Hello Chicago!
Toby, and Lisa & Steve’s son James, were up with the birds this morning so they could fit in a trip up the street to visit the house that has just gone ballistic with Halloween decorations! (It’s actually a bit scary! Maisy may well have nightmares after seeing the “man with the black mask that pulls his face off and laughs in an evil voice”!) Everything is triggered by sensors when you walk past so skulls have eyes that light up, skeletons dance, chainsaws turn on and there’s a lot of witches’ cackling going on! Not quite as friendly as Christmas lights!
Toby was still keen to go along to James’ school today so Lisa went this morning and cleared it with the teacher and she agreed that Tobes could go along as James’ Show and Tell! Toby was over the moon and James was pretty excited too! He spent the morning in the classroom and fielded questions from all the kids about school in Australia and life in general Down Under. He answered all their questions and resisted the temptation to tell them he rode to school on a kangaroo (he’d threatened to do that) and the only question that stumped him was “why is the dirt in the outback red?”. Hmmmn. Not too sure about that! The teacher used the opportunity to tell the class a bit about Australia too. He was overwhelmed with excitement when he got back, saying how the school was JUST like all the schools he’d seen in movies and tv shows! It was a really great experience for him.
After that, Lisa was our hostess with the mostess was our tour guide through her beautiful home city of Chicago. We rode the “L” downtown and walked through Millennium Park and along the shore of Lake Michigan (though we’ll have a better look at the lake tomorrow). There are so many cool sculptures around the park. One of them, “Cloudgate”, which is affectionately known as “The Bean” was everyone’s favourite! It’s absolutely massive and is like a giant baked bean that is mirrored all over. Maisy told us it was like a “gigantic, silver bum that is a mirror”! She said it in all seriousness too. I was particularly excited (disproportionately so according to everyone else) about seeing some real, live squirrels! I’d never seen a squirrel in real life! Of course it was exciting! Lisa says if we get up early tomorrow we may get to see deer in the backyard (can you believe that-DEER!?…in the backyard!) or even racoons or skunks! Anyway, back to what I was saying….We walked around the city and had a good look around and then we went on a cruise up the Chicago River put on by the Architectural Society of Chicago to have a close look at all the buildings in the city. Chicago is renowned for its architecture. We heard all about the history of the place and the lovely elderly man that was giving the commentary really knew his stuff! It was really interesting but he had a really loud voice! We were sure everyone in the city of Chicago (or even the whole state of Illinois) could hear him!
We caught the “L” back to Lisa’s house just in time for Steve to arrive back from business in Nashville. We ordered Thai takeaway and caught up on old times until well into the night. Mal and Julie, if you’re reading this, Lisa said to say “G’Day” and she was stoked that we are great friends.
This afternoon, the kids shot some hoops in the backyard and Lisa had some banana cream pies delivered. While we all snacked on candy corn, the neighbourhood kids were busy planning their trick or treat outfits and organising when they will carve their Jack-O-Lanterns! It really is just like stepping into a movie. It’s such a great experience for us to be staying here and seeing it all in real life. I’m glad we are here in autumn too because the trees are so gorgeous! I keep walking around saying “It’s so American!” Derr! (but it is!)
