Chicago aka Stinky Onion Land

(c) 2013 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

We had our first non-camping, non-relative-visiting family vacation in August... and guess where we went!

That's right - Chicago, IL!

Sure, it was less than 4 hours away, and it's very much still a Midwestern USA city, but it was someplace we'd never been (other than my wonderful 40th birthday fun bash), we were away from home, we stayed at a hotel for 4 (four!) nights, and there were museums and touristy things to do!

Day #1 - we left home, later than I'd planned on because I didn't know Mr. Kluges had as many things on his to-do-before-we-leave list as he did, but we arrived in Chicago late afternoon, checked into our hotel (kitty-corner from the Harold Washington Library with its giant owl corner decorations) and started seeing the sights!

First, we walked to the Buckingham Fountain, hung a left, and continued on to the Bean (aka Cloud Gate - see above for photo... one of about 4 that I was in the entire vacation*).  Following supper at a pizza/pasta joint, I convinced Mr. Kluges that it wasn't too late to walk to the Sears/Willis Tower...where their line management skills (aka hiding lines behind lines behind lines throughout different parts of the "experience"), led us (aka me) to believe we could maybe see the city at sunset from the 103rd floor.  We didn't make sunset, but gosh, the lights were pretty anyway!

Day #2 - The Field Museum!

The one thing the girls kept talking about seeing in Chicago was Sue, the world's largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus skeleton.  So we blocked out all of Saturday to go to the Field Museum.  We have an extended membership at our local kids' museum, which meant we could get in for free... plus paying for any extra shows/exhibits we wanted to add on.  We added on a package of all three extra exhibits (Caves of Lascaux, Bioluminescence, Underground Adventure) and one show - about Sue of course! 

The day was a complete success.  We walked down, arriving just before 10 (the museum opened at 9), and stayed The. Entire. Day.  The museum closes at 6, and our girls were like, "What? We have to leave now? But there's more to see!!!"  We figured they'd last until mid-afternoon at best, but were pleasantly surprised at how engaged they both were (even the 6 year old!) in the exhibits. We saw the show of course, but we managed to get to all three of the extra exhibits as well, plus maybe half? of the regular exhibits.  A day well-spent, and a place we'd definitely visit next time as well!

Our Cicada Girls, emerging from their exoskeletons in the Underground Adventure

Day #3 - Outside in the Heat

So, after a full museum day, I thought it would make sense to do non-museum-y stuff the next day.  So we got tickets for an architectural boat tour for the morning**, with plans to see the (free) Lincoln Park Zoo after, and fit in a little Navy Pier action at the end of the day.  Great plan... except for the heat.  It was HOT. 

  

RRRRROOOOAAARRRRRRR!!!!!

Blue snow cones are an awesome way to beat the heat!

Random public art fountain encountered on the way to Navy Pier

Navy Pier's Ferris Wheel - not as big as the one at the World's Fair back in the day!

Day #4 - The Sky and the Sea

When planning, we'd given the girls the choice on the last full day of going to the Adler Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, or the Museum of Science and Industry.  The second two especially had been recommended to us, but we decided to let them choose.  They picked the planetarium, which was fun.  We first did a quick walk-through of the very cool public library near our hotel, then did the (really too long) walk down to the Adler and enjoyed much of the day there.  Once again, our local kids' museum membership got us in for the basics, and we paid to add on a couple of shows. Really, this was only a half-day attraction, but we still had fun.

Looking out the windows at lunch, we'd seen a public beach very close to the Adler, and since I'd been carrying around the girls' swimsuits in our daypack, after our time at the Adler, we stopped by for a couple hours of fun playing in the waters of Lake Michigan to finish out our days in Chicago

Day #5 - The Return, with Bonus Friends!

While it's always hard for me to end vacations, we did have an added bonus for our last day - a visit with some very, very dear friends who'd moved away earlier this year.  G, her husband, and their adorable children were just a scant 5 minutes off the highway, as she'd reminded me when hearing about our trip.  How could we NOT stop and see them on their new/in-the-family farm? It was hard to leave, but we hope to visit them again soon (and stay longer next time!)

All in all, a wonderful first family vacation, with a lovely (if not as quiet as desired) hotel, lots of sights seen, relatively patient children, and many memories made and photos taken. The girls have already been talking about what they want to see whenever we go back - the Shedd Aquarium, revisiting the Field Museum, and seeing the Museum of Science and Industry top the list so far.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, I did have them dress alike most days to make it easier to find them in a crowd, and yes, we did plan their souvenirs-from-when-I-went-to-the-Field-Museum shirts for that day, and ones about the solar system for the planetarium day, and ones-from-Mr.K's-business-trip-to-Chicago for the first day, 'cuz they (and I) thought that was cool.

