museum of natural curiosity.

In case you haven't heard, Thanksgiving Point is opening a brand new children's museum this spring called the Museum of Natural Curiosity. Through some high-profile connections (thanks Dad!) the Erdmann clan was able to get a private sneak peek/tour of the museum at the beginning of March. Folks, this is no simple children's museum. This is an all-hands-on interactive family playground museum. It was a BLAST. And not just for the littles. David and I were laughing and running and exploring just as much as the rest of them. We were so busy having fun, I took hardly any pictures, but here are a few:

David squeezed himself into the cockpit of this little airplane perched high in the trees of the jungle-themed room. The room included several treetop rope bridges, lots of climbing structures, and slides.

Sandbox? Topographical map? Or both? Don't worry. The topography changes as you move the sand around. As if that's not cool enough, you can make it rain and see where the water falls.

One of our favorite areas in Kidopolis: the automatic orchestra. Just tap the screen when you want an instrument to play and conduct an orchestra, right in front of you.

Waterworks is a room focused on weather and water. Major splash zone. But our favorite was this wind tunnel that imitates wind forces up to 95 mph. Because you've always wondered what that felt like.

The museum is very kid friendly, right down to the doors on your way it. It's adorable.

While we didn't take a lot of pictures, we took plenty of videos. If you're not convinced of the joy of this place yet, let that fact be evidence. I've narrowed it down to two for sharing. The first (sorry it's sideways) is David goofing off on the rope bridges. The second is possibly my favorite activity in the building. It's fine.

 

 

So... there it is. You should go.

chicago.

Every year the art history department sponsors a trip to the College Art Association's big conference in February. Every year I have wanted to go and haven't been able to for one reason or another. This year's conference was in Chicago and I was determined I would attend. When we found we found really great airfare, we determined David ought to come along too. And so our adventure began.

We found a great deal on a lovely hotel. River view. 38th floor. We spent our first evening in Chicago standing at the window watching this:

And also this:

 

Yup. Every day we watched the ice move up and down that river. Chicago was freezing cold. The worst part was that all the locals told us how lucky we were we came during a warmer week. But we did our best to not let the cold prevent us from seeing the best of the city. Dave and I were pretty gung-ho until he came down with a really bad cold at the end of our first day and spent the next day and a half in bed. Which meant that I spent my time going back and forth between the conference center for sessions and the hotel to bring him food and medicine.

AND YET, despite the plot twists our adventure developed, we still managed to have a pretty good time:

Deep dish pizza at Giordano's. Our reactions are mirrored here in the faces of Christy and Daxson. SO MUCH CHEESE.

Chicago dogs and custard with the gang.

Millennium Park and the Cloud Gate at sunset. There was an outdoor skating rink on the other side that we had great ambitions to visit, but it just sounded so cold...

Selfies. Couples problems.

Tried to be romantic.

Please note again, the ice. This was on the way home from our Valentine's dinner at The Grand Luxe.

Toured the Chicago Art Institute - definitely a highlight.

Ate really expensive dessert at the top of the Hancock Tower.

Visited the Frank Lloyd Wright Studio. Loved it. Again. So did Dave.

The only non-selfie we have.

So, I'm actually a little more impressed with what we did after writing this post... Though I do realized most of these pictures are scenic. But let's be honest. We spent most of our time doing this:

Admiring.