Thanksgiving Weekend in Chicago

With this being the last Thanksgiving weekend the Engelbert family will get to enjoy together for some years to come (Big Ten football extends the season for play over Thanksgiving), we decided to enjoy a couple of days in Chicago.

This is a popular photo opportunity when the family heads to the Windy City. Colin's highlight of the trip is to ride the "L" all over town. He is well-schooled in the many diferent lines that run through the city. Here he is waiting on the Purple Line with a transfer to the Red Line at Howard.
A very happy camper as he gets a window seat on the first leg of the trip.

Of course once on the Red Line, Colin knows Dad's favorite stop is at Addison, home of Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs.

Although it is the off-season for the Cubs - and many would say the Cubs always have an "off season" - it is still one of the greatest sights in all of sports.

After taking the train and then transferring to the city bus system, we arrive at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Of course a highlight of the museum was a replica of a train on the Burlington Route. Colin was content with seeing this and not paying to enter the rest of the museum. However there is a theme to this weekend, if you haven't figured it out yet.

The Christmas Tree set up in the center of the Museum of S&I.

An activity for the kids was the building with Legos. Among many of the exhibits, one was many city skylines built from Legos. Here Colin takes a stab at constructing his own building.

Built from Legos is the Chicago Skyline around a track of electric trains. In the foreground is a miniature Metra System located in the suburbs of town.

Colin awaits the "L" to come around the corner. There was also a set up of the Seattle skyline as well as many rural / country and mountainous settings.

Not as interesting to Colin is a series of model ships. He found it interesting, but not as mesmerizing as the many different toy trains and their layouts.

However the one demonstration that caught Colin's attention long enough to keep his mind off the trains was the process of building toys. For $5 Colin was able to watch his own Gravitron be made from start to finish, including packaging. Here he shows it off in front of one of the many Christmas trees on display. If you look closely, you will see a train running underneathe this tree, right behind Colin.

Once done at the Museum of S&I, we cabbed it to Daley Plaza. Since this is primarily a sports blog, it is important to continue with that theme. Having already seen Wrigley Field, this is the modern spaceship also know as Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears as well as the opening game of the Iowa Football 2007 season with Northern Illinois.

A German Cultural Festival of Christmas was in full force at Daley Plaza. Many gifts from the eastern European area as well as food and beer were available. All gifts and food were very authentic with lines long to buy a draw of Laurenbrau.

Colin admiring some of the hand-made ornaments for sale. He purchased his own small snowman.

Chicago's Christmas tree alit at Daley Plaza.

Colin also re-enacting a photo opportunity from earlier in the year in front of the Chicago Theater. This time Mom is in the picture rather than being the recipient of the final product.

Colin's Birthday Weekend in Chicago

Colin turned Five on Friday and he celebrated the event with a weekend in Chicago with Dad, the Cubs and all different types of transportation. As much as enjoys trains, planes and automobiles, this was the weekend for him, and of course a Cubs game was the weekend for Dad. The picture above is taken in front of the famous Chicago Theater after the Cubs game on Saturday. Colin wanted to ride the trains and where better to go than downtown Chicago.

Colin aboard the Blue Line "L"

Transferring to the bus for the ride down Addison Street.

Staying at a hotel near O'Hare allowed Colin to keep an eye on many airplanes landing.

And the luggage cart was his own "Blue Line train."

It was the Cubs and the Marlins playing the third of a four game series. The third base coach for Florida is former Iowa Defensive Back and Outfielder Bo Porter. Bo played for the Hawkeyes in the early to mid nineties. He has been with the Marlins for three seasons.

Peter Cetera formerly of the band Chicago led the crowd in Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch.

Here Colin and I take a picture from our seats, perhaps some of the worst in the ballpark. While trying to economize our trip to the Windy City, we decided to purchase the cheapest seats the Cubs had to offer, however, stay away from Row 9 of the Upper Deck Reserved in Section 509. Row 9 is the last row and those in Section 509 could not see the Center Field Scoreboard. On this sunny day with temperatures in the 60s, our seats backed up to a chain link fence with a cold wind howling into our backs. Colin did tough it out and we made it through seven plus innings.

And what I feel is the money picture from the entire weekend, Colin and I outside the Friendly Confines.

Of course we had to take time to do a little swimming. If we weren't riding on public transportation, we were in the pool.

But Colin needs time to relax following the game. Here he is showing off his new Cubs hat bought earlier in the day at Wrigley Field.

This was an exciting weekend for Colin. He was jumping for joy. Although it is difficult to see, there is definite seperation between his legs and the bed.

It was a long weekend, but it was a good weekend. Colin crashed hard every night.

For those of you with Facebook accounts, more pictures will be posted there.