L’s touristy day

Andy drive L and W downtown Thursday morning so they could hit the touristy sites. First stop was the fun faces fountain in Millennium Park.

Nice picture by the lake. They walked from Andy's office to the museum campus.

They went to the Shedd Aquarium and she took some great pictures of dolphins jumping. They had an upclose encounter with a turtle.

They got into the Field Museum on our Founders Council passes ...

and we were able to get them into the Pokemon exhibit.

We took them to Lou Malnati's for dinner but stayed in Oak Park since we were expecting more severe thunderstorms (and because Andy had just driven them from downtown and we weren't going back).

There we are.

With our girl.

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?

Evening with Field curators

This was the first time either of us recalled getting an email saying the event had reached capacity and that the museum had started a waitlist. The invitation also said to dress "elevated casual" so that threw us off a bit. I wore a spring dress and Andy wore a sports coat. There were four subject areas in which to talk with the curators and we didn't remember submitting a choice, but ended up in a session about meteors so that was interesting.

The staff told us this was the best elevator in the building. It's located on the north entrance that used to be the main entrance. They closed in part of the porch and the elevator was built there with a clear ceiling. Pretty cool.

Had to take a picture of the Benld meteor find. The meteor is on display in the museum. This picture is hanging in the staff office with an entire library of meteors.

We were in the staff area listening to a scientist and his two grad students talk about meteors and how they date them and what that tells them about the "young" sun. They were very, very excited about their research which I suppose is a good thing. I understood maybe 80 percent of it, if that. I should have paid more attention in chemistry class.

Dinner was a buffet but we had assigned tables. We were seated with one of the grad students and others who went to the same meteor session we did. The chicken was difficult to eat. The salad was very good.

The room was pretty with a glass ceiling. I think it was the first time we were eating on the lower level.

Our favors from the night were flower seeds. I took a packet of Cardinal Flower seeds and Spotted Bee Balm seeds. I left the milkweed seeds on the table. I have plenty of milkweed in the yard.

Field Museum party

Last night was the annual holiday party for the Founders Council members at the Field Museum. See the Santa hats on the dinosaurs?

They gave us a scavenger hunt to keep us occupied. The appetizers were pretty weak.

While we were searching for answers to the scavenger hunt, we came across this 38-year-old iguana wearing reindeer antlers. You don't see that every day.

We found all of the answers to the scavenger hunt and turned it in for our prizes - a wooden dinosaur puzzle and a lapel pin. The bad part was they didn't even check our answers. Booo.

Lots of desserts including a s'mores bar, which we didn't try.

Interesting that we received our first Christmas card on Saturday ... and it was from the Field Museum.

Night at the Field

By time Andy and I got to the Field last night, the lecture had already begun so we sat in the back.

They were talking about the "Age after the Dinosaurs."

The first food station was great - lots of vegetables, chicken sliders, beef sliders and little kielbasas wrapped in dough.

But then we saw a Mexican food station and had to grab a couple tacos. They even had a third food station but it was Chinese so we passed on that one.

The exhibit was really well done. Lots of colorful murals and scenery.

How could I not get s picture of Andy next to the Andrewsarchus fossil?

Is it wrong that I appreciated the displays a bit more than what was being displayed?

A parting overview shot.

The Field Museum after dark.

Field reception

What a beautiful night to be in the city.

We went to the Field Museum last night for the preview of the "Reptiles Alive!" exhibit. The caterers really leaned in to the theme with these table linens and the waitstaff were all wearing snake print shirts.

They even had reptiles on our nametags.

Now, this is how you serve appetizers.

They had cocktails and appetizers for an hour before they moved us into the auditorium for the program.

Learning all about the exhibit.

We sat near the back so we could skip out a bit early and see if they were serving food. I had the salmon (why??) and the chicken. Those gray things to the left of the salmon are mushrooms, I think. Mushrooms are ok on pizza but not like this.

Then we hit up the kids' buffet - little hamburgers with dried out buns and cold mozzarella sticks. Yum lol. (Andy heated up some soup when we got home).

I think they said there are 22 live reptiles throughout the exhibit.

This reptile was brought out, I believe, just for this reception. The handler said it's kind of like a cat. Um, no.