Pokémon at the Field

Andy and I went downtown last night for the Field Museum's opening of the Pokemon Fossil exhibit. It's the first time it's in the United States and will travel around for five years. There was quite a long line to check in.

How cute is this nametag?

And these tickets! I thought they'd let us keep the tickets, but they did not. That's why I take pictures of everything.

Opening remarks. There were so many people there.

We went into the exhibit right after the remarks. The blue is what isn't real, the red is real. This shows a Pokemon, made up, next to a real fossil it resembles.

I'm sure this exhibit would be more meaningful to B. I was a bit lost but did explain how Pokemon evolve to another guest.

The food was Japanese and tasty. I did have to pass on several of the "tar tar" appetizers.

We walked through the gift store but didn't buy anything.

Yay! A picture with Pikachu!

We were driving home and it was still daylight. When did that happen?

Sitting pretty

Piper enjoys having the windows open. She's probably been looking for her friends from next door. Their dining room window is across from our kitchen and sometimes their cats sit there too.

Piper's latest, favorite sleeping spot is Andy's office chair.

Clematis and irises

Our clematis started bloomimg while we were in Jamaica. Allison took this picture for me. Hopefully, I can keep it trimmed enough it will continue to bloom for a while. I had cut it down to about eight inches in March so that seemed to be beneficial.

And the irises in the parkway are blooming. I say every year we need to divide the bulbs, but we never do.

Belated Mom’s Day lunch

Andy and I picked up B yesterday and went to for my belated Mother's Day lunch. I chose a restaurant in his neighborhood by searching online and we ended up at George Street Pub.

It was a beautiful day so we sat on their patio. B had a burger, I had a grilled chicken sandwich and Andy had a ham and Swiss sandwich. We enjoyed it.

Our close-up.

I'm always surprised when we're driving around and - boom - there's Wrigley Field smack dab in a neighborhood.

Oof. These gas prices are crazy. It's always higher in the city proper.

Leaving and random Jamaica

Saturday was our day to leave Jamaica. The bellhop picked up our bags at 7:30 a.m.

We ordered breakfast to the room. Hard to beat this view.

So much bacon! I wasn't expecting that. We had to be in the lobby for the trip to the airport at 8:30 a.m.

This palm branch was blocking our path when we were walking to the lobby to check-out. A sign, perhaps, that we should stay?

We bought time in the MoBay departure lounge (in advance and found out it was sold out day-of) and our flight was delayed at least an hour so that was a good decision. Food, drinks, a place to sit and charge our phones, What more could we want?

Here are a few random pictures and thoughts of the past week. We were on the hunt all week for a good sunset picture. Most days, the sun was hidden behind the clouds.

This was the same sunset a bit later at the martini bar.

Andy enjoying a martini.

These piles of rocks are all around the resort. People buy a rock and put their names on it, adding the years they visit each time. (See the duck?)

Here's an up-close look. We've never bought into the rock souvenir thing but it's neat to see.

Last full Jamaica day

Friday was our last full day in Jamaica. Here's my pool boy bringing me a drink.

We won Bingo and (again) got a jar of mild jerk sauce. I won the last game but the recreation director didn't have any prizes left. Booo. The good news, though, was that the bar had some bananas Friday so I was able to order a hummingbird drink. Bananas apparently are rare and expensive since the hurricane hit in November.

We went to gift shop to spend what was left of our resort credit. Andy got a coffee mug to add to his collection, I got a couple of T-shirts and we bought coffee.

This resort is beautiful but it has many levels and that means lots of stairs.

Andy walked into this lamp on our way to the lunch restaurant. Everyone turned and looked. He said he was looking at the set-up that was ongoing for the evening's "Jamaican Night" on the lawn and walked into it. (If you enlarge the picture you'll see another lamp still standing and have an idea how it looked before the collision). An employee came over to ask him if he was ok. At least he didn't fall. He fared better than the lamp.

Andy's sunset picture.

My sunset picture.

A quite lovely British couple we have been chatting with this week took this photo of us. They leave Saturday too. (Notice I'm wearing the necklace I won at trivia the other day).

At 6:30 it was time for Jamaica Day. So much green, yellow and black.

The dessert table had a hummingbird ice sculpture. There were a lot of ice sculptures and they were all melting. It was a hot night.

Jamaican sushi? I passed.

Bingo winners

Thursday in Jamaica meant more pool time.

We didn't participate in the morning Jenga game but we were ready for afternoon Bingo.

I won the very first round and my prize was mild jerk sauce. Then I won again and got this little Jamaican man magnet. He's probably going to work with me next week.

On the last game, the goal was to be the person with no number called on your card. The first number called was on my card so I was out. But look at that - Andy won by having the suckiest Bingo card. He won a shell (the recreation leader jokingly referred to it as a nipple cover) that we were told to get our initials painted on. We might have played six or secen rounds of Bingo and we won three. We got lucky.

Good thing our room reservation came with resort cash, We ran out of sunscreen so Andy bought some in the gift shop. This 8-ounce bottle of Hawaiin Tropic sunscreen cost us a whopping $28. Lesson learned - pack more sunscreen than you could possibly imagine using.

Thursday was L and W's last day in St. Augustine. They went up in a lighthouse.

A ofher all-dressed-up-for-dinner photo. We ate at the fancy restaurant and both had steak.

Andy ordered the salted caramel budino for dessert which we learned is a very rich pudding.

Tonight's entertainment was an acrobatics show on the lawn right outside of our room.

The accompanying music was very, very loud.