Chicago’s Field Museum

Here’s a closer look at our visit to the Field Museum in Chicago:

There was so much to see, and we didn’t have a lot of time. We knew we weren’t going to get to everything, so we made sure we hit all the highlights. We walked through the Hall of Birds, learned about the state fossil, the Tully Monster (sounds like a Sesame Street character, doesn’t it?), visited the Hall of Gems, where we saw a likeness of the museum’s benefactor, Marshall Field, carved in green beryl, took a look at ancient Egypt, and saw meteor fragments:

The highlight of our visit was definitely the Hall of Dinosaurs:

And the best part of seeing the dinosaurs was becoming acquainted with Chicago’s most famous resident, Sue, the T. rex:

We were able to use the reciprocity that comes with our St. Louis Science Center membership to offset some of the cost, so we only had to pay admission for three children. I thought that was a great deal for how much we saw and learned while we were there…someday, I’d like to go back and see some of the things we missed!

Winter at the Chicago Botanic Garden

When we were in Chicago two weeks ago, one of the things of the things I wanted to do was visit the Chicago Botanic Garden using the reciprocity that comes with our Missouri Botanical Garden membership. I’m so glad we had time to go!

The weather was actually very nice for Chicago in January, but there was still snow on the ground, which made our walk even more fun. Without question, our favorite part of the Garden was the Japanese Garden, Sansho-en. There were two islands we were allowed to visit (a third is visible, but not accessible), and the winding paths were lovely.

The rest of the snow-covered garden was beautiful, too. We saw as much of it as we could with the time we had.

We did eventually get cold (nice or not, it was still January!), so we enjoyed a walk through the greenhouses to warm up:

And we took a look at the bonsai trees on display in the Regenstein Center. Don’t let their small size fool you…some of them are over 80 years old!

We loved our wintertime visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden, and I’m really hoping we’ll have a chance to go back in the spring. know there is a lot more water throughout the Garden than it looked like because of all of the snow, and I really want to know how it looks when you can see it all!

Markel Family Winter Weekend Getaway–Day One

Time to recap another fun Markel Family weekend getaway…this time, the somewhat unusual winter edition!

Last Thursday, we left for our trip to Chicago at 4 a.m. Now, as far as I’m concerned, there is only one four o’clock every day. But we had places to be, and I also knew that if we got to our first stop on our trip, the Adler Planetarium, before 9:30 in the morning, we would pay the early bird parking rate. Despite traffic on 55, we made it just in time, and this trip will be forever know as “that time mom wanted to save nine dollars on parking!”

Once we parked in the planetarium lot, I needed to have a moment with Lake Michigan and the city skyline. A nice, cold moment…there’s nothing like a lake breeze in January! But it was also a beautiful moment:

We then spent the next several hours touring Adler. It really was my lucky day, because in addition to the reciprocity that our membership with the St. Louis Science Center gives us, it was Illinois resident day, which meant that every one of us received free admission to the museum!

After we saw all we could see in the planetarium, I needed a few more minutes to walk around and take in the sights:

We then traveled west to our hotel in Elmhurst, where we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening watching the Food Network on cable TV, which is one of our family’s vacation guilty pleasures!

Cheekwood Estate and Gardens

The Dressing Downton exhibit wasn’t the only thing to see at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens. We also got to tour the mansion, and enjoy the various gardens on the grounds of the estate.

The limestone house was finished in 1932, and was modeled after English country estates admired by the Cheek family when they traveled abroad. The estate is named after Leslie Cheek, who purchased the property and commissioned the building of both the house and gardens, and his wife, Mabel Wood Cheek.

You get a sense of the mansion as soon as you enter the building. There is a grand staircase with a beautiful tapestry hanging above it:

When you go upstairs, there are a variety of rooms to explore. The table in the dining room is set, and looks like it’s ready for a grand meal:

The morning room looks like a pleasant place to enjoy a cup of coffee, and there are also a few displays detailing the family’s history:

The library may have been my favorite room. So many books, a lovely spot to write letters, beautiful furniture, and even a game table!

The parlor is lovely, and the ceiling is amazing!

The upper floor of the house is now being used as galleries, so you can’t tour the bedrooms that were once there. There are a few Cheek family mementos on display, however, including the family silver chest:

The grandest feature of the home may be this light:

There are so many beautiful details scattered throughout the home…chandeliers, mirrors, vases, and more!

The outisde of the house is quite imposing:

The grounds immediately around the house look like something from a movie…the views are spectacular!

The rest of the estate has other gardens as well. In the water garden there is a pond that used to be the family swimming pool:

We were especially interested to see how the Japanese Garden compares to the one here in St. Louis. It’s not nearly as big, but it does have some features that ours doesn’t, including a bamboo forest:

The color garden, which was in full bloom when we were there, really lives up to its name!

I’m so glad we were able to visit this beautiful estate through our Missouri Botanical Garden membership. If we have time, we may even go back in the spring, when over 100,000 tulips are in bloom!

Dressing Downton

I first heard about the “Dressing Downton” fashion exhibit, featuring costumes worn on Downton Abbey, almost two years ago, and didn’t think much of it, because it wasn’t going to be on display in St. Louis. But when I found out that it was going to be in Nashville this summer, at Cheekwood Estate and Gardens, a place that we have a reciprocal membership to through the Missouri Botanical Garden, I knew I was going to have to see it for myself. I wasn’t disappointed…not only were the costumes on display gorgeous, there were more of them than I was expecting!

