Star Wars is not just for kids

So we went to Wally world the other day (we like to refer to it as the great Satan aka Walmart) and were looking for the Spiderwick Chronicles for Jack. He watched it while we were in Wisconsin and could not stop talking about it. Anyway, we happened upon the toy section where, o and behold, there was a giant 2 1/2 foot Millennium Falcon for sale. Lest you think this is something Jack is really into let me straighten you out a bit.

Jack does like Star Wars. He watches one of the six movies at least 2-3 times a week. He knows the story lines and the names of all the main characters and whether said characters are good or evil... and yes, he uses the word evil when describing them. Apparently bad is just not strong enough descriptively to get his meaning across. Jack was even excited when he went to his Grandma's house and found all of Andy's old Star Wars toys. It was like he hit the mother load. Of course, these are Grandma's house toys and do not come home with us... we wouldn't have the room even if he wanted to. So the toys stay there and he gets sad and really wants to bring them, but he eventually understands and gets a brand new C3PO from his grandma anyway. He talks to him like he is real and C3PO talks back via Jack and they are the best of friends until he loses him 3 days later.

Anyway, back to Walmart and the giant Millennium Falcon. Do we get it for Jack to play with or is it too expensive of a toy to bother getting him when he's so young? it is $150!! Those were the thoughts going through my head. These were the thoughts going through Andy's head: That is way cooler then the one I got as a kid. It lights up and makes sounds. It's bigger then the original. This is so cool. I bet Jack would love it. It is only $150.

So did we get it?
You bet we got it and Andy...I mean, Jack loved it!
The cockpit has lights inside that turn on when you open it up and there is even a platform that lowers for the action figures to get in and out that makes a noise when you push a button. There are about ten different places that you can push buttons for motion and sound. the back of it lights up blue when you 'start' the engine and fly. You can see here though that there is no way Jack will be ever to lift this ship up and fly it anytime soon. It is pretty heavy as well.Yes that is Alex in the background and yes, he loved it too. Mostly he liked to push the buttons on the ship and make Chewbacca and R2D2 talk and whistle.
Jack wanted to take a picture with Han Solo and his mini ship. The mini ship docks into the side of the Millennium Falcon and makes a noise when the hatch opens or closes and also when you dock or undock it from the Millennium Falcon. Good thing it came with something smaller otherwise I'd probably be carrying the big ship around while Jack tells me where we are going.
Jack wanted a picture of just Han Solo and his mini ship. I don't recall the Millennium Falcon ever having a smaller ship within itself, but I am not as big of a Star Wars buff as some in this household apparently are.
At least Andy lets the illusion of this toy being for Jack live. I thought for sure it was going to be put up on top of our entertainment center for all to see. Way to share Babe. You make me proud.

Oh and just in case anyone is wondering... we did find the Spiderwick Chronicles and Jack made us put it on immediately. Thank you cousin Jimmy for that suggestion.

Chicago...Wicked!

So we finally took our trip to Chicago so that I could see Wicked. We got into Milwaukee in the afternoon and I had felt sick all day long. The plane ride did not help me at all. My ears would not pop the entire time and they hurt when we finally landed in Milwaukee. I had planned on shopping for an outfit to wear to the play but ended uptaking some Theraflu and knocking out for about three hours.

I had a little to eat and then helped the kids get to bed and ended up there myself. I felt 50% better the next day and went to Kohl's and bought a dress and some shoes. We (Andy, Mark, and I) drove the two hours to Chicago and checked into our hotel. We stayed at Hotel 71, which is right on the river, and our room had fantastic views of the river and Trump Tower which was across from us.
We had some time before the show tarted so we took a little walk around downtown. We went to Millenium park and saw 'the Bean', which is just a giant mirrored sculpture of a weird raindrop looking thing. The reason it is called the bean is because when you walk underneath it there is an indent that makes it look like a giant silver bean.
You can barely tell us from the rest of the tourists, but Andy and I are in this picture.
This is the Milleniem Park outdoor stage. Even this is a work of art.


We walked all through Millenium Park and there was even a garden for Mark to go crazy in.

We walked on to Grant Park and saw Buckingham Fountain that was in the opening credits of Married With Children. It is much bigger then I expected and I had to stand several hundred yards away to get the whole thing in my picture.



We walked back through downtown and stopped to eat at a pub that was located right underneath the L train. It was actually nice inside even though outside it looked like a dive and you couldn't even hear the train go by.

We went back to the hotel to change and headed out to the play. The Ford Theatre was only two blocks away which was great. I had thought that people would really be dressed up to go to the theatre but apparently I am behind the times and it is appropriate to wear cargo shorts and a T-shirt to see theatre productions. Who knew?

The play was fantastic. It was so funny. The actress who played Galinda (aka Glinda the Good Witch) was hilarious. Andy and Mark both laughed out loud as well as myself. I have to admit that the play took some extreme liberties with the storyline from the book. the last half of the play was completely different from the book. I'm not going to spoil either one if you haven't read the book or seen the play, but I was very hapy with the results. We had good seats too. We were on the second level center of the stage one row back. Andy did have to switch me seats becasue some guy sat right in front of me and was too tall for me to see. Once that was fixed I had an excellent time. i did take a few pictures with my phone even though it was made very clear that we were not supposed to. I couldn't help myself though. The theatre was so beautiful and I needed something besides the playbill to scrapbook with when I got home. So the following are all illegally taken. Don't tell.

This is the Time CLock Dragon. It moves and lights up. Very elaborate.
This is the ceiling of the Ford theatre. I had to take a picture because it was so beatiful and it reminded me of a Celtic knot.
This is the wall to the left of the stage.
This is a scene where Glinda is making an announcement to the people of Oz.
Dorothy's house that dropped on the Wicked Witch of the East aka Nessa Rose.
I was trying to get a good shot of the flying monkey but it was very difficult.
The Wizard of Oz's machine that he uses to talk to visitors. It was really intricate. The head moved around and the mouth moved when it talked and you got to see it from the front and the back.

After the play we filed out with the rest of the riffraff and walked backk down Michigan Avenue to go back to our hotel. We stopped by the Chicago sign because I just had to get a picture of us in front of it.
Andy and Mark.
This is a night view from our hotel room. It was so nice. Not bad from just picking it off the internet.


The next day we had breakfast next door at a little restaurant and then checked out of our hotel. We drove to Soldier Field and spent the best part of the day going through the Field Museum. It is a very large museum and if anyone plans on visiting, you will need the majority of the day just to see everything. We got tickets to see all the extra attractions and left with a bunch of pictures and a couple of souveniers. I got a little jade frog. Andy got a stone coaster with a dragon on it. Mark got a votive candle holder made of polished rock and took another back for his mom, Ann.
Andy with a Navy plaque on the Soldier Feild wall.
Soldier Field.
The Field Museum entrance.
Two very small people in front of regular sized totem poles.

I had a good time and we got to do a lot in a little amount of time. Even though I was still sick and didn't feel well, I was able to enjoy myself. It was nice having a little time away from the kids, even though I missed them terribly. And it was good to spend time with my brother-in-law and good for Andy too. We get to see them so very little that we have to make the time quality.