lincoln park ..

you can't go to chicago without going to the lincoln park zoo ..

in my opinion .. the lincoln park zoo is the best zoo .. ever ..

the kids and i jumped on the barn yard scale .. 

we weigh just a milk bucket more than a goat and her kid .. 

gorilla feet and stinky boy hands .. 

gorilla feet and pretty girl hands .. 

cash is watching this guy and then all of a sudden he hollars ..

oh mom .. he is picking his nose and eating his burgers .. 

all the people in the chimp house turn and look my way .. 

yes .. that's my son i say .. 

like a gorilla would use a kleenex .. 

next exhibit i say ..

the polar bears are my favorite .. 

this guy was a swimming fool .. 

when he swam by the glass you could see his black skin underneath all his white fur ..

ellie asked cash if he knew why the polar bear had black skin ..

cash's response was .. because he doesn't use soap when he takes a bath ?

no cash .. ellie says .. 

his black skin absorbs the heat which helps to keep him warm in the tundra ..

what ?? cash says ..

oh cash .. ellie's patience is wanning by the minute .. 

yes .. cash .. that is called an adaptation .. the black skin helps the polar survive 

the freezing temperatures ..

the tundra is a biome cash .. there are 7 ..

cash then cuts ellie off mid-sentence and says ..

hey dad .. where's the gatorade ..

it would be fair to say that there was imparting of knowledge to cash .. 

ellie just rolled her eyes .. 

gee .. i wonder why .. 

the best part of going to the zoo is that we walk thru the prettiest neighborhood .. 

full of old brownstones that have been meticulously maintained and loved .. 

i am going to live in this one .. 

just in case you want to stop by and visit me on the way to the zoo .. 

the field museum ..

we had planned on going to the shedd aquarium .. the line was way way way long ..

 the wait was at least 2 hours .. it was like we were at disney world or something .. 

so we came up with plan B .. 

welcome to the field museum .. sue says 

why you look lovely today mrs. spielmann ..

and oh ellie .. i love your shorts ..

and cash .. did you wash your body with soap last night like your momma said .. 

because you smell like dirt .. i might just have to have a nibble or two .. 

i am happy to report that sue did not eat cash ..

nor were they eaten by the giant mastadon's ..

as i stood at the top of the steps and watched my children scamper out of the museum i was thinking to myself about how much i love chicago .. 

i love the chicago sky line .. i love the chicago food .. i love the chicago people ..

i love that we can walk from our hotel .. along lake michigan .. all the way to the museum and the shedd aquarium .. 

i love that you can walk 2 blocks over from your hotel and get a big bowl of cake batter yogurt with fruity pebbles on top .. 

i love the sounds of the city ..

as i was pondering all the things that i love about chicago i was also trying to walk .. down the steps ..

i crashed right after the fruity pebbles .. 

stay focused on the task at hand jenny ...

onto chicago ..

we left indy on sunday morning and drove about 3 hours or so to chicago .. 

we hit downtown chicago and this is what we see ..

hey mom cash says .. that car's on fire .. yes it is cash ..

where's the fire truck ..

good question ..

they got just a little nervous when jeff and the kids walked in .. maybe it was their bikes .. 

the kids rode their bikes along lake michigan all the way down

 to the field museum and the shedd aquarium

indy ..

no .. we did not zip off to the indy film festival for spring break .. 

that would not have been a bad idea though ..

we zipped off to indianapolis indy .. 

you know .. where the super cross is ..

and all those loud kids that were running up and down the halls late at night ..

we walked around town a bit to check it all out .. 

cash and ellie were taking turns with my little camera taking pictures .. 

a very nice lady said .. 

would you like me to take a picture of you and your kids .. i jumped at the chance 

this is where we spent saturday .. 

of all the tracks that we have seen this year .. i like this one the best .. 

we were lucky enough to get "pit passes" to the pits .. the pits at indy are closed .. 

