A Long Overdue Visit to Milwaukee

My mom died when I was two. I would try to keep in touch with that side of the family, but it was hard. The last time I saw my grandma was in 1996. After Geek Girl was born we kept saying we had to go visit her, but we never got around to it. So part of our reason for picking Chicago as a destination was its proximity to Milwaukee.

On Friday night my aunt and uncle had driven down to Chicago for a meeting and they took us out to dinner in Chinatown. Saturday morning we had breakfast in the condo and had fun watching a "boat" parade pass by below.


After my aunt and uncle picked us up we drove up to Milwaukee to see my grandma. She's 96 years old and still doing great. I think she was quite happy to meet Daddy Geek and obviously very happy to meet Geek Girl.

Here are some pictures of the family reunion.

(Addition by Daddy Geek: note that four generations of Mama Geek's family are in this picture!)


Tai Po had fun stealing kisses from Geek Girl. We thought Geek Girl was rubbing them off, but she said that she said she was rubbing them in.

My uncle is recently retired and one of his projects has been scanning in family pictures. I was thrilled to receive a CD of pictures of my mother and her family. More than a few tears were shed. I was very happy that we had finally made the trip. Afterwards we went out to lunch and then my aunt drove us to Chicago O'Hare to catch our flight home.

Windy City - Day 2

Our second day in Chicago was, shall we say, a bit more focused. We started off the day with a visit to the Chicago Children's Museum, followed by -- oh, who are we kidding? We spent the day at the Chicago Children's Museum, which was definitely worth every penny of the $10/person we paid.

Geek Girl and me at Navy Pier

Among other cool things about the Children's Museum is that they let adults play, too. Kids can just climb the stairs or take the elevator to the top floor to play. Or they can climb up a rope structure, across a rope tunnel bridge

and then along some wooden bridges to the same place. And they even let Daddy Geeks do the same...umm...not that I did that or anything...

The Children's Museum had a bunch of fun activities. Kids can dig for dinosaur bones, make flying machines out of foam rubber and then test them in a 2-story tower, play in the Inventing Lab, make skyscrapers, and more and more. They have some cool displays where digital raindrops fall from the sky and interact with your shadows - you can shelter each other from the rain, cup your hands to collect the rain, and more.

Now, a brief diversion. Back in Switzerland, Geek Girl loved Kindercity - a kid's museum just outside Zürich with lots of fun activities. In particular, Geek Girl loved the exhibit that let kids make artificial rivers, float boats down them, control the flow, etc. She liked it so much that she has asked us to take her there again more than once. And yes, she knows how long it takes to get there. ("Daddy, we just get on the plane and fly. And we can stay for a few days. We'll go to Kindercity and the zoo and see my friends. And then we can come home. Mama doesn't even need to go with us.")

Well, now we have found a Geek Girl-approved acceptable substitute: the WaterWays exhibit at the Chicago Children's Museum. We saved this room for last, knowing how she would react. And boy, were we right. Geek Girl and I spent several hours in this exhibit, playing with the big river they have, changing the flow and seeing the results, and as you can see, floating boats downstream:


We were here so long that Mama Geek was able to duck out for an hour and a half for an afternoon snack at Xoco -- and Geek Girl was unaware Mama Geek had even left. Of course, I had no fun whatsoever and was only faking it for my daughter's benefit. I mean, how much fun can you really have making artificial rivers, dams, and weirs, and then having a dam break and watching the flood run downstream. Honestly, I ask you. Yeah, about that much fun - we had a blast.

Geek Girl's review: "It was the best thing with water I've ever seen. I wish Daddy Geek could get me a water table like that with a lock!" (Note: she started dancing just now - three weeks later - when I asked her about it. Not that she's excited or anything.)

