Adventures in Illinois, part deux

Growing up, I was the one that did the moving. When someone moved away, it was me; even up until the time that I married my husband. I'm the one who leaves. So, I'm not the one who is left with a sense of loss, because I'm always excited about the new place.


That being said, having to say goodbye to my friend Stephanie was only the third time in my life that I was being left behind. And I don't do that well, so it's hard.


So, when she invites my family to visit her and her new husband, I jump all over it. I practically had my plan in place the minute the chat closed. And fortunately, J wasn't that hard to get on board. Turns out, deep down he really does want to do what he can to make me happy, and he figured out quickly that this would do the trick.


So, our plan for the Saturday is to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. And here I wanna thank my dear friend, Jamie, for the suggestion! (Thanks!) It was a great one; one of the cheapest ones in the whole city! But we spend the first half of Saturday chatting over tea, at least Steph and I. The boys, especially C, were getting antsy, but, it's SATURDAY! We finally get everything together and out the door shortly before 11am.


J's gonna drive, so Steph hooks up the GPS and we go. All I have to say about that is that I want a GPS. Our drive into the city goes very smoothly, although it takes much longer than C has the patience for. He starts to bug his brother and M isn't having it, so I have to threaten to sit between them on the ride home.


We FINALLY (at least according to the 6yo) arrive and we park out in the boonies, so it's a good 3/4 mile to the zoo entrance. All C wants to do is get a stuffed snake from the gift shop and ride the train. That's all he talked about for the whole week prior to the trip. We get him convinced that we WILL do those things, but that they are going to come last, so he needs to settle in and decide what animals he wants to see.


Now for some pics. And you just can't take pictures of absolutely everything, so these are my favorites.

The boys at the entrance. They are dressed alike...how silly.



the polar bear. (for you, sis!) This was so cool, watching him swim. But it took me about 6 tries to get that shot!


Timon.....or so C decided.


Pumba. Or not. And for at least the next hour, I had Lion King songs in my head.

The boys on the train. All it did was go around in circles for about 5 minutes on a little strip of asphalt. We paid $4 for that?!?!? Whatever. I think that we were thinking that it was going to go around the zoo, like the one in Green Bay does where the line is always like 1,000 people long. But C seemed to enjoy it regardless.

And then here's C about 5 minutes after leaving the zoo. I did help him get into a more comfortable position after I took the shot!

Poor boy, he was tuckered out.

We spent about $50 on souvenirs, and we got ice cream and ate a picnic lunch (thanks, Steph!) and had a great day!

C already wants to know when we can do it again! The answer? After I get a nap. *yawn*