* Note: Both of the pix on the first day that I'm in were taken by lovely strangers, after I'd offered to take pix of them (a couple at the Bean, a woman on her own at the SkyDeck) first.  Too often the photographer isn't in the picture, and I'm happy to take a photo for somebody else... and then I'm not shy about asking them if they'd mind doing the same.  Works great!

** Where we learned that Chicago comes from a Native American word Chigagou meaning something along the lines of "field of the stinky onions."   

Kids and Money Skills, Part 1

(c) 2013 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Kids need to learn about money.  Just like they need to learn about cooking, cooperation, planning out long tasks, cleaning up after themselves, being a good friend, doing laundry, and all those other life skills.  I've been doing some thinking about kids and money skills, and how Mr. Kluges and I can help our girls learn about money at ages 8 & 5 and beyond.  

They get an allowance.  Or rather, they got a weekly allowance until we got lazy about remembering to give it to them.... and then they ...just kind of didn't anymore.  I wasn't keen on how things were going anyway - the girls just had some money, but didn't really have a plan to use it.  They'd get their allowance or some birthday money or something and they'd just squirrel it away in their banks.  They made plans to purchase big things, like a DS game thingie, or a large American Girl furniture item.  Granted, Pumpkin did use some of her money to buy her second American Girl doll a couple of years ago, so there was that, but it just seemed very haphazard and without any real-life-skill learning going on.

Also, our method was that they had to be done with that week's jobs (1/day during school year - for example, 5 minutes picking up your floor, or find your school library book the night before library day... but the summer had about 5/day including things like set the table) to get their allowance.  We weren't thrilled with that method though - we wanted the girls to see those jobs/chores as just something they needed to do as members of a family and people with responsibilities for their own living space.  But it was hard to remember to give their allowance if it wasn't tied into the completion of the chart.

Around Christmas time we were thinking about and talking about getting them a 3-part bank like one of these options.  They were kind of pricey though, especially to get two, and I wasn't quite pleased with them.  I want our kids to have pocket money to spend for things like the student council's pencil sales at school or when we go to the zoo for a souvenir.  I also want them to have some to donate, so that they are giving to/for things like our church's Haiti school meal program or Jump Rope for Heart at school.  I want them to have the chance to save for a larger item like that American Girl doll, but I also want them to save for the distant future - for something like college or a car - where they're not going to see the results for years.

There are a couple of four-part banks, but the reviews were poor, the size of the compartments looked small, and it would not be easy to get the money out to do anything with it.  So I decided we should make our own.

Some months ago, Mr. Kluges and the girls had come back from a trip to Home Depot with a Venus flytrap and pitcher plant kit.  (Did I mention I wasn't along?!)  It needed a terrarium sort of thing to keep it moist, so I'd ended up finding this clear acrylic box at  Hobby Lobby.  Worked great.   Mr. Kluges even drilled a few holes in it 'cuz it was too airtight.  So as I was pondering just how we could make some sort of four-compartment bank, that container popped into my mind.

Combine 8 clear acrylic boxes, some paint markers, and a couple of bands made out of pretty pink elastic and you've got yourselves two 4-part banks!  Mr. Kluges cut coin/bill slots in the tops of the lids and the girls each decorated their banks.  I wrote on their name and "Donate," "Spend," "Save," or "Invest" on each piece (making sure to do the top lids and the bottom bank parts!).  
 

 And now, since this is plenty long, I've still got to finish getting things ready for the morning, AND I've realized I don't have any pix of the finished banks, we'll just add "Part 1" to the title of this post, and I'll continue another day!  :)   

Sunday Brunch Visitors

(c) 2013 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Hurriedly finish up brunch-making on Sunday after church, I brought an egg-in-a-basket to the dining room, to plop it on a plate, when this view out the window caught my eye.

Hi! I see you have peanut butter toast crusts out here.  I'm sure the birds won't mind sharing!

Yeah, we had a deer visiting, right outside our dining room window.  I'd known at least one, probably two of our neighbors had been feeding the local deer, but apparently our peanut butter toast crusts, tossed out for the birds (and some greedy squirrels), smelled better.

Then his friend? sibling? decided to check it out, too.

Hey, that toast any good?

  

They didn't seem to mind that by this point we were all in the dining room watching them eat.

