Maeve and Lilly

Lilly has been bugging me for a pet of her own for a long time. At some point I told her that anything she caught down by the pond she could keep as a pet. I figured that would keep her busy all summer chasing after frogs, turtles, fish, whatever… I congratulated myself on my awesome parenting technique and cleverness. Lilly and her friend Lexi decided they were going to get that pet and I was astounded when, within 15 minutes, Lexi had netted a frog. Well I had given my word.

Feeding Jeremy (as in Fisher) soon became an issue. One would think that our yard would yield an abundance of insects, but it’s been difficult to find things other than Asian lady bugs, fire ants, and spider (all of which apparently are hard on Jeremy’s tummy). Then there is the disgusting water that need to be changed on a weekly basis. I’m rethinking my cleverness.

It was pouring rain in Chicago Monday morning. We ran across the street to American Girl Place. The girls were giddy with excitement. We told them that since their birthdays were coming up, we wouldn’t be making any purchases. Instead we told them to grab the call tags for the things they wanted to ask for. Within a matter of minutes, they both had fistfuls and had their eyes on one of everything in the store. Finally, they decided to part with some of their own money in order to buy some accessories. Lilly picked up a sweat shirt and skirt for her doll and Maeve got some doll ice skates. Then it was home in the rain. After 2200 miles we pulled into our driveway at 1pm.

Up early and on the road we struck out for Chicago. The flatlands of Illinois lulled us for eight hours so that it was quite a shock as we tried to negotiate Michigan Avenue to our hotel. Lilly kept asking if something special was going on because of all the people, traffic, confusion, horns, and excitement. (Nope, just a big city.) The girls were amazed by our hotel room (a suite thanks to Hot Wire) and spent 15 minutes dancing around singing praises to the best and fanciest hotel ever. After a quick dip in the pool on the 30th floor, we bundled up and walked down Rush Street for dinner at Buca di Beppo’s. The girls got quite a kick out of the tour of the kitchen by a loquacious host.

First stop Sunday morning was the new American Girl Place. The girls’ giddy excitement was brought to a disappointing and dramatic halt when we discovered that AG was closed on Easter Sunday. In fact, we discovered that a great many shops on the Magnificent Mile were closed due to the holiday. Nonetheless, we had fun walking around. We had lunch at Big Bowl (sorely missed after it’s closing in Middleton) and then had a look at the Tribune building with the many foreign and historical building blocks sent into its wall. Next to a block from the Alamo, Maeve innocently asked about a nearby installation. I had to inform her that it was simply a hookup for a fire hose.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at the Hershey store, where Lilly professed over and over that her “absolute favorite” candy was the Hershey Bar. I overheard whispered plans about sneaking back in the middle of the night to eat everything in the store. The girls had an afternoon swim and then we ordered a Giordanno’s pizza and ate in the room.

We got up early Thursday morning to see Uncle Joe off to work. After some last-minute play time with the baby, we hit the road for Memphis. Eight hours later we checked in to our hotel. After some quick research for dinner we ended up at what turned out to be a rather sub-par restaurant on 2nd street. The chilly wind and raindrops sent us back to our hotel for the night to ride out the tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in the area.

The next day arrived chilly and windy, but without rain or severe weather. First stop was the Peabody Hotel to see the march of the ducks down from the rooftop elevator into the fountain in the lobby. After a quick look around the hotel, we had lunch in a true southern-style cafeteria across from Graceland. Though smaller than any of us had imagined, it was still a trip — a delightfully tacky and bizarre experience. (I took too many pictures of the shag walls, the ceramic panthers, and all those jumpsuits.) Lilly discovered a love for the music and I was reminded just how cool Elvis’ Sun Records sides and early major-label stuff was.

Back in town, we took a ride on the Main Street cable cars past the Civil Rights Museum. We briefly considered going there. I asked Maeve if she wanted to go and without skipping a beat, she answered yes. Then, with a comment that betrayed her lack of comprehension, she asked, “is there anything there I can climb on?” While I took the Gibson Factory tour, the girls shopped. We capped off our day with dinner at BB King’s club/restaurant where we heard some pretty awesome musicians playing soul standards.

