Archive for the 'Family Fun' Category
When Jenn and Teddy were here, we spent a day at the Navy Pier. One of the things I wanted to make sure we saw was The Crystal Gardens.
I couldn’t figure out how we missed seeing them when we were in Chicago for BlogHer ‘07, since they are right across from the entrance to the Children’s Museum where we spent a considerable amount of time.
But we did miss them and that’s too bad… I wonder what it looks like in there at night… is it open at night? I should find out and we should go back.
The gardens themselves are interesting enough. The spitting fountains were amusing. The glass ceiling with the huge fans was pretty interesting. The views were as awesome as you’d expect.
Very soon after moving to Chicagoland, we found ourselves a wee bit lost in that we’re not lost but we don’t know exactly where we are sort of way. I think it might have been right after we dropped the u-Haul off and we were headed home. Or headed home via some cicuitous route that would lead us to find some place new and interesting, something to eat and also provide us with excuses to not be at home unpacking boxes in a house we didn’t want to live in.
Whatever. We were driving around and instead of heading toward Cook County, we headed toward Lake County and found ourselves in Northbrook right on the edge of Deerfield. I remember seeing a sign for Nickel City and thinking a) arcade? b) some discount kind of shopping place? c) something else entirely? and not thinking about it again.
Shortly after, in some junk mail circular or junk coupon mailing, we discovered Nickel City was in fact an arcade. Every week there’s some new coupon for Nickel City savings and I’ve mostly ignored it.
Last month I actually visited the website to see if it might be worth checking out rather than ignoring. It seemed to be, worth checking out, I mean.
Arcade games that use nickels and not stupid tokens.
$2 admission fee per person.
Ticket games.
FREE old arcade games.
It sounded too good to be true so I didn’t take any real initiative and plan an adventure. TW, on the otherhand, decided this would be a fun outing for Liz’s birthday. So… we went.
I forgot the coupon at home, which was stupid but whatever it was still cheap. It wasn’t crowded AT ALL. The games did in fact take nickels and there were really free arcade games available. Lots of them. Pac-Man and Miss Pac-Man, even.
The games cost anywhere from one nickel to six. We each had a $5 bag of nickels and a couple dollars of nickels that I grabbed from our change bag. I didn’t use most of mine and gave them to the girls, who both ran out of nickels at just about the same time. TW also ran out of nickels and put another dollar or two into the machine to grab some more (because she couldn’t find me, which was weird but possible in that TW can’t find anyone sort of way.)
We all had a good time, playing games. The girls got more tickets than they’ve ever gotten before from an arcade experience and were pleased with the prizes they cashed them in for.
We spent right at $20 for four of us to spend about two hours playing all the games we could possibly play.
Nickel City = WIN.
I’ve never met a Botanical Garden I really loved. I’ve visited quite a few and while they were nice to visit, I never felt compelled to go back. That all changed with a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden and boy was that a shock.
Who would have guessed the arctic north would have such a wonderul place. Just a few miles from my house? And, as our fabulous tour guide said (over and over again) it’s all FREE! And we definitely intend to take advantage of the FREE! Pst, she really was fabulous. Great fun. The right type of attitude and personality for a tour guide. (More Videos of Chicago Botanic Garden, including a bunch of train shots.)
OK it’s only free if you don’t need to park a car. If you do need to park a car, it’s $20 a shot. Or if you don’t want to take one of the trams that carries you around the gardens. But, with a membership, the parking is FREE! And the trams come at a discounted price.
We did in fact buy a membership and we’re looking forward to many more visits this year - maybe even in the winter, when it’s snowy and icy.
The day we took my mom, we were there for hours and hours and we didn’t even make a dent in seeing everything - and we were exhausted. I think TW and I are going to make a spreadsheet and pick one piece of the garden to visit on each trip. That’s the only way to see everything. There’s just so much and it’s such a lovely place to visit.
The cafeteria isn’t great (but it has Wifi.) The library looks interesting but by the time we got there, we just wanted to sit in the air conditioning and rest for a bit. We were there during an orchid show and that was pretty interesting too.
We went back today, just me and TW, for the Farmer’s Market and that was nice. Small, only about 8-10 booths, including the Youth Garden kids who work at the Botanic Garden and sell the stuff they grow. I think we’ll probably sign up for a CSA box this fall… now that will be interesting.
I have always wanted to go to a Renegade Craft Fair. Moving to Chicago made that possible. Except, when the fair was scheduled in September, a hurricane hit and the entire area was flooded (including our basement) and so we did not go. The Renegade Craft Fair is cool but not cool enough to attend outside during that kind of weather.
When TW told me that there was a Renegade Craft Fair HOLIDAY Sale at Pulaski Park ie INDOORS, I was totally up for it.
Unfortunately, it’s freezing and there’s no parking around Pulaski Park. Bah. This is what I really hate about living here. I don’t mind walking 10 blocks but 10 blocks in freezing wind just plain stinks.
The field house itself is pretty interesting and I think a good location for such a craft fair. Rooms that aren’t too big or too small and are spread out enough that there aren’t a lot of bottle necks as people move from one room to another.
We stopped just inside the door and looked at the “official” tshirts and then talked to the woman at the Yelp table and got a free Yelp back, which was nice since we forgot to bring a bag.
And then we entered the first room. Oh my. So many cool things. It’s been a very long while since I’ve found so many things that I wanted to buy (or try to make) at a craft fair. TW and I collected a lot of cards so that we can explore the artist’s websites (and actually buy stuff once we have money again.) Liz also collected some cards and spent a lot of time trying to decide which vendor she liked the best. She’s quite the discriminating shopper, who knew?
Here are some links from the cards I collected at the fair.
The Renegade Craft Fair rocks.
When our move to the Chicago area was only a rumor, we did what smart women do - we turned to Google. We googled everything and one of the first restaurants we got really interested in was Walker Bros. The Original Pancake House.
We are big breakfast fans and the very idea that we would not be anywhere near a Waffle House scared us to the core of our very southern bodies.
Walker Bros. was one of the first restaurants we ate at when we arrived in the area for our house hunting visit. The Glenview branch is very, very close to the house we decided to rent and if truth be known, one of the reasons why I was in favor of renting this little yellow house.
On our first visit we were seated relatively quickly (for Walker Bros. which is ALWAYS packed) in a very nice corner booth and we took our time figuring out what to order. I went for the spinach crepes because I have yet to find spinach crepes that I love and I’m ever hopeful. These are not spinach crepes that I love. They were fine but not love-worthy. TW ordered some pancake variation and enjoyed her meal much more than I did mine.
We’ve been back to Walker Bros. several times, taking various combinations of all of the kids with us and we’ve always enjoyed our breakfasts. We’ve had everything from the pumpkin pancakes to the challah french toast to the chocolate chip crepes to the apple pancake.
Just writing this post makes me wonder if it isn’t time for another trip to Walker Bros. Original Pancake House. Saturday morning, possibly?