The first big display of three costumes, in front of a Highclere Castle backdrop, was especially eye-catching.

The Dowager Countess’ Edwardian mourning costume is, in my opinion, an iconic early Downton Abbey look:

Lord and Lady Grantham’s outfits are also easily recognizable:

In that same room was Lady Mary’s riding costume:

We moved on to wartime looks worn by Matthew Crawley and Lady Mary:

And a lovely tailored outfit also worn by Lady Mary:

I loved seeing Branson’s chauffeur’s uniform next to a lovely blue suit worn by Lady Sybil:

And, of course, Lady Sybil’s nurse’s uniform:

Lady Edith may not have been my favorite character, but the detail on her coat was amazing, and I liked the use of props in the display, too:

And, while we all remember Lady Sybil shocking the family in her harem pants outfit, let’s not forget that Lady Edith also wore breeches when she was working on the farm:

We then moved on to more formal wear. This beautiful evening dress worn by Lady Mary had amazing details:

Another wartime look, featuring a dress uniform worn by the Earl, and lovely dress and jacket worn by the Countess, were especially eye-catching flanked by a Union Flag bunting:

There were also lots of informative signs spread throughout the exhibit:

I was glad that there was a section dedicated to the wardrobe worn by some of the downstairs staff. I especially enjoyed seeing how the keys attached to Mrs. Hughes’ uniform:

And not only did I get a look at the maids’ uniform, but also another beautiful evening dress worn by Lady Mary:

We saw the “plus fours” worn by Lord Grantham when he was out and about on the estate, as well as a three-piece suit and coat worn by the scheming Sir Richard Carlisle:

The security guard working at the exhibit when we were there was very knowledgeable…he informed us that this detailed dress, worn by Lady Cora at Lady Edith’s (non)wedding, was made from a vintage tablecloth!

This dress, also worn by the Countess of Grantham, likewise had amazing details:

There was one, and only one, hands-on section. You could actually ring the Downton bells…and we all did!

It was especially interesting to see the one maternity dress on display, worn by Lady Sybil, up close:

Lady Rose may have denied being a flapper, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see this dress, displayed next to the formal wear Jack Ross wore when performing:

This dress worn by Virginia Woolf, which was barely seen on the show, is full of Tambour embroidery work, but I was most impressed by the Bakelite necklace:

Remember when Lady Rose was presented to King George and Queen Mary? There was an entire room dedicated to that episode, and it may have been my favorite…all of those fancy dresses, beautiful tiaras and jewelry, and lovely accessories! This was also the room that explained the Cheekwood-Downton Abbey connection. Huldah Cheek, daughter of Leslie Cheek, who built the estate, was presented at court in a similar fashion.

The lavender dress worn by the Countess of Grantham was displayed with the dress worn by Madeline Allsopp, along with all of their beautiful accessories from tiaras to necklaces to feather fans:

Freda Dudley Ward’s unbelievably intricate dress was also on display:

After all that, Lady Edith’s boyish silk dress was almost boring…but not quite, thanks to the lovely embellishments:

Another beautiful dress worn by the Dowager Countess…seeing clothing actually worn by Maggie Smith truly brought a tear to my eye!

This dress worn by Martha Levinson wasn’t too amazing, but the necklace paired with it certainly was!

And another of Mrs. Levinson’s styles, featuring a coat trimmed with fox fur:

The final costumes were not in the exhibit itself, but spread throughout the mansion at Cheekwood. We saw a footman’s uniform, and I made sure to pay close attention to the buttons:

And white tie apparel worn by Matthew and Lady Mary, appropriately displayed in the formal dining room:

This was an unbelievable exhibit, and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see it. The workmanship that went into the costumes is truly amazing, and seeing the level of detail up close was an experience. It brought one of my favorite TV shows to life in a way I didn’t know was possible!

Adventure Science Center

This summer, we have really been taking advantage of our membership to the St. Louis Science Center, and we haven’t even been to the Science Center since May! On Memorial Day, we used our reciprocal membership to get into the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for free, and in June, we were able to obtain free admission to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville!

Our favorite exhibit was the first one we walked through…Body Quest. What’s not to love? You can walk into a brain, play a laser game to defeat germs, and explore the interior of ambulance:

But the children’s favorite part of that exhibit was learning about the digestive system. There was not a tooting slide or anything:

Moving on…Turkey loved getting to use a lever to lift an entire car!

And because we’re Markels, we all loved the space exhibit, as well.

I even found some more space propaganda:

And who doesn’t love a plasma ball?

There was also a giant tower to explore and climb:

Our Science Center in St. Louis is still our favorite science museum, but we’ve really enjoyed getting to visit other museums this summer!

The Museum of Science and Industry

When we were in Chicago last month, we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, which was always one of my favorite Chicago locations:

I had managed to forget how huge it is, however! We only had about five hours to spend there, which meant we went at breakneck speed to see and do a lot of things, even through we knew we’d never see everything. One of the first things we did was go through the mirror maze, which I found terrifying, because I was certain we were going to lose a child in there! It did look cool, though!

We slowed down long enough to watch the Tesla coil demonstration:

There was so much more to see. In addition to touring the special Lego exhibit, we also spent a good deal of time admiring Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle, and went on the U-505 tour.

All that was just the tip of the iceberg! We checked out some of the trains, (including a cool model train story depicting travel from Chicago to Seattle), saw the chicks (including one that had just hatched!), played with a plasma globe, took in as much space stuff as we could, watched how a robot assembly line works, and even visited Yesterday’s Main Street. There is seriously so much there!