Camp Stage

This past weekend our friends came to Valpo for a visit. With a four-year old boy and a three-year old girl, combined with our two motor mouths, there was no shortage of background noise......so, quiet weekend, a resounding no, but fun weekend, definitely a yes.

Brian and Mike converted the backyard into "Camp Stage". The kids and men (or is that, overgrown kids?!) slept in the tents for two muggy nights.

Kathy and I, on the other hand, chose to rough it in the air-conditioned house......let me tell you, it was NOT a tough choice!

Summary of the weekend - No kids covered in mosquito bites, no trashed tents, no trips to the ER.......I consider that a success, if not a minor miracle.

On Saturday, we took the South Shore train to the Shedd Aquarium. Last time we did that, in February, the walk from the station to the Aquarium was in 20 degree cold with a biting wind.....this time it was in 85 degree heat with jungle-like humidity. So much for cooling lake breezes. Needless to say, we were all dripping by the time we reached the Aquarium steps. (including William, who had to take a pitstop in one of Mayor Daley's prairie grass-filled Museum Campus landscape areas....when you gotta go, you gotta go!).

We were greeted by a line out the door and halfway back to Lakeshore Drive, or so it seemed.....with no shade, of course. While our family membership could get our friend's kids in, we still needed to buy tickets for Kathy and Mike. Kathy and I started taking the kids and strollers around to the side door, where the elevator access was. Great, a marathon line there too.

We were considering bagging the whole idea and going somewhere else downtown, but decided to cart the kids around front and climb the steps instead. When we made it inside, we found out that we could actually buy the two extra tickets at the Membership counter, instead of waiting in that ridiculous line. Thank GOD!


Once inside, there were dolphins, whales, jellyfish, and sharks. Oh, and about 250,000 people (or so it seemed). Even the lines outside didn't prepare us for the crowds inside!



Again, success on major levels - no lost kids, and we actually found seats for lunch in the food court!

Once we had our fill of fish, we caught a taxi (a minivan taxi, imagine that!) over to Millenium Park. We checked out the Bean (Cloud Gate), wandered over to the water walls (we didn't bring extra clothes, so no swimming this time), and then stopped for some ice cream before catching our train back home. This side trip to Millenium actally served a strategic purpose as well - we were able to actually secure seats on the train (unlike our last trip to the city, when we had to stand on the trip home.....nothing like standing on a train with cranky, tired kids on a hot, sweaty, stinky train!!!).

It was a great weekend!

Good bye.   See ya soon!