Chicago area Diser's - check in here Part 4

[momto1]

Let's see if I can get this to post! I tried twice over the weekend and couldn't get my posts to post. I am back to work and ds is back to school. I am glad he is back to school - he isn't - but I am not glad to be back to work. I was a mean mom, too. The Game Cube is now in my possession and will remain so until grades come out on the 18th. He refused to practice or do extra credit assignments. Game Cube opportunities now depend on grades.

DH booked an Illuminations Cruise for March 26th. He is getting to be such the Disney planner. I booked on cruise central for additional cruisers and a family from Scotland will be joining us. We still have room for 4 more cruisers.

Certainly enjoying this weather. Even went to work without a coat on this morning!
Lori

 

[traces7]

I'm hoping to take my DD (age 8) to Chicago at the end of March. Going to the American Girl store and 1 museum. We're thinking of staying at the Wyndham & getting the American Girl package. I have lots of questions!

1) Is the Wyndham a good hotel? It was one of the cheaper ones we found with American Girl pkg. I'll probably sign up for the Wyndham By Request program. Anyone know anything about this or about their American Girl pkg.? (Includes a doll bed & robe to keep, what are these like?) Or would you recommend a different hotel?

2) I know the Wyndham is within walking distance of American Girl. What restaurants and other shops are close by?

3) Which museum would you recomend and why – Field Museum or Museum of Science and Industry (have time for only one).

4) What's the best way to get from Wyndham to museums & how much would it cost? (we won't have a car)

Sorry for so many questions! I've been surfing the net and finding some answers, but thought you guys could help me a lot. We've been to Chicago a couple times and we really like it. This is the first time staying overnight there.
Thanks for your help!!

 

[Crissup]

Can't help too much with your questions, but can give a couple answers. I'm sure the others will pipe up with much more complete answers than these.

3) Which museum would you recomend and why – Field Museum or Museum of Science and Industry (have time for only one).

They're both great museums. It really depends on what type of stuff you prefer to see. The Field Museum is a great history museum. It has a cool section where you can go view the old mummies and stuff. It also has the T-Rex skeleton, Sue, along with several other dinosaurs and such.

The Museum of science and industry is geared more towards science (not that history isn't science). Here, you will be able to descend down into an old coal mine mock up and see how they blasted for coal. You will also be able to walk through a large model of the heart and learn all about how it functions. They have a captured german sub from WWII that you can also tour and see how these sailors lived. All kinds of cool stuff. Being a technology and mechanically inclined person my whole life, I've always loved the Museum of Science and Industry much more. Others will tell you otherwise. I don't think you'd go wrong at either museum.

Of course, if you get out of the Field Museum early, it's a very brief walk to the Shedd Aquarium to fill the day out.

4) What's the best way to get from Wyndham to museums & how much would it cost? (we won't have a car)

The Field Museum is very close to downtown. A cab ride probably shouldn't cost more than about $10. The Museum of Science and Industry is about 5 miles further south.

 

[macraven]

go to the website to see what attraction is featured for the time you will be in chi town.
i usually prefer the science and industry museum.

 

[slo]

Wow, what a stormy, rainy night - in January Wasn't that weird??? The girls were up so much last night, and Kevin was up so much last night, that we all got very little sleep - now I'm so tired Not as tired as Kevin, I'm sure, he's traveling to Michigan this morning (he left home at 4:45am) and he has a lot of business to do once he gets there. He's going to be exhausted!!!!!


Our retention area looks like it's going to go over again Which scares me a little Should I be paranoid and start bringing things up from the basement, or wait and deal with it if one of my neighbors call, and then I can close the shop and come home to start bringing things up. I don't know I'll go stand in the shower and think about it - I do some of my best thinking in the shower


Today is Katie's first day coming alone with me to work - I hope it works out well She's very very excited about it, and so am I - it will be nice to spend some extra time with her She promised me she would lay down and take a nap, so we'll se how that goes The day should be interesting.


Sam - I hope you were able to take a walk yesterday and enjoy the nice weather.

