Summer in the city

We have been 'holidaying at home' this week, catching up on some of the museums we haven't had a chance to see. Sun started us off well with D & I catching a great lunch while taking a break from serving at the booth at the festival. We went to a local Mexican joint and had the most delicious lunch. The restaurant was v unassuming from the outside (and inside!) but had a lovely garden out the back. The food was so fresh, really cheap and there was so much of it! A good start to the week!

On Tues we headed to the aquarium and were v grateful to be out of the sun as it was a complete scorcher of a day. We have hit an interesting quandry this week - how to find indoor solutions when it is just too hot to be outside! It hit 102 degrees F on the car's thermometer when we came out of the aquarium!! The kids really enjoyed it tho we all found the dolphin show a bit too worthy and responsible - not enough balancing balls on their noses and jumping through hoops!

Wed we started off at the local Pancake House for a late breakfast and, after chomping our way through mountains of pancakes & maple syrup, went to the Children's Museum. We had to drag the children out after 3 hours because D & I were too exhausted... Then on Thurs we headed back downtown, this time to the Museum of Science & Industry. This was absolutely fascinating and contains so many interesting exhibits we will have to head back at some point. Particularly of note was the U-505 German submarine captured by the Americans during the war. It was moved to the museum completely intact and then a special hall built around it. The tour was very interesting and even managed to keep the kids' attention for 20 mins!

Today was a quiet day closer to home. We stocked up on DVDs from the library (they are only $1 a week) and reading material for Is to keep us going for our trip to St Louis next week. I headed off for some retail therapy this afternoon and was delighted to stumble on the end-of-season sales. I bought some clothes for the girls at ridiculous prices - $24 for 7 items! Then I treated myself to a manicure & pedicure in advance of our anniversary meal out tomorrow. Really looking forward to our weekend without the children though we must make sure we don't just end up sleeping the whole time!