Bones, Bones, Dinosaur Bones

That is actually the title of the book that the girls and I read this morning.
For some reason, my girls have been obsessed with dinosaurs lately and I really don't know why. We have never talked about them. I wonder if they are learning about them from the kids they play with.
We have been going to the library to get books/movies recently and I saw that book on the shelf and thought "we could read that book and then go to the local natural history museum and look at the real dinosaur bones on display.
So a couple of days ago I asked my husband if he could take half a day today so we could all go to the Burpee Museum of Natural History and enjoy their free day.
He did and we had a great time. They kept asking if everything was real. The common answer was, "they were once".
We saw Jane, our local baby t-rex, and Homer, the "new" dinosaur -- a juvenile triceratops. Here are a couple pictures of the kids at the museum. Both of them are of them standing in front of Jane, but you really can't see her.

American Girl doll pictures

I have been asked to post pictures from the girls trip to Chicago when they went to pick out their American Girl dolls. Here are pictures of them with the dolls.
The first picture is actually a mistake. It is of Brookelyn playing at the mall play area. I accidently put the wrong picture and don't know how to delet it.

It is an intimidating choice. You walk into the store and there are dolls everywhere (once you get on the doll floors). For a child picking out a doll, it is a very difficult choice, but they didmake their choices fairly quickly.
This is Bethany with her doll. She picked Kit Kitteredge -- from the historical doll collection. I believe she represents the 1930-1940 era.
This is Brianna with her doll. They don't have a doll with a missing tooth, but she picked out one close enough. She picked one of the "Just like me" dolls. Long blonde-brown hair and brown eyes. I really think she looks like her. She named her Mia (which is also the name of the doll of the year). She chose the name herself.
This is both girls later with their dolls in the pajamas that Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk bought them for their bitrhday. It had been a long day and they were both struggling so hard to keep their eyes open long enough to open and change their dolls clothes.

Chicago, Chicago, My Kind of town .....

It has been a very busy couple of weeks. We ended our time of busyness with a trip into Chicago. We have been looking forward to this trip for some time as we have been planning it for a couple of weeks. We wanted to take our kids in to the city to pick out their birthday gifts.
So, this morning we hopped into the van to catch an early afternoon train into the city, after picking up our brother and sister in law. This was an experience that we have not had the courage to do ourselves in the past 7 years that we have lived near Chicago. We have always taken our car in and paid for parking or something dumb like that.
We caught the train and had an enjoyable ride that included trains and buses and ended up downtown where we had to walk a few blocks to eat at a fabulous restaurant under the John Hancock building-- The Cheesecake factory. We had a delicious meal and followed it with a slice of cheesecake of course, white chocolate caramel macadamia nut cheesecake. yummy!
Then we made our way to our next stop, The American Girl Place to let the girls pick out their new dolls. Yes, we have officially entered the realm of the American girl, no turning back now. I had been putting off this adventure because of the fear of expensive teas and brunches that the future may hold, but I was looking forward to the experience of the rite of passage for most 5 year old girls -- a bright face of a new doll. A doll that they can cuddle, dress, and learn how to care for. The looks on their faces when we told them that they got to pick out their own new doll for their birthdays was priceless. It brought tears to the eyes of one mom who can't believe that her babies are 5. It was also overwhelming for the girls to pick out their own among so many. They also learned that they got to pick out one outfit for their new doll courtesy of Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Anouk. In less time than I thought it was going to take, we left with two brand new dolls, two new outfits, two happy children, and lighter wallets. Happiness on our children's faces was worth every penny.
After that we hopped on the city bus and went to Navy Pier -- a place of interest on the waterfront of Chicago. While there we watched a juggler, took a walk on the pier while enjoying the breeze on an otherwise hot day, and finally I enjoyed a carousel ride. As we were leaving the girls were entranced by the dancing fountain outside of Navy Pier and had to play in it and it being a hot day, we could not refuse. Thankfully, their clothes dried quickly.
The train was not as overwhelming as is seems and it is a journey that I would love to take every couple of months. There are so many things to do, museums, parks, shopping, beaches, etc.... I love living so close where we can enjoy the sights and sounds of the city, but far enough away where we don't deal with the traffic on a daily basis.

Globalization

There has been this talk in political America about a word called Globalization.

Here is a definition that I received from that same neighbor that sent me all that other good stuff that I included here the past few days.

Question: What is the truest definition of globalization?
Answer:
Princess Diana's Death

Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scottish whisky (check the bottle before you change the spelling) (emphasis not mine as I am not touching a bottle of Scottish whisky. I will take the writer's word for it). followed closely by Italian paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles; treated by an American doctor using Brazilian medicines.
This is sent to you by an American using Bill Gates' technology, and you're probably reading this on your computer, that uses Taiwanese chips, and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangledeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked by you by Mexican illegals. ... .

That my friends, is globalization.