Becky - Stephanie was a little crabby when she came home yesterday - she wasn't in the mood to do her homework at all

Bunchkin - I think many people get Disney'd out sometimes I would like to do some different vacations too eventually, but the places I want to go won't be good until the kids are older to appreciate them (Washington DC, Mount Rushmore, and other historical places like that). What is Big Cedar Lodge in Missori?
**Kevin's foot is getting a little better, and Katie's cold is sorta the same. It will be good to have her with me today so she can rest that cold.
**Oh, to answer your question, Kevin has no idea what happened to his foot He slightly rolled his ankle on a fire call, but he didn't think that was enough to cause this. The doctor said that it was severly strained, so weird!!!!
**It's good to see you - I miss you my friend!!!

momto1 - An Illuminations Cruise will be great!!! I've never done it, but I"ve heard nothing but aweomse things about it.

traces7 - Hi there, and thank you for coming here for information - we are always very happy to help everyone that comes here
**I don't know anything about the hotel you are asking about (sorry) - hopefully someone else here can help you.
**I choose the Museum of Science and Industry over the Field Museum because the MoS&I is more fun for children. I love love love that museum!!!
**You can probably take a cab to both museums, I'm just hoping you can take a cab back to where you need to go. Hopefully someone else can help you with that.
**Have fun, and please come back with more questions, if you have them.

Crissup - I agree with you about the museums
**How is Carol Ann doing?

Mac - How was the weather up by you???




Well, it's time for me to wake up Stephanie.
I let her sleep in longer today because I'm driving her to school (I'm not standing out there in the rain while she waits for the bus).
Have a good day today everyone!!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Good dreary morning all!!! Our ditch beside our house is running full as well. Thankfully it looks as though the worst of the rain is over for us here. I feel for those of you in IN still getting hit with more.
Bunchkin, good to see you here again. I totally agree with you about early meeting for lunch. I will call you as we get closer, but I was thinking 12 for lunch and head to the theater by 1:30 or so. Gives us time to get popcorn and drinks and still find a good seat. Kyle will not be joining us unfortunately. He has a double-header soccer game that day. We didn't find this out until long after I already had the tickets, so I have 1 extra ticket at this time.
Sandy, sure hope you have no flooding problems today. I hope Katie feels better soon and Kevin too.
CarolAnnC, how is your back doing? Are you back to work yet? Sure hope you are up and about now with more comfort and ease.
Traces7, I agree with the majority here. I think Science and Industry Museum is more fun than Field. Although, I vote for the Shedd Aquarium over either museum most of the time. And as far as shopping, just walking down Michigan Ave. will give you more than enough spots to hit. There is a large Disney Store on the east side of the street and the Nordstrom complex on the West side of the street has a cool Lego store within it. Watertower Place has a large # of shops. Jewelers Row on Wabash if jewelry is on your list. (although this is south of the river-walkable, but a distance and not nice if too cold or raining.) Just depends on what you are looking for. Enjoy your trip and have a great time. Come back in the summer. Beautiful weather then and lots to do.
Well, I'd better go jump in the shower. I have a lot to do today. Later all.

 

[SamIAm21]

Hi all!!!

Sam Cute puppy!!!! That's so great he is already so well trained!!!
Has the breader done any drive-by looky-loos??

No, and I don't think she will. She knows we don't have a fence and that's why Cody is walked on a leash outside every time he goes out...even in the rain!!

Breeders usually won't do the drive by thing, but for some reason the Rescue people will. I know this is going to sound mean or off-base somehow, but I believe that once you buy something, it's yours to live with as you wish. Now of course, I would never condone being harmful, abusive, or mean to a pet or any animal, but some of those rescue places require you have a fence, certain age children, etc. It a bit much...

The thought of someone coming to do a home inspection all because you want a pet is over the top to me and I won't abide by that. I love animals and I would never hurt one, but some folks get just a little too over the top. I talked with my breeder and sat across from her and we got to know each other. I hope (and I assume) that I impressed her as a loving caring pet owner. I guess I don't look like a psychopath.

I sent her pictures of Cody at Christmas, and I will send her more pictures as time goes by. But, if she demanded a home inspection before I bought him, I would have gone elsewhere. The only thing she does demand or require is that I have him neutered. That's fine by me! I totally understand this and agree 100%.

But off the soapbox now. I'm glad to see you posting again Bunchkin! I totally understand your desire to do something besides Disney. I will be going to Savannah, GA in the spring with my sisters in law and I can't wait to do that! It will be nice to do something different too!

Slo: The rain is supposed to stop this afternoon, so maybe the pond will recede a little bit!! I got home just before the storm hit us last night, so there were no puppy walks yesterday. Which is probably for the best seeing that he tends to like mud puddles. Silly Cody! I didn't have the energy for giving him a bath last night! HA!

 

[CarolAnnC]

Thanks Slo and Tiggerrn!

I am doing better. I am heading back to work tomorrow and hoping I can sit comfortably for 8 hrs in my new chair there. Have been weaning off the heavy duty pain meds which has been a bit difficult. But almost there.

I should be getting a good night sleep now, but can't resist checking the DIS. Thank you again for asking...Hugs.

