking out the farm animals.....

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Chicago: Parks!



We recently acquired a rocking horse from the tres chic Sideoftheroad Boutique. Alice absolutely loves rocking on it and was excited to find that the city of Chicago supports rocking things in parks! She had a great time rocking on this spring mounted creature. a park highlight to date!!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Chicago: Shedd Aquarium





We took Alice to the Shedd Aquarium on Saturday afternoon where she enjoyed touching things, watching penguins zoom by, and attempted to touch the "balls" in the jellyfish display. Notice her use of the modified baby sign for ball!

Chicago: Landmarks





Over the weekend, Alice and I went to visit Kirke in Chicago. Alice was a super-travel-trooper and very good natured throughout all of our adventures--the busyness of the city provided much entertainment. I'll be posting pictures from various aspects of our visit over the coming days, but thought I'd start with some select ones from our downtown walks.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Who dat?



Kirke left for his rotation in Chicago last Monday, so Alice and I have been holding down the fort by ourselves. I think that Alice is quite confused about why daddy only appears on the TV these days..... Fortunately, we are going to Chicago tomorrow to spend time with him in REAL LIFE!

swimming and gardening





Alice has been enjoying the warmer, less rainy recent weather--It has lead to swimming and gardening! We think she has a natural aptitude for the "posey patrol"!