The Brambletts do Navy Pier...

I hate titles. I cannot ever think of anything remotely clever.

Oh well. No one comes here for my titles anyway. I'm fairly certain they just want to see pictures! That's why I love blogs!

So Saturday we hit Navy Pier. We decided that since we aren't tourists we would break things down into smaller blocks of time. Our day started by parking at the Libertyville Metra station to catch a train. Evan was sooooo excited. The boy couldn't find a pair of shoes to save his soul before we left the house, it took all of us to hunt down two shoes that matched and fit him...but he had that train hat out and ready to go!

We were a few minutes early and you could just feel the child vibrating with excitement. Other people kept commenting on him and his engineers hat and how darn cute he was. He was about to come out of his skin.







He loved riding and the train has an upper level for seating, so of course, that is where we had to sit. Kira was bored in 10 min. Evan lasted longer, but it was an hour long ride. Next time I will remember to bring something for them to do.








Sorry the pics in the train our lousy, I didn't use my flash for whatever reason.

When we arrived we took a bus to get to Navy Pier. The kids liked that we let them stand up and hold onto the bar on the bus ride. Then we went in, and started checking things out. Here are some pics from different parts of the day.





I don't know what this sculpture is all about, but it sure was cool! Evan wanted to climb to the top of it though...









Shawn went to a "drinks and desert" cruise thing for work a few days ago and this was the boat they were on so I took a picture for him. He refused to be in the picture with his boat. He also mentioned that I looked like a tourist with my camera out everywhere. I wonder what people think of me when I'm snapping pictures of my kids french fries at random McDonalds on a Friday afternoon. At least at a touristy spot like Navy Pier you don't really stand out. *Shrug*

And how cool are all these flags? I loved this part.


We also had lunch while we were there. Yeah. At the "World Famous" Billy Goat Tavern. Apparently George Bush (the first one) ate there once. And so did other famous people. I have to say I don't "get" it. I thought it was blech. The kids voted too. Kira gave them a thumbs up on the chips and a sideways thumb on the burger. Evan had grilled cheese and chips and wouldn't stop moving his thumbs around so I only got a vague idea that he sort of kind of liked his meal sort of. ish.

Shawn thought it was fine.

They have a decorated goat head on the wall. Taxidermy is not my thing, particularly in an eating establishment. But the place was packed. Calling it world famous at least makes the tourists stop by to give it a try.




Yes. This is a dead goat head wearing a Cubs hat. I would be willing to bet Terry would eat there for that reason alone.



And for good measure a couple more shots and one of me again. Kira is loving being allowed to use the camera. This time she practiced using the zoom. Not too shabby.








And with that I'll call it a blog. Tomorrow I will post about the Chicago Children's Museum. I took over 200 pictures on this little adventure of ours. Can you imagine the damage if I were a true tourist and knew I wasn't going back *and* spent more than four hours there?