Cleveland trip day 2

We started the day by stuffing ourselves at the hotel breakfast buffet. Then we walked to the Great Lakes Science Center for a day of fun! They were having a special NASA day, with free astronaut ice cream, special presentations, and lots of NASA scientists on hand to talk to.

We talked to an aero engineer who helped design the parachute for Mars rovers. Girls on Mars:


This inflatable astronaut was walking around:


Girls by a real Apollo capsule, we talked to a NASA guy there about how long it takes to get to the moon:


We went to a talk by a Cleveland-born astronaut, and then got his autograph! He was so great with the girls. He told Megan she'll be the perfect age for the manned Mars missions in 30 yrs! Meg was so excited!


Showing off our autographs:


Then we drove to the West Side Market for lunch and shopping. Girls downing spicy pad Thai:


Jessi was better than I was with chopsticks!


The market was awesome, full of dozens of vendors - meat, desserts, bakeries, veggies, fruits, etc. Oh, how I wish we had a place like that near home!

Now we're heading to Graytown for dinner and final four watching. Sunday we'll be back home to unpack and get ready for real life on Monday - school and work :( But it was a great way to end spring break!

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Cleveland road trip

We took a quick 2-day trip to Cleveland, since we've never been. What a great city! We got a hotel right by Lake Erie and the museums, and walked all around downtown.

First stop: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!


The girls' favorite guitar:


Everyone loved the ZZ Top drumset and neon guitars:


The #1 exhibit was the Katy Perry dress:


We spent the whole day there! It's a great museum and we all found something interesting!



We had lunch at a sports bar downtown and the girls downed two huge orders of hot wings! For dinner, we went to a Japanese noodle place, and the girls all got ramen - their favorite! We swam in the hotel pool for a bit, and then all happily fell asleep.

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Adler Planetarium

On our way home today, we took a detour and stopped at Adler Planetarium in downtown Chicago. Megan is very interested in constellations and all things space-y. We watched a movie in the big dome, and she kept whispering facts to me the whole time!

Besides the movie, we enjoyed experiencing the moon's gravity:


We got to touch lots of meteorites and moon rocks:


We took naps aboard a space ship:


Megan tried out the space potty:


We played a ton and learned even more. Did you know that the hottest planet is Venus, not Mercury? Megan did! We even got to look at the sun through a special telescope and saw a big sunspot!

After a fun day at the planetarium:


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Easter!

Posing with Bram after the Easter egg hunt:


Megan can't pass a tree without trying to climb it:


Jess was a copycat:


Dyeing Easter eggs:









Dressed in their Easter best:


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