Museum ... Part 2

So here are some more pictures from our two day adventure to the Museum of Science & Industry.

At the museum they had a great area for kids called the Idea Factory. Here they could play with things made for kids that would teach them about many different concepts in a hands on way.

This is Kambria playing in the younger kids section. She loves to play in the water, whether it's in the sink as she is brushing her teeth, or here playing with the waterwheel. It was neat to see how Kambria was learning..."Now if I poor the water here, the wheel will spin and make something else move". The water was actually very warm too. She looked so cute in her little rain coat.

Here Kambria is trying to figure out how the ball is staying in the air.

They have a large, long clear tube that has high-seed air rushing through it. The kids put these plastic balls in the tube and watch it zoom around the museum in the tube. It reminded me of the boy getting sucked into the tube in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Kambria kept trying to put the ball in the tube, but the air blowing through the tube would also blow the ball out it you didn't keep it in there for a second or two. Kambria couldn't understand why her ball kept on flying out at her and hitting her in the head.

This is Bryan and Kambria in a big tractor, Kambria loves to climb in them. It was difficult to get her to climb out so other kids could get in.

While on the "farm" we learned all about POOP! and how it is used for energy in a lot of things you might not think of. I know Lisa will appreciate this ;)
Eliza and Bryan trying out the space suit.

They have a bunch of different airplanes hanging from the sealing. This is a real united jet that you could walk though. They have removed some paneling and such so you can see parts of the plane you wouldn't normally see, it was quite interesting.

Kambria didn't like the thought of standing in the turbine engine...obviously.

They also had a huge model train set. It spans from Chicago to Seattle. I thought this was so neat, all the detail that was put into it, just amazing. Grandpa George Fairbanks would have just loved it.

Here is something that Bryan found very neat to watch. They have a large incubator with chicken eggs getting ready to hatch. We got there just at the right time and this is what we saw...

You're almost there...

This poor little chick...completely worn out. Well, wouldn't you be if you had to climb your way out?

The Museum of Science & Industry...Part 1

Just as a pre-warning, this post will have a lot of pictures in it and will probably be quite long. Saturday we went to the Museum of Science & Industry. We got a free pass from the library and wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity. Bryan was really excited to go. We have been looking at the museum's website and trying to find out what all they had to see there and realized there is way too much to do in one day, so we planed to go both Saturday and Monday since Bryan doesn't have class that day.

It is only fitting that you would find one of these at the Museum of SCIENCE & INDUSTRY. It is a solar powered trash compacting trash can. We had just seen a whole article on the news about these new trash cans around Chicago and thought it was neat. (You can see the solar panel on the top).
So the first exhibit we wanted to go to was the U-505 submarine exhibit. Eliza had looked at it on-line and knew this was something we should do...so we payed the extra $5 to go on the tour of the inside of the sub and it turned out to be well worth it. We weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside, but got plenty of the outside. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. (You probably won't since you have to be there to experience the majesty of such a ship, but non the less, you will have to take our word for it that it was amazing).

This is the view you see after walking right into the room with the sub. The U-505 was a German sub that was captured by the U.S. during WWII. Before you get to this room you go through a series of halls and exhibits that tell you all about the life and history of the U-505 and its capture. It really is amazing that the U.S. captured it, after understanding how these subs were practically designed to be sunk and or exploded by its own crew if ever captured by the enemy. In fact, the Germans did open the sink holes as they bailed ship in an effort to sink the sub so all classified info would end up at the bottom of the ocean and not in the hands of the U.S. But luckily due to the quick acting of one U.S. Navy Sailor the sink hole was sealed back up and they were able to stop the U-505 from sinking completely. It was captured off the west coast of Africa, and because it was somewhat full of water had to be towed all the way to Bermuda. This entire cross Atlantic journey went undetected by anyone else and the U.S. were then able to obtain valuable info and the power to now decode all German communication.
This exhibit opened in 2004. The room that holds the U-505 was built specifically for the submarine. In fact, they had to build the entire room around the sub. They first made the floor and walls, which actually start at ground level and go down. So when they were done with this part it took them 4 days to get the sub in position and lower it down into the room. Then they built the roof over it.
This torpedo is placed to show you where they would be launched from the sub. They had 4 launch sites, 2 in the front and 2 in the rear. During the tour of the inside you can see there is an actually torpedo that was found on the sub, ("sans the war head" as the tour guide stated). It was so amazing to think that as we were walking through the sub we were looking at the actual thing. Not a replica of what it would have looked like, but the actual U-505 itself. To think of what went on inside and the attacks it made and it's final capture...it really was neat.

I would hate to be caught by one of these propellers while they were moving. Here is a picture of one of the actual torpedoes and what the inside looks like. It is just amazing the technology the Germans had back then.

Here are a few pictures I got off their web-site since we couldn't take any of the inside.

This is the inside of the sub we toured. This is a picture of one of the actual torpedoes on the sub. This is exactly what we saw. If you notice, this torpedo room also doubled as a bunk room, how would you like to be sleeping next to this?