 

[slo]

Boy, did I sleep great last night, after such a bad night sleeps the other night. Then I had somewhat of a crappy day yesterday, that I was glad the day was over (the reason why I had a crappy day is because I fell in a pool of mud before leaving for work, and then I had to reget ready for work. I quickly put my clothes in the washing machine so the stain wouldn't set, and I realized halfway through the cycle that my cell phone was in there, and now that is destroyed. Then when I took the garbage cans out to the street last night, they had water on top of them, and it rolled off onto the back of my legs, and down into my shoes. Yep, these things didn't make me happy )



Tigggerrnnnnnn - Katie was doing much better yesterday, thanks!!!

Sam - Are you going to get an actual fence, invisible fence, or always take him out on a lease? I heard great things about the invisible fence, that would be great for you so you don't have to go out into rain anymore

CarolAnn - That's great you are feeling better Good luck going back to work tomorrow Please let us know how everything goes





Well, it's time to go jump into the shower
Have a good day today everyone!!!

 

[SamIAm21]

Slo: Yesterday was not your day!! Holy Cow what a horrible series of events. Very frustrating, I'm sure!! No we aren't going to get an invisible fence because our yard is too big. It would cost a fortune. In the spring, I will get one of those lead posts in the backyard and put a 20 foot lead on it and Cody can be put on the lead and spend some time out of doors. I don't mean to sound "haughty or snobby", but Cavaliers are pretty expensive and are quite often stolen right out of people's yards, so it just makes sense that someone be outside with him or always watching. In the spring and summer, if Megan's out, I'm outside too, so Cody can be out when we are out. In the winter, if Megan's out, I'm in the window, so Cody will just be like having another child to watch after. At this point, I'm so enamored with him that if he were stolen, I'd be heartbroken, not to mention how sad Megan would be.

Well, I'm certainly glad the rain has stopped although it's a bit nippy again, which I guess is normal! At least there's some sunshine today. Well time to get to work. I figured I'd better get here early because by noon, it's almost impossible to get on this site and it runs so sloooowwwww!!

Hope everyone will have a good Wednesday!! Take Care!!

 

[HERSEY]

Sam I afraid no one would steal my little minnie I think if they did make that mistake, she would be put on my doorstep right away. She has a Napoleon complex. She is so the opposite of the Minnie mouse image I was thinking when she got her name.

Slo Sorry I had to laugh at your day yesterda. It sounds like my day last week when I feel in my driveway. Just bruised pride and a scrap on my rather large backend.

Well back to planning my trip to WDW.

 

[slo]

Yesterday was a much better day

I gotta say, it's so nice now that I'm leaving my 16 yr old employee alone longer. It gives me a chance to go home and feed the kids dinner at a decent hour (I hate eating dinner at 7pm). Tonight she doesn't work, so tonight we'll be eating dinner late, but I can handle doing it once in awhile - that's no problem.



Sam - The long lead sounds like a great idea How big is Cody going to get?

HERSEY - That's okay that you laughed about my day After I fell in the mud, I was wondering if anyone saw me, because they were probably laughing, I"m sure it was a funny sight to see




Well, I"m off to make the "poll of the day"
I don't know what it's going to be yet, so I better do some quick thinking

Have a good day today!!!

 

[macraven]

just think, as of 5:00 today, only one more work day to the end of the week.



winter is returning.
did ya hear that report of 2-4" this weekend?



it has been nice to have so many days of warmth and sunshine
my snow has melted and the grass underneath is green!

 

[Bunchkin]

Howdy all!!!



slo I cannot believe you fell in a puddle of mud!!! Hopefully you weren't hurt.....BUT if I had witnessed you falling, from afar, I would have chuckled too!! I am usually the one in our family who falls every winter. In fact, did I ever tell you the story about finding a patch of ice in a parking lot of a lodge in the mountains near Vegas and falling? Good story!!! I mean, who finds ice in the desert?? ME!!!

Here is a link to Big Cedar Lodge: bigcedar.com
Very beautiful, lots of fun for families. Near Branson, Missouri so there are lots of things to go see and do.




Sam I cannot believe you are going to Savannah!!!! You're so lucky!! I've been dying to go there.......so don't even tell me you are going to stop by at the Lady and Son's too!!!! I'll have to stow away in your bag if you say yes!!!! I mean it!!!



Tiggerrn It will just be Lauren and I going to the 3D concert. Hunter is not into Hannah at all.
Isn't the show starting at 2pm? In my opinion I think getting to the theatre a little earlier than 1:30 might be a good idea.







