Enjoying life out at Tisha and Ian's hanging with Anaka, Autumn and Aaliyah while mom and dad are in humid Miami! The three girls and Sarah have had such fun together: tea parties, trampoline and Wii for starters! I took Autumn and Aaliyah to lunch individually on Tuesday and Wednesday. They both chose IHOP and both chose the funny face pancake loaded with whipped cream. What a special meal! They've been very helpful around the house with the kitchen and the critters. The baby praying mantises, Speedy and Darla (!!!) are still alive eating a subsistence diet of mealworms that I got at the nature center and flightless fruit flies, since neither Dick nor Aaliyah have had any luck catching house flies. They recently molted and I know they're hungry, so I'm pretty stressed about this. Merlin the cat is enjoying my feet and has lots to say to me.

Off to the Brookfield Zoo today and then back to the city in the am!

Out my window almost straight north, we can see the Ohio Street Beach nestled in the trees. So this morning Sarah and I took my new AWESOME beach/grocery/picnic cart and walked on over. It was about a 25 minute walk (sure looks closer from the apartment), but a lovely one along the lakeshore mostly. We know a few shortcuts thru parking lots which aren't gorgeous but the lakefront was clear and sunny and blue with a gentle breeze. When we arrived about 9:45 it was pretty quiet. I set up my chair under the shade of the trees and Sarah headed for the water. I left the plastic cups (our version of sand toys) in the apt, but she had fun anyway! It heated up pretty quickly to the mid 80's and we headed back about 11:30. Chores and practicing now then off to the 'burbs this evening til Saturday to stay with Tisha's girls while she and Ian head out of town. We'll stop by Janet's and Jaimie's Schaumburg townhome on the way back into the city Saturday am for a quick piano lesson, the we'll be back into our lovely home.

Thursday Sarah and I made our first grocery run. We walked to Whole Foods (1 1/2 miles each way), made our selections, then arranged for them to be delivered for a fee of $10. Not too bad....We hoofed it back pretty quickly to meet the delivery guy who came to the door and put everything on the kitchen counters. Very convenient. Grocery shopping and workout all in one! I have however, recently purchased a wheeled cart for toting groceries home and will try that next time. I've also seen several Peapod deliveries unloading at the apartment. So....this is how urbanites grocery shop.....There's also a Trader Joes next to Whole Foods and a close by Dominicks, so we'll try those too!

I have a washer and dryer in the unit which I'm so happy about. Since this is an older building, most of the units do not have in unit laundry, but this one does...and it's bigger than I thought. When I want to do linens and bedding, I can use the big laundry facility downstairs. There are advantages to that.....several huge commercial size units....and many available washers so I can do multiple loads at one time.....but for now I'm doing it all here!

Went to Millenium Park's Pritzker Pavilion for three concerts so far. Had a picnic with our music Saturday evening. Yesterday my sis-in-law Janet and my neice Jaimie came down for a visit. Jaimie recently learned she's been selected for the Schaumburg Youth Orchestra on French Horn. Way to go Jaimie!! She'll be studying piano with me this year, which I am SO excited to be doing with her! Last night, in honor of her recent good news, we went to hear the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra at Pritzker. Great concert.... and it closed with a Concerto for Maracas! Yes, those shaky things in every child's rhythm band collection! The soloist was the percussionist with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and man was he good! I didn't know Maracas had different pitches and colors depending upon how you shake them. We were sitting right down in front so the visual was as good as the music. What fun!!

You know how some shoes are two hour shoes, some are good for heading in to dinner and walking back out and some are Disney worthy? I apparently own none qualified for hoofing around town. Sarah and I walked to the library today and I came back with seven blisters! I was wearing my favorite flats that I thought were good, but since they'd never been truly road tested, I was unaware of the dangers ahead. Stopped at Walgreens and bought bandaids....after I had twice applied Blister Stick while on a bench in Millenium Park. Worked for awhile, but not for too long. As we left our lunch-time restaurant, I stopped again to adjust the bandaid and the hostess whipped out a giant box of bandaids and asked if I needed another one. First bandaids offered by a restaurant .......but apparently I'm not the only one with foot challenges!

As we were limping home, we cut thru Millenium Park and the Grant Park orchestra was rehearsing for their first concert of the summer tomorrow evening. Sarah was all about stopping and listening since she recognized the piece as Vivaldi's Four Seasons, which is part of her favorite Classical Kids CD Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery. We plan to head over tomorrow night to hear the program in full.

Yesterday we discovered a treasure at the Art Institute. I've been to this museum scores of times in my life and never knew about the Thorne Room of Miniatures. All you Interior Designers and doll house lovers out there....take note. It is a fabulous collection of period accurate rooms from England, France and the US from the 1600's to the 1930's. They were assembled by Mrs. Thorne in the 1930's of authentic materials with the most breathtaking details! It's supposed to be the most accurate set of miniatures in the world. Sarah and I really enjoyed walking thru there---and they have a raised ledge for the vertically challenged to walk along so they can be sure to see everything as well!

Still can't find my camera. I'm dying to post pics of the Lions wearing the hockey helmets......

We're Here!

We arrived Thursday June 10th. Dick drove the UHaul truck skillfully through the downtown traffic and narrow lanes without incident. Sarah and I were in the Suburban and since I didn't have to park it, all went well! As we passed the Art Institute, we saw big black hockey helmets on the stone lions standing guard at the entrance, commemorating Chicago's Stanley Cup hockey win of the night before. I've seen tasteful wreaths and Santa hats before, but these helmets were firsts! We checked in with the leasing agent, signed a thousand papers and got our keys. The two guys hired to help us unload arrived promptly and made fast work of what took us a few weeks to pack. Now the work really began. Three 14 hour days and one trip each to Costco and Target and we have a new home! The views here are beautiful! We are on the 55th floor with a corner view to the north (Navy Pier and River/City) and the east (Lake Michigan and the harbor) so I have already wasted plenty of time just sitting and looking out the window.

My sister Tisha and her three beautiful girls joined us for the day yesterday. We walked over the the playground across the street and enjoyed a picnic with our fun. We then stopped at a second playground on the way back where the kids got soaked in the fountains. It was pretty cool, so when the blue lips set in we hustled back to the apartment. Yes, I have two playgrounds in lovely park settings within a 1/4 mile of our home. This corner where we are is right in the middle of everything but tucked away in the trees. Hard to beat that combination!

Today Sarah and I are off the the Art museum to see the Matisse exhibit before it leaves next week. Dick left yesterday (poor guy!) for Boston on business for the week. So all for now!