Girls' Weekend in Chicago

I took last Friday as a day of vacation and got lots of stuff done before Mom picked me up at 5:00 to leave for Chicago. I cleaned my apartment, did laundry, packed, went tanning, and stopped at Neenah Bike & Fitness to test a few bikes. We got a later start than planned, but the only real traffic problem we had was in Fond du Lac, NOT on the Edens or Dan Ryan as expected.

Saturday was beautiful!!! What an absolutely GORGEOUS day. We went to Shedd and took the normal "day" tour -- it was so much fun! I loved the giant sea turtle they rescued. He was just amazing to stare at. Apparently he was injured when a boat ran into him (you could see the crack in his shell), and the accident affected his buoyancy, so he kind of swims with his butt up higher than his front. Poor thing. But, I must say he looked VERY content swimming around.

Ellen liked the sea lions. I saw her just staring through the glass and grinning, and she commented "Look at him. He just did like THIRTY forward rolls in a row." Super playful.

But, the BEST was the penguins. Some of the females were pregnant and nesting, and the job of the male is to dive into the water and pick out good rocks for her to nest on. If the female doesn't like them, she'll pick them up with her beak and toss them out of her nest. You should have seen all the males trying to impress her. There was one lone little penguin that seemed extra determined. He sprung out of the water with a rock in his beak, and totally SNEAKED it into her nest when she wasn't looking. She turned back around and noticed it, and immediately nosed it out in disgust. ha ha! Poor thing! He just really wanted to get one in there and be the 'winner'.



That afternoon Mom took us to dinner at a really good Italian place downtown, and then we shopped for a dress for Ellen. Afterwards we went back to Heidi's place and watched a movie. I can't remember the movie we watched now and it's annoying me!

Mom and I got up pretty early Sunday morning and headed home. Mom bought Ellen a spa facial because she said her complexion's been bad, so she stayed for that Salon appointment and left on her own. The drive kind of went fast this time!

Best quotes of the trip:
"I'm totally MUFFINING out of these jeans..." --Ellen

"What is the name of that shark that looks like a SAW?" --Ellen

Emily: "Mom, you really shouldn't BRAKE when other cars are merging in. You're going to cause an accident"
Mom: "THEY'RE the ones going to cause the accident..."

Mom: "We stopped at THE COLONEL to eat."
Emily: "It was NEVER called 'The Colonel'!! Just Kentucky Fried Chicken!"
Mom: "Yes. COLONEL SANDERS Kentucky Fried Chicken..."
Emily: *argh*