This is the diesel engine room. This room would stay at 110 degrees F. Imagine staying on a sub with 50 men for 3 months in 90-110 degree heat without a shower. No thank you!This is the control room. This is the widest part of the sub measuring a whopping 15 feet across. Trust me, that isn't very much. For those of you with claustrophobia issues, this would not be the place to be. Half of the time you can't stand straight. Here is a link to a video of them moving and placing the sub in the exhibit room. It is neat to watch.

http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/videos/video-detail/activities/moving-the-u-505-submarine/

more cute pictures

I thought I would share some more cute pictures.
This is Kambria in her cute pigtails!
Her "smiling" for the camera...not bad huh?
I thought this was worth adding too.
This is a picture from this morning before church. She was so excited to be in her "pretty" dress as she calls it and was even excited to smile for the camera. After we take the picture she always likes to see it. Kids these days!!!
What a cute grin!!!

Our fun fort

So after the zoo on Saturday we decided we did not want to cook anything and Bryan was nice enough to agree to go to the Polish restaurant, Czerwone Jabulszko...which means little red apple. It is a buffet style restaurant. Of course it was not the BEST food out there, but it was fun to see polish food, taste it again and allow Bryan and Kambria the experience of Polish food. And the waitresses there were very typical polish girls...VERY nice and friendly and of course BEAUTIFUL!!! I am serious. They are some of the most pretty girls out there. I wanted to speak Polish with them, but I have lost so much that I was too nervous. But as they were talking amongst themselves, I could understand a lot. So i mustered up the courage and on the way out basically said thank you in Polish. I know not much but it was a feat for me to do it!

So here is a picture of the polish restaurant outside.

And on Sunday we decided since it was too cold to go outside for too long, that we would stay inside and build a fort to play in. So this is our fort...we only had two blankets to work with and minimal furniture. But even with that I think we didn't do too bad! And Kambria had a blast playing in it. I think Bryan and I had fun too ;o)

Kambria loves to give kisses to her daddy!

The Brookfield Zoo

So there are 2 zoo's in Chicago. One is free and the other is one you have to pay for...unless of course you have a free "museum" pass, which we did so we went on Saturday. (I think I have mentioned this before, but the library here has free passes to the museums, zoo, aquarium, and planetarium that you can check out one at a time...you just have to catch them when they are checked in). We had to pay for parking, but I figured it was worth it right. Right! And then we get to the zoo, an realize that once you are there if you want to see the "extra" exhibits you have to pay for them on top of general admission!!! That was a little disturbing for us. For example there was a dolphin show, but it cost $5 a person to see that, or the family zoo, was another $5 and then there was the children's zoo. So we decided that since we are on a budget we would just see what was available to us with the general admission.

It turned out fine. We saw all the animals we wanted to see, got some suntans along the way, (yes Kambria and I put sunscreen on, but even with that I got a little sun yeah!) and Kambria had a blast.

What a shot huh? This is how the giraffes were eating off the ground. It as quite the site!
The hippo...
The rhino...
The elephant skull. It showed diagrams of the different anatomy of the skull. Quite interesting actually. And it was a BIG skull too!
Here is what the "skull"would look like alive. ha ha

Kambria and I by the gorilla...which Kambria was scared of, partially because I told her she had to hold my hand or the animals would get her. I know not the nicest thing to do, but she stayed close by me. So we did not get her smiling by the fake gorilla, but she did not run away from us!
Here is Bryan "wearing" a gorilla sized shirt! It was pretty big.
The brown bear lounging in the pool. It was a hot day.
The lion was lounging too. All the animals seemed like they were enjoying the sun and just lounging in it.
They even had a little playground inside the zoo...that you didn't have to pay extra for. ;o) So Kambria had fun playing on that too.
So we enjoyed our trip to the zoo, especially since it was 'free.'

Ice cream

So Friday night we decided to find some ice cream...but we wanted it to be special and unique to Chicago. So we used the book Leah gave me for my birthday last year and found Margie's ice cream. It was a lot of fun to go and see, but both Bryan and I agree that they need to update the place a little bit and then maybe we would think about going back...but we will not be going back again anytime soon. But once again I say it was a fun experience.


This is a guy across the room... it basically looked like a flower vase filled with ice cream...and he ate it himself!!!


This was my choice of dessert...turtle sundae. Man was it good...and they let you pour on your own hot fudge! It was incredible!
This was Bryan's choice...a chocolate cherry malt. It was good. So much so that Kambria ended up eating about half of it!!!

random pictures

So here are a couple of random pictures that I thought I would post.

This is a cardinal that happened to be at the park when we were eating lunch together. We don't have those in Colorado. We thought it was neat.

Here is Bryan and Kambria reading her Elmo book before bed.

This picture is for MaryEllen too...Kambria is already a popcorn lover. Enough said.

A picture perfect sunset from our balcony.

And this video is of Kambria rolling her stomach. Quite the talent we thought!