Chicago!

For the drive from Columbus to Chicago I tried to avoid major highways for the first time.  I have my brother's GPS to get me back on track, but mostly I ignored it, since I didn't want to take the fastest OR the most direct route.  I wanted to try out the small roads.  Overall, I'd count the experiment as a success.  I drove west and north, and took a few interesting pictures of tractors. (These are for you, Charlie!)  In the end, the GPS led me through the chaos of Chicago to Ann and Dan's house. 

Saturday morning Ann bounded out of her room and said "let's go for a run!" so I put on shorts and a t-shirt, and off we went.  This is something I should do more often - a 20 minute run first thing in the morning is good for me, and not too difficult.  Yet somehow self-motivation always fails me. 

Since it was raining, we spent some time playing with Ann and Dan's son Dax, then Ann and I snuck away for a trip to the museum and Millenium Park.  Here's the obligatory Chicago picture of the giant reflective bean.

Sunday we rented bikes and rode along Lincoln Park, and then in the late afternoon, Dan and Dax and I went for a walk, where we found an awesome tractor in a cemetery for Dax to play on. 

On the way back we found a playground.  Not having kids of my own yet, I really like watching the interactions between little kids and other little kids, parents and kids, and parents and other parents.  What do you do when your toddler makes another toddler cry?  When your toddler is crying?  All the kids were super cute, even when crying, but there was this one girl who really struck my fancy.  She was probably three, and running around in a no-nonsense outfit of shorts and t-shirt (unlike the cute but not-so-practical dresses most of the little girls seem to wear) but she had added a pair of fairy wings.  She was galloping up the slide, over the sand pit, etc at high speed with her little wings flapping behind her.  That's how I want to be.