Week of fun

On Tuesday (August 11) I played softball again. I managed to get base hits and to get pelted with a ball. They were trying to get me out and the dude threw it from center field to third...but my leg got in the way. I've got quite the bruise to show for it. I think it is still swollen almost a week later.

Besides playing softball, my mom, Bill, and Maegan came to visit this past week. We had a lot of fun for their short trip. We started Thursday morning going to MSI. Maegan and Mom got to explore the Harry Potter exhibit, while Bill and I went through the Smart Home. The Lego exhibit was still around so of course we had fun building skyscrapers again.
After the MSI we went to the Robie House and then on to the zoo. Here's a pic of us on the carousel (where else do you take a picture at the zoo?). We managed to see a lot of the zoo in the short amount of time we were there. Hudson was out, as was Wicket, but not Obessa. We also saw Abby (the ostrich) and the giraffes.

On Friday we explored downtown Chicago. We started by going to Navy Pier. The Air show was in town so we got to see them practicing. We got a pretty good view of the planes as they turned around and stuff. Here's a picture of us on the anchor at the end of Navy Pier watching the planes. When the planes took a break we decided to go to the American Girl store. Wow. Just Wow. It was crazy in there. Some of the clothes needed to be a few sizes larger, and Maegan did manage to get a couple of very cute outfits. I was shocked by the amount of people there! I asked one of the workers and she said it was a light day. It was busy enough that I bought Maegan's Christmas present now so that I won't have to go back and get another one... While the girls did American Girl Bill went to save seats at the top of the Hancock Tower. You'd think with the Air Show practically at the base of the building that the lounge would have been full -- oh no. We got good window seats that looked out west and managed to get a few good glimpses of planes flying around while we were sitting there. After that we walked around Millineum Park and went to see Buckingham Fountain. It was being renovated when Mom was here last so it was nice for her to see it. At the Bean I bullied Maegan into doing handstands with me against the bean. She kept saying she could do it and I kept asking her to prove it. We eventually were able to get a handstand together. :) I was just happy to be able to do handstands again. I haven't really been able to do one since I hurt my wrist a few years back, so it was nice to see I have the strength to do one and hold it a while (we won't mention that I balanced by putting my feet on the Bean).

That basically sums up the week though -- we had guests in town and managed to see a lot of Chicago on foot. We wore our guests out, which may not have been the nicest thing to do in hind-sight, but it was fun and you only get so many chances to see all this stuff, right?!

Anyway, its late, but I wanted to get this up before going to bed tonight. Off to sleep so that tomorrow I can ride a bike to work for what looks to be the only rainless day this week.