My parents came to visit a couple of weeks ago since they hadn’t seen their granddaughter since her birthday 7 months ago. Emiko has really changed since they last saw her. She now walks and runs normally instead of doing the baby sumo walk. She can also drink from a cup. The other big thing is that she is starting to assert her independence which is not the most fun when trying to eat out.
On Friday we went to Superdawg because my parents had seen it on the Food Network. It was good, as usual. Then we went to the Museum of Science and Industry since the weather was not that great. Emiko loved running around, especially in the rotunda on the top floor. She also enjoyed the idea factory a lot. Plastic balls floated down some water to the end, and she could take the balls and place them in an air tube which would shoot the balls back to the top. Traffic home was a nightmare, though. Friday traffic + rain = misery.
Since Saturday broke the record for most rain in Chicago in one day, we pretty much stayed indoors except for a brief trip to Target for some fall clothes for Emiko. Then Alex came over to babysit while we went out to dinner at Takashi. We had a great time and the food was very good, although we paid $14 for a pork belly appetizer that was basically a deconstructed char-siu bao. The flavor was excellent, though.
My parents left the next morning, and now we get to transform our guest room into Emiko’s new bedroom. We checked out some wallpaper prices at Lowes, but even for her small room it was going to cost over $300 so we updated our plans and are doing mostly paint with only some wallpaper. Any visitors from now on will have to crash on the couch!
Apparently Shadow Traffic pulled out of the Chicago market last Friday and has been replaced by NAVTEQ Traffic. I know that Abby Ryan had missed a significant number of days this summer, and I wonder if that was the reason why. Most of her fill-ins were no match for Abby’s style, although every once in awhile you could hear the breathy voice of Jill Egan (of the canceled Q101 Brooke and Jill show).
My favorite memories of her are when Steve Shadley, former news anchor at WBEZ, would try to hit on her. Frequently there would be uncomfortable silence before she said anything. Anyway, I missed Abby Ryan’s last traffic report on Chicago Public Radio WBEZ but it can be found here.
So the end of the world did not happen yesterday when the Large Hadron Collider performed its first experiment, although the actual smashing of protons together will not be until October 21st. But how does the LHC actually work? Well, the following rap explains the workings of the LHC in a surprisingly straightforward way!
Does this mean she was for it before she was against it? She may indeed be for reform, but saying “thanks but no thanks” in regards to the 223 million dollar earmark for the Gravina Island Bridge is flat out lying, especially since Alaska took that money anyway to use at their discretion for road projects.
At least the Obama campaign is trying to show she’s a hypocrite with this ad using the picture above.
On Saturday we went to Six Flags Great America (about 45 minutes away) because earlier this Summer I had won a free ticket from Heinz (retail price $54.99.) Since this was also one of the last weekends that Six Flags was open, it was only $29.99 for Amy’s ticket. Emiko was free, but once she turns 2 she’ll have to pay $34.99! Parking is $15-$25 depending on how close you want to park to the entrance.
The first thing we did was go on the carousel since it’s right at the entrance. We then headed to Wiggles World where I had to cram into a couple of rides with Emiko. There was also a play pirate ship there, so Emiko ran around there for awhile, although there were many older kids there who kept almost running her over so we left that area. The Wiggles show was about to start by that time, anyway, so we sat down and watched Emiko dance along to the show for a bit.
We ate pricey and decidedly sub-par cheeseburgers at Johnny Rockets, and the chocolate shake came from a machine. Emiko picked at her popcorn chicken and ate mostly french fries. She really likes dipping things in ketchup; usually she’ll just eat the ketchup and keep dipping the same thing over and over. It’s kind of gross, actually. Next time we’ll bring our own food and go back to the car to eat lunch.
We then went to a couple of the other kid-friendly attractions. It’s hard to tell if Emiko really enjoyed any of the rides because she puts on a very serious face while on them - no smiling or laughing. She must have enjoyed Scooby Doo’s Mystery Machine ride, though, in which the van goes up and around, because she immediately ran to get back in line to go again.
There was one ride that we went on that Emiko didn’t enjoy, The Jester’s Wild Ride. This ride rocks back and forth while spinning around. Although she didn’t fuss or cry, she did try to get off the ride by getting off the seat and sliding under the bar. I tried to sit her back down and she went limp in an attempt to prevent me from doing so. She was a trooper, though, and finished the ride without a fuss.
Afterward, we decided to go home as it was really time for Emiko’s nap and she was getting a bit cranky. I didn’t get to ride any roller coasters this time. The one I would have ridden, the new Dark Knight coaster, wasn’t running anyway. Even so, it was a fun time. Emiko was eying all of the bigger rides so I bet next time we go she’ll want to ride everything!
