Kris's 12th Birthday

Kristine turned 12 today. To celebrate, she and I drove up to Chicago (Karen and Katie are in Virginia). The trip up Friday took a while because there was a little bit of snow. We stayed at a hotel near Michigan Avenue, but got in too late to look around. Saturday, we went swimming, then had brunch with my sister, Tina (who took a couple of these pix), and a friend from graduate school. After that, Tina, Kris, and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry. One of the reasons we went was to see the Jim Henson exhibit. We were not allowed to take any pictures, but we saw (behind glass) real muppets such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rowlf the Dog, Mahna Mahna and the Snowths, and Bert and Ernie, and a couple others, as well as concept sketches and clips of others. Tina and I had not I idea Jim Henson was so prolific before the Muppet Show and were impressed with his creativity. It was also the last weekend of the Christmas tree exhibit at the musuem which was cool. Another temporary exhibit was a weather exhibit: the huge imitation tornado was interesting, but the exhibit (and the whole museum) required more time than we had. Many of the more classic exhibits were updated from the last time I was there some 15 years ago: the sliced-up person, the chicken hatchery, and the submarine (much bigger than I remember). I was totally amazed at a 3D alioscopy TV that did not require 3D glasses. The nickel and diming was a bit of a turn-off (for example where they would take your picture in the hopes of selling it to you), but the museum looked much more modern and less worn-out than the last time I was there. After the museum closed, Kris and I headed back to Peoria. Today we had church, Sunday school, Kris's choir practice, and Chinese for lunch (Kris got her pot stickers). The Packers won their playoff game. We went out this evening for Culver's ice cream for Kris and a visit to Barnes and Noble to spend gift cards.