They didn't seem to mind when I moved closer either.

Oh, look! ANOTHER one!  This is getting ridiculous!

Hi, guys! What's up?!

So the three of them ate some toast, looked at us watching them, and finally decided to wander off somewhere that had not so many paparazzi.

I fear for my garden this summer. 

Recipe Request aka Thanks for the Topic!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

In the comments for the previous post, recipes were requested for Vanilla-Brown Sugar Squash and Thymely Roasted Sweet Potatoes.  Well, I must warn you, dear requestor, that the lovely names might have deceived you a tish... these are both totally made-up by me/aka mental recipes.

But, not one to disappoint my readers/commentors (maybe particially because they are are rare & also precious!), here you go:

Vanilla-Brown Sugar Squash

Cook a butternut squash.  For me, that means halve a butternut squash and scoop out the seeds. Put both halves cut-side down in a 9x13" pan with about 1/2 inch of water and cook for an hour, or until soft.  Scoop the flesh out of the skin and discard the skin.  (You can totally do this ahead of time or, as in the case of this Turkey Day feast, use leftover squash.)  Mash/mix the squash with butter.  LOTS of butter, and a fair amount of brown sugar and a decent splash of vanilla.  Mash until you deem the texture suitable, adding more butter as needed. (Julia Child note: more butter is good!). I made ours early with leftover squash & kept it warm in a minicrockpot, which worked very well.

Thymely Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes

Peel two giant-sized, 3 regular, or 4 smallish sweet potatoes. Cut into 1/4" to 1/2" dice.  This should  be about enough to cover a 9x13"pan at pretty much a single layer.  Pour on some olive oil and sprinkle on some (fresh, preferably, but dried is fine) thyme & some (preferably coarse-grained/kosher) salt.  Bake at 350F (very adaptable to more/less heat), stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are soft & have acquired at least one roasted/caramelized/not-quite-burnt-but-really-brown side.

There you go! I thought it was a nice way to take two rather similar (orange/yellow vegetables) dishes and give them quite different flavors/spins.  Enjoy!

     

THANKSgiving

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

There are SO many things in my life for which I'm thankful - family, friends, health, plenty.  But today, I'm especially thankful that our noon-meal Thanksgiving feast was wonderful & went off without a hitch.  Here's the menu....

Mahogany Turkey with Vegetable Gravy  (basically this)

Garlic Mashed Potatoes*

Thymely Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes

Vanilla-Brown Sugar Butternut Squash

Roasted Radishes

Daddy's Broccoli*

Raw Cranberry-Orange Relish

Crescent Rolls

Crudites

Grandma Yori's Homemade Pickles

Pumpkin Pie from a Garden Pumpkin*

 It was all delicious (even if the sweet potatoes were a bit salty) & we even ate at 12:10, which is amazing considering how many dishes there were to prepare & coordinate.  Granted, I might have had a bit more food than we needed, since there were only 4 adults & 2 kids, but hey, Thanksgiving feast leftovers are the bomb.

I hope that all of you American readers had equally delicious Turkey Day feasts!  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 *made by Mr. Kluges

**Edited to add links to requested recipes.  

Shiny Wings Are Shiny!

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

Photo #24

Vote.

(c) 2012 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com

I am waiting to vote tomorrow.

I am waiting to vote until I can bring both of my daughters with me, to the polling place, to cast my vote, my say for the future of our nation.

140 years ago today, Susan B. Anthony voted illegally.  She was later arrested and found guilty of illegal voting due to her gender. 100 years and about a month before my birth.  It wasn't until 1920, a single year before my old, historic house was built, that women officially received the right to vote.

I am voting tomorrow because it is my right, my privilege, and my duty.  _I_, as a citizen of the United States, have the opportunity to make my tiny voice heard. Sure, my single vote is an itsy-bitsy percentage of my county, let alone of my state, or of the nation as a whole.  Put that way, it seems ludicrous to bother.

Yet the direction of this nation is made up of all those individual votes just as the tide is made up of individual droplets of water.  Sure, I have my own opinion and hopes as to the results of this election and to the individual races being run, but what matters, in the end, is that I spoke up.  I had my say, made my choices, took part in our democracy.

Because one of the most important things is that I have the right and the opportunity to vote.  MY vote counts as much as any other, cast by anyone of any particular creed, gender, race, orientation, tax bracket, influence, BMI, political afflication or favorite football team.  

To not vote would be to throw that all away.  Please, if you are an American citizen, vote.