Chicago: The Adventure Continues...

While waiting for my dad to come and pick us up yesterday morning, the Nigerian doorman came to see how his "small town friends" were liking Chicago? We are loving it. Part of that has to do with the fact that I've not had to drive at all (I am beyond grateful for this) and that we've had such good company! My dad and his wife, Liz, live a few hours north along the lake and came down to spend yesterday with us and see Dan's show.  They were good sports to accompany us to the craziness that was the Museum of Science and Industry. As Liz said, "you've got to go there once!" The girls loved it.

One of the highlights - amidst the lazers, the circus, the fairy castle, the chemical explosions, the wind tunnels, the gears, the ants, the giant prisms, the cross-sections of the human body and the water blasters - was a trip aboard the German U-505 submarine.  Verrrrry tight quarters in there. Imagine, 60 men at sea for 3 months with only enough water for three things: drinking, cooking food, and washing the batteries. Not bathing or cleaning their one uniform per man. Ew.

The last part of our day was to travel to the Adler Planetarium to see Dan's show.  My folks had tickets, but we, the backstage (underage) roadies, had to sneak in, incognito. We were met at a bus stop by a shady character and ushered in through a tunnel to the planetarium. 

Our orders were strict - look only ahead, speak to no one.  We arrived safely and in time to see a spectacular show (which you can't really see here, but I attempted something of a picture).  I was so glad that we got to see the show; it makes such a huge difference when the girls get to see some result of not seeing their dad very much! He'd been there since dropping us off at the hotel on Wednesday, leading a workshop and trying to get enough time in the space to tech, so we'd only glimpsed him again in the morning as he was leaving.  It was a fantastic ending to a wonderful day, and we made it back to the hotel in time to talk it all out over some leftover car snacks and wine (for me) before crawling into our fancy beds to sleep...

fuzzy Starball boys in action