Chicago

 We had invite-a-guest at church one weekend in November.  We had Tim and Sonia as guests and we enjoyed our time with them.  Christian fellowship is a true blessing.  I hope we never take it for granted, and take advantage of the opportunities that we have.

D#1 and four granddaughters invited us to ride along with them on a trip to Chicago.  We used to take our family up occasionally, and we would go up for Farm Bureau and Grain and Feed conventions.   But it has been quite a few years since we have been up to the big city.  The plan was to drive to Water Tower place, eat lunch, and then shop at the American Girl Doll store followed by the Lego store.  We ate at Wildberries Cafe, and even the young girls realized that paying $181 for lunch was expensive!  After a couple hours there, we headed down Michigan Avenue (the Magnificent Mile) to Millennium Park.  After finding the underground parking, we walked to the "Bean" ( Cloud Gate sculpture).  The granddaughters were pretty impressed with everything as this was their first time in the big city.  

The Chicago skyline reflected in the "Bean".

Then it was on to The Art Institute of Chicago, one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States, for a little culture.  It was a free day at the Art Institute, so that saved us a lot of money!  The young girls especially wanted to see the Thorn miniature rooms and the Arms and Armor gallery.  I wanted to see some of the more famous paintings, including A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Nighthawks, American Gothic, Song of the Lark (which we have a print of in our bedroom) and others.  I was able to make it through a majority of the galleries, but have never seen the entire collection yet.

Still Life with Dead Game, Fruits, and Vegetables in a Market

The beautiful Tiffany window.

We headed out of downtown late afternoon.  It was Veterans Day, so the traffic was not as bad as it could have been.  D#1 did a good job driving into and out of the city, and we stopped for fast food on the way home.  A good time was had by all!

Son#1 and the old farmer did some deer hunting on opening weekend.  We both passed on some shots and ended up with nothing for the freezer.  We will try again second season.  

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.             Genesis 11:15