Vacation Time - Back in Sarasota

We go home a little bit after midnight (so early Tuesday am). We were supposed to land in Tampa around 8pm but all the flights to Florida out of O'Hare were delayed because of a radar failure over Miami early in the day. But thankfully, we were only running 3.5 hours late on the way home with Spirit, instead of the 12 hour delay we had on the way north with Southwest. 

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early when the pool screen company showed up unannounced. They finished tearing out our damaged screens from the hurricane and installed the new ones. Now we can let the cat and the dogs back out on the porch again. 

And then on Tuesday afternoon Davis asked to go to the Asian grocery store again and Parker decided to go with us. We had a fun trip exploring together. 

 

Christmas Break in Chicago - Part Seven

Sunday, we slept in. That's always a lovely way to start any day, let alone a Sunday, let alone the first day of the year. The guys hung out and watched sports including half of the Bucs game before we headed out to the Field Museum. We spent a few hours exploring there, including the exhibits on ancient Egypt (mummies!) and dinosaurs (Sue the T-rex!). It was a lot of fun. I remember coming here with my mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa Keller as a child; and we toured here with Daryl's mom and dad too. 

After the museum we walked south a block to Soldier Field and then we walked to get something to eat. We needed to get a Chicago dog, so we headed to Devil Dawg's. This was recommended once by Anthony Bourdain. It did not disappoint!

We walked back over to Millennium Park to try and see the Cloud Gate statue (the Bean) but they have it blocked off behind gates right now and you have to stand in a long line to go through security to get into the park. So we saw what we could from the street and skipped it to come home and pack up (while watching more football). Mileage count for the day? Back up to a nice 6.40 miles! Which means 

we have walked 36.41 miles throughout Chicago this week. 

Christmas Break in Chicago - Part Six

We're all a teeny bit sick with what we think is sinus stuff. So Saturday was a much lower key day than we had originally planned. We chilled at home and let the boys watch soccer and bowl games and then headed out in the afternoon for Chinatown to show Davis. He loved it! 

We ate dinner at a Mongolian place called Happy Lamb Hot Pot - Davis tried shrimp paste and he and I both ate octopus - other things we ordered and tried were lamb, beef, chicken, tofu, potatoes, cabbage, corn, udon noodles and then a big old side of fried rice. 

The hot pot was split half and half with regular broth and spicy broth. 

We did a little more walking around and shopping after dinner. 

Our big thing today was watching the Lion King musical at the Cadillac Palace Theater in downtown Chicago. It was breathtaking with all of the costuming and the music. 

It was so cold we came home to watch the Navy Pier fireworks on the TV. 

Low walking mileage for the day, just 3.5 miles. 

Goodbye 2022. Hello 2023!