In August we drove to Chicago and stayed three nights. We visited the Shedd Aquarium (boasted the largest in the world), the Field Museum, and the Adler Planetarium.
Nathan has wanted to go to the Field Museum since the first time he watched
The Ghosts and the Darkness, so he could go see the lions. We almost went a few years ago, when we went to St. Louis to the zoo. He talked about driving up there afterward. I don't think I wanted to at the time.
We sure wished we would have had more time in the museum. We did not cover it all, and we had to rush one of the sections we wanted more time to see. Overall, though, we really enjoyed our visit, and the kids loved it. Nathan and I both hate big cities, though. I don't know how people stand to live in them.
Here are some of the pictures from our trip, some from my iPhone, some from Nathan's, and all the Shedd pictures here are from William's iPad mini.
Shedd Aquarium
It was so mesmerizing to watch the various species of jellyfish.
We got to see some bioluminescence-using jellyfish, which made my day. Jade took a video, too.
They are such graceful, fascinating animals.
Aren't they all so neat?!
Just gorgeous...
There were more lovely Cnidarians, such as corals, anemones, and others.
I enjoyed watching the paddle fish swim and then open mouth to eat. The deep scoop reminds me of a pelican.
An anaconda! I think this is the first I've ever seen. We saw part of it on one side of the glass, then when we made our way to the other side, we saw this other part of its body. What a monster!
Oh yeah! Loved this guy (or gal). I just wish they weren't imprisoned. These would be better seen in their natural habitat. They did seem to have quite a bit of space to move around. It was a large enclosure. William got a wonderful video of him (or her), too.
This, of course, was Olivia's favorite part of the whole trip. It was amazing watching the Pacific white-sided dolphins swim.
Field Museum
Beautiful architecture. We got several pictures of the building.
Baby Love and I
This was a boy estimated around the age of nine, if I remember correctly, who died in Egypt and was mummified.
Birds! There were so many birds. I'm sad, though, that from what I understand, a lot of animal specimens are actually killed by hunters to supply museums. William became angry.
Elizabeth certainly enjoyed all the birds, too.
I took a lot of pictures of things that showed mothers and babies, nursing babies, and the birthing mother two pictures below.
Hook depicting a mother nursing a child
I find it fascinating that in ancient times when mortality rates were high, fertility was such a huge importance, and it showed with all the figurines our ancestors made, but today we treasure contraception to stem overpopulation.
Elizabeth recognized the hyena. I've got pictures of her being excited about the birds, too, but she thinks hyenas are funny (because of the sounds they make, mainly). I've done special research on about hyenas myself, over the last three years, and they will feature somewhere in my next book.
There were some creepy salamanders in the museum. This was one of them, misleadingly called the "Congo Eel." This species of salamander has almost totally lost its legs.
And THIS is what Nathan had longed to see for years. We learned some interesting (and sad) history surrounding the two lions and the situation that led them to kill numerous persons. It's believed the terrible drought and famine that was suffered in that time period led the two lions to kill and eat 135 people. They are adult male lions but likely did not have manes due to malnutrition.
These are the lions' skulls. The hides were cut up in rugs and had shrunk. It's amazing that the taxidermist actually made them look as good as they do. The actual lions, however, were larger.
It was mind-boggling to see how big some of the ancient sea animals were. We were able to see a modern whale skeleton, though, suspended from the museum ceiling, and I couldn't fit even close to all of it in one picture!
We would have liked to have had more time to study these.
Australopithecus afarensis. The skeleton on the left is the famous one known as "Lucy." The model on the right is a hypothetical way A. afarensis looked on the outside.
Adler Planetarium and Lake Michigan
We took a ride to the inside of this "Atwood Sphere," and looked at the star constellations rolling over our heads and down beside us. See Elizabeth run!
I've got so many pictures of the variety of sun dials and other time-keeping devices. I was amazed at the wide variety!
We all weighed ourselves in moon weight. Then the boys and Liv did some moon-jumping simulation (took video).
I feel so bad, because William kept talking about how he definitely wanted pictures of Lake Michigan, and the first two days were sunny, but the third day was like this (and cold and windy). I was frustrated for him. He was so good-natured about it, though.
Trusten is so fun to be around!
He's so full of energy!
Cold weather doesn't bother him (or William, but you'd think with Trusten being so thin he'd freeze). He's constantly burning through fuel, though, because he's constantly moving!
In Conclusion
The girls slept soundly together in the hotel. They're so precious to me!
Until next time...
