Film at 11 . . .

"Film at 11" as far as I know basically means "there's more to the story that will come later" or in the case of my most recent comment it means "my brain too feels like meatloaf but i have to write something but can't spend the time to do it now".

Still interested? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_at_eleven

Okay, in my last post i was not looking forward to the first air trip we were going to take with our girls. As usual my expectations were completely dashed to bits, which in this case was a good thing. The girls were little angels as usual. Samantha cried for about fifteen minutes in the plane then promptly went to sleep for most of the trip. Allison had fun looking out the window and then falling asleep fifteen minutes before we landed. A few minor (and usual) headaches, but overall very good. Thanks for your prayers.

We were flying to Chicago to visit April's sister and her family. We had a good time while there. It was good for Allison to see her four cousins for another time and on their own turf. They have a nice house with a yard and a swingset. Friday night we went to a local park that had a nice play ground. To the left, you can see Sammie enjoying herself in a swing at that park. I think this might have been her first "big" swing. She apparently loved it.


Saturday morning seemed like the only time we were going to get to go into the city. So we took the chance and the train and the sidewalk to go to Millennium Park which is by the Art Institute of Chicago. At the entrance to the park they have this very large, strange art fountain thing (see right). This fountain was a very large area of what looked like black granite with these two towers on either end comprised of glass blocks. Water flowed over the top of these towers on all four sides until, at an unannounced time, the water on the sides facing each other would stop and the video image of a face would appear filling up the entire side of this 50' tower. These faces just sat there with these creepy grins on their lips. It looked like while they were videoing these faces someone was behind the camera telling jokes but the model knew they couldn't laugh, so they ended up with these tight-lipped smiles. They'd smile at each other for about 5 minutes then close their eyes, pucker their lips and proceed to "spit" on any pour soul who, by mistake or on purpose, is standing under them. Very weird, kinda creepy, but neat to see.

Another thing at the park was what the kids called "the bean". This was really cool. It was as if the artist had been a fan of "Flight of the Navigator" as a kid and wanted to try and reconstruct the space ship from the movie but ended up with a legume instead of an intergalactic transportation device. Oh well, better luck next time. This thing was perfectly smooth with no visible seams. Besides the hand print of many a tourist touching it and the poop prints of many a sea gull pooping on it, it was beautifully reflective. When you walked underneath and looked up it was like looking into a reflective whirlpool, very neat.

So Saturday afternoon it started raining and didn't stop really until we left on Tuesday. I helped my brother in law keep his house from falling apart with a few handyman skills, and April had a good time helping her sister with a quilt. All in all it was a good trip. At ERW in NJ it was pouring when we deplaned and our gate-checked stroller and car seat were soaked, and we had a 2-hour drive ahead of us. We complained, but why bother, people either blame shift, say there was nothing they could do, or ignore you all together. Oh well, we're alive.

That's about the end of my book, where are The Other Brownes? Too busy filming I guess, hope you get your movie done on time!