Where is it??

Kevan and I took a little mini-vacation to Chicago a few months ago.  He had to go there for work so I went with him a few days earlier and then flew home before the work week.  I was very excited about going because I used to live in Chicagoland. I wanted to show him where I used to live, take him to my old church, show him Navy Pier and downtown Chicago. 

The day after we arrived we got up early and drove out to Navy Pier.  It was COLD!  We checked out the parking prices and found out it was like a zillion dollars to actually park at Navy Pier so we drove a few blocks away, fed a meter and then walked back. 

Here is a picture of Kevan at Navy Pier.



It was a very quiet morning, about 9am, and despite the cold weather we really enjoyed our walk around Chicago.  We ran into this little guy while we were there.



We also saw this double-decker bus.  Who would sit up there in the freezing cold weather??  Craziness I tell you!



Once we were done with Navy Pier we drove to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (parking was $18!!!  Can you believe it??).  I did a little research about the different exhibits that were in town and I knew Kevan was going to love the Weather exhibit.  I didn't tell him ahead of time because I wanted to see the excitement on his face when we reached it.  Let me just tell you....his reaction WAS AWESOME!  As we were walking around the museum he heard this (below) make noise. 



He stops immediately and says, "WHERE IS IT!!!!  WHERE IS IT!!!"  He starts running through the museum to find it.  It was so funny.  Anyone that knows my husband knows that he loves anything weather, but he especially loves Tesla Coils.  He built his own Tesla Coil in high school for the Science Fair and they even accused him of cheating and said that he couldn't have made it on his own. 

Kevan entered the Hurricane Simulator...he was cocking his head to the side because he said it was messing up his hair.  Haa Haa!



Another exhibit was the Smart Home (Green + Wired) exhibit.  You may not know this, but one of our dreams is to one day own a home that is off-grid.  We want to produce our own energy (wind/solar) and our own heat (wood/water).  So, this was a pretty cool experience.  We had to pay extra to view it, but it was worth it.  The house isn't that pretty (see below), but it has a lot of cool ideas. 



The kitchen had the ability to have cordless appliances.  You just had to set the blender on a certain spot on the counter and it worked.  There were no electrical outlets in the kitchen.  One of the things Kevan loved was that they had a Control Panel for the whole house so you could see how much energy was being used and how much energy the home was producing.  Also, the home was VERY smart.  It turned the lights on by just speaking to it.  If you are into stuff like this and you are in Chicago I highly recommend going to see it and paying the $8.


The wind turbine:



I will leave you with this.  :o)