This was our second-to-last weekend in Chicago. We're attempting to wind things down over here - visiting with friends, experiencing those things we'll miss, clearing our cupboards of things we won't be able to fit into a Bay Area living space, filling out forms and faxing...

Saturday we took advantage of the warm spell (it reached 32*) by walking over to our local Starbucks for Simon's "hot coffee!" We even walked/ran around the park across the street. Simon wanted to play on the frozen swings, alas, we managed to quickly translate our immediate reaction of "HA! THERE IS NO WAY IN ****" into just plain "Not right now, Sweetie."

Here is the part where we break into to the log of Simon's existence to write down, for preservation sake, information about cold. How cold is cold to a native Californian? This past week it has been in the teens and, once you account for wind-chill, below zero. Prepared with a down coat, hat, gloves, and scarf, above freezing really isn't that cold. People still jog, take their dogs out for strolls, shop at outdoor malls, etc. It is really in the twenties when it starts to get a little noticeably cold. Wearing regular shoes with regular socks is not enough to keep the tootsies warm even when walking at a brisk pace. However, teens and below is just plain miserable. First it tingles and then it BURNS. Hava was (briefly) running across the street the other day and her molars (which have never had problems before) started to THROB because of the cold. Her teeth protested because everything else was covered and she foolishly opened her mouth to breathe.

Alas, we're now back up to the sweltering high 40's and the snow from that storm a week-and-a-half ago is melting into brownish grey slush. So back to Saturday with Simon...

We once again spent a lovely mid morning and early afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry. We visited the Toy Maker 3000 robot exhibit (his favorite), bounced through the petroleum exhibit, looked at the frogs and bought a frog puzzle, climbed aboard a full size passenger airplane (he is excited to take a trip to Sacramento next week), walked through an enormous heart, and watched some cute kids dance. At lunch he had us in tears when he lifted up an elbow macaroni, held it up to his ear and said "Hello? Hello?" before carrying on a very silly conversation. After his nap, we traveled to the only place we know of with a heated garage, Trader Joes, just for entertainment because no bundling up is required.

Sunday we stayed indoors, made gingerbread cookies, and watched Simon's new favorite thing to watch, Kiki’s Delivery Service, until Amelie and her mother, Marcellina, came over for dinner and a cookie decorating party.

Sharing the decorations without eating them? Impressive!

The artist in deep concentration

A taste test

Simon and Amelie had a wonderful time making each other laugh and they were remarkably interested in decorating the cookies. Simon will get to see Amelie two more times this week. We have encouraged her family to move to the Bay Area because, come on, everybody's doing it. Sadly, we don't think they are going to heed our advice.