there was no pit party like in dallas and st louis .. 

this is the kawasaki camp .. 

this is ryan villopoto's coach .. he is the points leader and most

 likely will be the super cross champion this year ..

and this super cross fans is ryan villopoto hanging out with my kids .. 

our kawasaki rep talked to the indy kawasaki rep and this is what happened ..

yes .. i know he is not wearing a shirt and his pants are unzipped .. 

he just got back from turning practice laps .. 

he rolled in on his kawasaki .. talked a few things over with his chief mechanic ..

tore off his jersey and then walked our way and said hello .. my name is ryan ..

yes .. he works out .. i am so wishing how that i had handed the camera to jeff and said here ..

 take my picture with ryan .. 

but i couldn't talk .. i just stood there snapping pics .. 

he is a super cross movie star !!

and we got to hang out with him for a bit ..

we also got a tour of the big kawasaki rig .. it's like their service department on wheels ..

i asked him if he did his homework and took out the trash .. and he said yes .. always .. 

i was hoping this part would sink into cash .. 

he even signed cash's hat ..

after hanging out with ryan we got to walk the track .. 

cash got in a bit of trouble for playing in the dirt .. 

"hey kid"  .. you in the green he said .. stop playing in the dirt.. 

so he stopped playing in the dirt and picked up rocks instead .. 

ryan asked if we could pick up all the rocks on the track for him ..

cash's pockets were full .. 

it was exhausting work .. 

A perfect day ..

We headed to the Lincoln Park zoo today .. The weather is perfect .. I don't want to go home to the cold and rain !!





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The windy city ..

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Indy SuperX

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behind the scenes ..

this is the last of the supercross from st. louis .. thank goodness i hear you say .. 

i know .. 

get excited though because we leave for the supercross in indianapolis on friday ..

yes .. you heard me right .. jeff promises this is the last one for awhile .. 

while we were in st. louis though we were "lucky" enough to get a behind the scenes tour of sorts ..

we got to go behind the ropes .. 

and be where the "special" people get to be .. 

this is inside the kawasaki hauler .. this is the service department on wheels for the guys who ride ..

it is so clean you could sit and have a picnic on the floor .. 

everything is labeled and organized .. i double checked them and yes there were nuts in the the nut drawer .. maybe if i labeled drawers like this at my house things would be put away .. 

probably not .. 

the riders meeting area .. 

the printout of their lap times .. 

the rider hangout area .. cash is pretty sure that is ryan villopoto's jersey up there .. he asked jeff if anyone would notice if he went in there and put it into his bag ..

i said yes cash .. ryan villopoto would .. what would he race in .. 

this is dennis .. our kawasaki rep .. he was the one that worked the magic and got us behind the scenes .. 

thanks dennis !!

because ..

i will have to say the st. louis supercross is kinda cool .. as far as supercrosses go .. 

there are many reasons for that but that is for later .. 

the 2nd best part is that our hotel is right across the street .. literally ..

 which means that you can get back to your room speedy quick when it is over and shower off all the dirt and exhaust .. not that you go home covered in dirt and exhaust .. 

plus .. the other best part is that mom and dad went with us .. 

cash got a new hat .. which has not left his head since he bought it ..

the pits at st. louis are inside .. so no need to worry about the rain or cold like dallas .. 

where the pits are outside  .. 

the pit party is quite a production ..

and you can get in for free if you have a monster can ..

so .. find someone you work with .. make them drink monster .. 

put the un-rinsed out can into your car .. 

let it roll around in the back for 2 weeks dripping sticky.. way to sweet smelling monster energy drink all over the place ..

then you to can get in for free ..

- or -

you can buy a pit pass for 10 bucks and totally avoid the mess ..

but .. that is not near as much fun .. 

the track ..

static electricity .. this was to funny .. every time ellie turned her head .. her hair followed her .. 

racers .. or now a vintage racer .. and a future racer .. 

and more motorcycles flying thru the air ..