January 3, 2007

• Happy New Year

  2007! Wow, this week marks my 6th year at Xanga! I guess the good part is I don't have to explain to most people, what a Blog is now. I am most grateful for the friends I have made here, over those years.

  Our holidays were very nice. The week before Christmas, we went to visit my sister Sarah and her family in Chicago. My kids were able to spend a day hanging out and playing with their four cousins and I think they all had a great time. We took them to the WinterFest at the Navy Pier, and then to Rain Forest Cafe for lunch, followed up by a trip to Build-A-Bear.

  We had one day without family and used it to go to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry which was just way too cool and fun! We didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted, but we sure enjoyed it. They had an International Christmas Tree display with trees decorated by people representing over 100 different countries. There were sparkling lights all over and it was very magical. We also got to see the very cool Fairy Castle dollhouse they keep there. I had read a book on it, but never seen it in person. It was built by a 1920's silent movie actress and is amazing, especially considering the time period it was built in. She used it to raise money to help needy kids and then finally donated it to the museum. The dollhouse includes a library of real miniature books, written by famous writers of the time, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, complete with illustrations!

  Becca's favorite exhibit was a special engagement called "Frogs: A Chorus of Colors", which was just filled with displays of all sorts of frogs from all over the world and of every bright color you can imagine.

  

  The girls also really liked the baby chick hatchery. Well we all loved that, what can't you like about newborn chicks?

  Another cool exhibit is a robotic factory that makes toy tops and you can watch all the steps. If you pay a small fee, you can even have a custom made top built, just for you.

  

  After all the fun in Chicago, we flew down to lower Indiana and visited my mom and sister Beth for several days. We had some really great fun there too! Mom took us to see a candystore and factory called Schimpff's Confectionery in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It has been owned and run by the same family for something like 115 years, and they live in the space above the store. When you walk in, the smell is the most delicious mix of chocolate and hard candies and you can watch as each chocolate is hand dipped and decorated. They also have a really cool museum with all sorts of things related to the history of candy.

  

  Mom also arranged for us to see a production of A Christmas Carol. The girls loved that too, they got to dress up and it was their first real adult play. There was a special tea afterwards and tours of the backstage which was very interesting. The play was very well done and really put me into the Christmas mood. We did a number of other things, but this blog is already getting rather wordy, so I will wrap it up for now.

  I wish a great new year for everyone!

   

  • 12:30 pm
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