I'm at the library right now, I had to pick up a book I put a hold on and decided to jump on the computer. I have been gutting my office and totally doing a major cleaning upstairs in our house and I told myself I wouldn't get on the internet so I wouldn't be distracted from cleaning!!!! But since I'm not at home I guess this can't be considered breaking my own rules...can it???!!!

 

[SamIAm21]

Sam I cannot believe you are going to Savannah!!!! You're so lucky!! I've been dying to go there.......so don't even tell me you are going to stop by at the Lady and Son's too!!!! I'll have to stow away in your bag if you say yes!!!! I mean it!!!

Ummm, well, ummm yeah we are! We will be dining at the Lady & Sons on May 2nd. Already have the reservations. We are also going on a Haunted Lantern Tour. We are staying at the Marshall House and it is supposed to be haunted by civil war soldiers who died there as it was once used as a hospital.




Hey Slo: Cody is 9 lbs right now and will get to be about 12-15 lbs, so not too much bigger. They are considered "toy" sized dogs. He's a real lap dog and I hope he doesn't get too much bigger because he won't be very lappy then!!

 

[Tiggerrn2]

Howdy all!!!
Tiggerrn It will just be Lauren and I going to the 3D concert. Hunter is not into Hannah at all.
Isn't the show starting at 2pm? In my opinion I think getting to the theatre a little earlier than 1:30 might be a good idea.

OK, it's been so long since I bought those tickets, I had to go back and check the showtime. It is 2:30. If you want to head over there earlier, I can do that. The girls could bring something to do to keep them occupied if the theater doesn't have anything going on at that time.

Sandy, sorry but I had to laugh at your little bad day. The image of you falling in the mud brought it out. Sorry you had such a bad day. Glad to hear today was better.

Mac, why oh why did you have to mention the "s" word. Of course it is going to do that again for the weekend. I have to get up and go to work at 6AM. Hope there isn't much to shovel out this time. Last time this happened, it was an hour job to shovel out to get to work.

CarolAnnC, glad to hear you are doing better. How has it been back at work?

Bunchkin, my house could sure use one of your good spring cleanings. Any chance you'd want to come organize this place?


OK off to get the kids readied for bed so I can watch the last new Grey's episode for who knows how long.
Later all.

 

[slo]

It's Friday!!!!
I just love the fact that I don't have to rush Stephanie off to school tomorrow - it's one less thing that I have to think about while getting myself ready for work Plus I can sleep a couple of hours longer


Mac - I'm going to pray that the weather people are wrong about the snow. It really screws up the parking lot at the plaza I'm at. I'm so glad I get one of my parking spaces back after having it filled with snow for so long.

Bunchkin - I wasn't hurt, thanks for asking I popped back up and kept walking like nothing happened (while looking to see if anyone saw me ).
**Thanks for the link - I saved it to my favorities so I look at it later (the building on the homepage looks nice - it reminded me of the Wilderness Lodge).

Sam - Wow, Cody is going to stay small - that's great!!! The next dog we get will be a smaller dog so I can have it sit on my lap and keep me warm

Tigggggggggggern - That's okay that you laughed about my bad day. When I look back at it, I laugh myself, especially because Katie is still talking about, and she talks about it with such dramatics. She still can't get over how I looked after coming in the door with all that mud on me.






Well, it's time to get this day started
Have a good day today!!

 

[traces7]

Thanks to everyone for their replies on my Chicago trip. I think we will go to Museum of Science & Industry. We went to Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier last summer and liked both, but want to do somthing different this year. We went to Navy Pier on the hottest day of the summer! We're thinking that we'll try and use the city bus for transportation, we'll see, otherwise cab.
We're used to cold weather, we're in Wisconsin, so we're hoping it might be warm at the end of March.
Thanks again and I'll probably have more questions as my trip gets closer!

 

[SamIAm21]

Thanks to everyone for their replies on my Chicago trip. I think we will go to Museum of Science & Industry. We went to Shedd Aquarium and Navy Pier last summer and liked both, but want to do somthing different this year. We went to Navy Pier on the hottest day of the summer! We're thinking that we'll try and use the city bus for transportation, we'll see, otherwise cab.
We're used to cold weather, we're in Wisconsin, so we're hoping it might be warm at the end of March.
Thanks again and I'll probably have more questions as my trip gets closer!

The Science & Industry is a great choice and I hear they are celebrating a big 75th Birthday. I'm not sure what that entails, but maybe there will be some fun exhibits or something??

 

[macraven]

traces7, you'll be happy with that choice.


tiggggggggerrrnnnnnnn: oops........it did snow here last night and we only had a couple of inches. as of this afternoon, it all has melted since we hit 36 degrees.


i took the week off work and got a few things done.
i can't believe the week is almost over.......