After having a pretty dull winter regarding snow, March in Chicago has brought some of the white stuff… finally! Amy & I have always enjoyed hiking out in the snow and enjoying nature, and thankfully, Wesley seems to be on board as well.
Here are some shots from our snowy adventures around the neighborhood and up at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Bridge to Spider Island
Along the lagoon at the Botanic Garden
Accessible only by lawn mowers
Japanese Garden
10 years ago, on 02/02/02 at 2:02 p.m., Amy & I got married!
Amy & Steve (2002)
Back then, we streamed our wedding live over the Internet via RealPlayer. Yup, RealPlayer! Who even uses that anymore? It's funny to think that all the servers, cameras, and technical setup we did back then to pull that off can pretty much be replaced with an iPhone running Ustream today.
Amy, Steve, & Wesley (2011)
Hard to believe it's been 10 years, but I'd do it all again (well, maybe not the part about shooting our wedding on S-VHS… I still need to convert the ceremony to digital!) And these days, we've got our hands full with a new member of the family to keep us on our toes. Let the festive 02/02 celebration commence!
P.S. Our anniversary also marks the 10 year milestone for SteveandAmySly.com… so I guess it's a "Happy Blogoversary" as well!
On Friday, Amy & I were joined by my parents as we attended a showing of Mary Poppins downtown. The traveling Broadway musical returned to Chicago for a short time, and thanks to some fortuitous circumstances, we got a chance to see it.
Mary Poppins? Yup!
I'm not much of a theater goer, but we really liked this production. The combination of familiar elements from the Disney film (including the Sherman Brothers songs) along with non-familiar pieces from the original books and new music worked really well.
While Amy & I were doing some reorganizing at our condo over the weekend, I rediscovered this cool magnet I bought at Chicago's DisneyQuest back in 2001.
Explore Zone, Create Zone, Score Zone, and Replay Zone
Even though this image doesn't look very "Disney", it actually reflects the very structured and themed approach that DisneyQuest had upon opening.
Now that I've got some downtime after being hit by a car while riding my bike (we'll save that story for later), I figured it would be a good time to look at some other things we did over the past few months. It's another "Summertime Out and About" post!
Ticket to Ride at the Botnaic Gardens!
After driving up the wrong side of a mountain, we got some good sleep and headed out for a new adventure on Monday, August 8. Our Smoky Siesta continued after leaving Chicago, visiting family, enjoying Nashville, and cursing GPS directions in the mountains.
Hiking the Oconaluftee River Trail
We had breakfast on the porch of the cabin and our view… well, it was pretty awesome! After a relaxed morning, we hopped in the car and drove over to Cherokee, NC.
Continuing our Smoky Siesta story, we left off in Nashville, after spending an evening enjoying some great BBQ and music. Before continuing on to the Smoky Mountains, we spent a little more time in Nashville the next day by visiting the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art.
Steve is framable!
Since we've done a lot of the normal tourist stuff in Music City in the past, it was nice to explore something different and new. Also, given that we recently became members of the Chicago Botanic Garden, we got discounted admission because of a reciprocal admissions program run by the American Horticultural Society. In this case, membership actually did have its privileges!
Welcome to Cheekwood, stay for the pineapple
Cheekwood is a lot different from the botanical gardens I'm familiar with. In reality, it's more like a historic estate that happens to have gardens on the property. In this case, that estate was owned by a couple who made a lot of money after creating Maxwell House coffee… a brand that originated in Nashville (named after the Maxwell House Hotel downtown, no longer in existence). Eventually, the 55-acre property was opened to the public in 1960.
Our Smoky Siesta kicked off on Friday afternoon as we drove from Chicago down to Indianapolis and spent the night with my cousins, the Huston family.
Steve loves road maps!
On Saturday we drove across town and visited with another set of cousins, the Carpenters. It was great to catch up with these extended members of our family that we don't see that often.
Amy & I are hitting the road today for a little vacation time, with the eventual goal being a North Carolina cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Along the way we'll stop off and visit with some extended family, and visit one of our favorite cities, Nashville.
We're taking a Smoky Siesta!
Here we go!
New @ TannerWorld Junction