We left only because the museum closed for the day, and even then the only way we got her out the door was to promise to take her to the ferris wheel at the pier, where I took this picture of Mama Geek and Geek Girl:

and she took this one of me and Mama Geek:


Auntie Geek is coming for a visit in December, and she and Mama Geek are planning a trip to New York while she's here. Which of course means Geek Girl and I will be on our own. Geek Girl is already making plans: "Daddy, it's not very far to Chicago. We can just fly there, go to the water exhibit, play, and then we can fly home. We can even stop to have some pizza if you want. Mama won't mind. (bat eyes)"

Trip to the Windy City - Day 1

After seven months in the area, it was time for a trip to new territory. Several days of debating and Web searching later, we had tickets for a whirlwind tour of Chicago, followed by a special trip that I'll let Mama Geek write about. Some incredibly generous relatives of Mama Geek let us take up temporary residence in their spectacular condo right near Navy Pier (Direct quote from The World Traveling Geek Girl: "This is awesome!" Daddy Geek: "Holy ----!"), and we got to enjoy the High Life (the condo was on the 27th floor)...

Our first day started with this great sunrise over Lake Michigan:


and after getting organized, we took the CTA to breakfast at the Bongo Room (huuuuuuuuge pancakes in multiple exotic flavors, plus darn good coffee). We then waddled off to the Field Museum (free on Thursdays!), where Geek Girl met Sue:


and spent some time practicing palaeontology in the Crown Family PlayLab:

(which also has a great music room where you can make as much noise as you like with taiko drums and other percussion instruments, among other things). We spent a few hours at the museum, going through the evolution and geology exhibits in addition to the Play Lab - very definitely worthwhile.

And now, a word from Geek Girl: "I got a toy T-rex and I named her Sue, Jr. after Sue. Mama gave me the money and I put it in a machine that made Sue, Jr. out of plastic. She's red and stands on a stand. The stand says 'T-rex' on one side and 'Field Museum Chicago' on the other side. The machine that makes Sue is called Mold-o-rama." (That's because it uses injection molded plastic to make the figurines.)

From the Field Museum, we had a great view of part of the skyline, including our next destination off to the left:


Mama Geek and I stopped off at a vendor for Chicago-style hot dogs and bratwurst, and then we walked along the lake and through Grant Park toward the Willis (formerly-known-as-Sears) Tower, stopping off for a bit of artwork (and donuts) along the way:

Geek Girl takes Sue, Jr. to meet Calder's Flamingo

Our online searching had said that the Willis Tower Sky Deck line could take a really long time, but I guess visiting on a mid-November Thursday has its benefits: no line for us! After a quick elevator ride, we stepped off at the 103rd floor to a spectactular early evening view of Chicago below:

(The condo is somewhere in that picture, but it's hard to see...).

Geek Girl the World Traveler had the following reaction: "It's just like Google Earth with 3D buildings -- only we're really there!" Yes, she spends too much time on the computer.

The Willis Tower has added an innovation since the last time I was there -- "The Ledge", a series of four glass boxes that stick out of the building, so you can stand inside the box and take pictures past your feet straight down through 103 floors of air:

(note Sue, Jr. in between my feet and Mama Geek's feet). Mama Geek and Geek Girl had no trouble stepping out there. I, on the other had, had to convince several hundred thousand years of evolution that I wasn't going to fall through the floor. Ultimately intellect won over instinct. (Or more correctly: Daddy Geek can't let Geek Girl think he's a wuss.)

We spent an hour or so up there, and then it was time to head to the Art Institute, which was also free(!) on this Thursday evening. Geek Girl liked the lions in front:


and we all enjoyed a brief trip through the Impressionist exhibits. Geek Girl's review of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte: "It was so cool! The silly pet monkey was the best part, and I liked the dog running in front of the monkey. It's cool that it was painted with just tiny dots!" She was also interested in Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's mark that he used to sign his paintings, which led to us drawing similar ones for The Geeks.

At this point, Geek Girl's battery was definitely running low, so we cut short the visit and headed off for Chicago-style pizza before crashing back at the condo. We had a great time - a fun but very full day.