After the girls assisted with dressing baby Adriana, we hit Panera for coffee and later met Uncle Joe for lunch. Then we walked around the Bricktown area of OKC and strolled along the canals. (Yeah, I know, but there really are canals in downtown Oklahoma City. They are of no historic significance whatsoever; they were built to revitalize the are and attract tourists.) Later in the afternoon when 15-year-old Alexis got home from school, we went to a nearby park. The girls roped Alexis into playing tag, hide and seek, and an obstacle course. Poor Alexis had nobly given up her suite: her bedroom for us and her lounge for the girls, so she headed to her grandparents’ house after dinner as the girls headed to bed.

Uncle Joe took the next day off so we all (minus Alexis) went to the Science Museum. Though not nearly as spectacular as the St. Louis City Museum, the girls enjoyed the hand-on exhibits especially the tornado chamber (wind speeds up to 78 mph), the Apollo module (they were inside and we saw their faces as the attendant tilted them up and down and told them they were switching to emergency oxygen), and the live science presentation (lots of stuff was blown up and set on fire, including the “dust’o'doom; and hand raising was severely discouraged in favor of shouting).

Aunt Yara went to pick up Alexis from school and we all regrouped at the zoo. After a quick lunch, Lilly spotted a rock climbing wall and wanted to have a go. She got stuck about half way up and when asked if she wanted to come down, she answered “yes” and then immediately, “no.” She lost her grip a minute later and had to start over. This time she persevered and made it to the top and rang the bell announcing her triumph.  As we strolled along, it was no surprise that Lilly liked the monkey (lots and lots of chimps), but Maeve was taken with the prairie dogs. Actually, I think the biggest attraction at the zoo was they one we bought with us. Both girls were mesmerized by their baby cousin Adriana and spent a lot of time watching her, pushing her stroller, and fussing over whether she was shaded from the hot hot sun.

We awoke to snow in St. Louis! Low visibility but nothing was sticking on the ground. After a futile attempt to find and purchase some non-Cardinals St. Louis apparel we gave up and got on the highway. By 1:30pm we were in Mansfield MO, the home of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum. Both girls have been big fans of the Little House books and the TV show so they were excited. The house on the grounds was the home of Laura after she moved from North Dakota. She wrote all the books here at the age of 65. I must admit, it was pretty cool to see the slice of history. Lilly, especially, was very interested in the house tour and poked her nose into every nook and cranny. We headed east towards Tulsa and finally arrived in Oklahoma City around 8pm. Uncle Joe, Aunt Yara, cousin Alexis, and baby Adriana greeted us with open arms.

Spring Break 2009 for the girls turned into a road trip. We hit the road around 8:30am and were in St. Louis by 2pm. After dumping our stuff in the hotel room, we raced to the zoo for an hour and half before it closed at 5:00. The zoo’s reputation as one of the best-in the country is well-deserved. The five hippos swimming in a glass-sided enclosure were super-cool. Lilly liked the chimpanzees and Maeve, while disappointed that the rhinos and elephants were in already, liked the bears. After the zoo, we found one of the 100s of Imo’s Pizzas that litter the city. St. Louis-style pizza is described as an acquired taste. We, apparently, have not acquired it. The velveeta-taste of the cheese and the way it stuck to the roof of our mouths makes it likely that we will not ever acquire it. Lilly described it as “gah-ROSS!” Ted Drewes custard, however, was right on.

Unlike the warm sunny weather of the day before, the next day was rainy and cold. Didn’t matter though, because we went to the City Museum for the day. Housed in a former shoe factory, it’s part amusement park, part art exhibit, part discovery center, part zoo, part museum, and part spelunking expedition. Five floors of won der — I was indeed blown away as were the girls. I was almost impossible to drag them away from the underground caves constructed of concrete and wood. They were lured away be the prospect of art projects and we all made cutout snowflakes — monkey, dolphin, angel, and dragon. After lunch the weather had improved enough that Lilly and I could climb around the monstrous outdoor sculpture of girders, rebar, old construction equipment, and airplanes welded into a fantastic maze of ladders, tunnels, and slides. We finished up with the aquarium (where our fingers were nibbled by doctor fish and we petted sharks and stingrays) and a climb five stories up to top of the building and then a spiral slide all the way back down.

We finished up the day with dinner at Mama Campisi’s with much better pizza and an out-of-this-world wedge salad. After a quick dip in the hotel pool we turned in. OKC tomorrow!