It was a fun weekend... I was able to help my parents with a little yard work... trimmed back a pin oak and mowed their yard. I also spent some time helping my dad with some pictures on his computer... one picture he needed help with was of his father from WW I (maybe 1917???) that I had never seen before... the picture was in pretty bad shape... scratches, discoloring, creases. So, I performed some "photo surgery" so to speak. Here are the results...
It's not perfect, but it sure looked a lot better when I got done with it. It took quite awhile to make the corrections, but it was worth it. My dad was very happy with the results.
He has hundreds of old pictures scanned onto his computer... I showed him how to use a different photo program that I use (Photoshop Elements) that he had already purchased, but hadn't started using yet. I loaded all of his pictures into the "album" portion of the program and showed him how to put captions, change dates and create picture groups. It will make photo collecting/organizing much easier compared the HP program that he was using.
I can't remember if I have ever talked about our Chicago mini-vacation from a month ago... we had SO much fun!! We went to my sisters in the Chicago suburbs on the evening of Thursday, August 2nd. On Friday morning we went into Chicago and went to Lincoln Park Zoo. It was the perfect size for the the age of the kids. I was originally going to have us go to Brookfield Zoo, but... maybe in a few years. It wasn't too hot, but it was warm, and a few of the animals were in their "private" rooms where it was cooler.
On Saturday we went to Chicago Botanic Gardens. Yes, this was more for me, but... the kids and Laurie did really enjoy it, too. I did end up taking Laurie and the kids back to the hotel (I intentionally got our hotel close to the botanic gardens so I could go back afer they got bored and spend more time looking around:) and spending about 3-hours more by myself viewing the gardens. It ended up raining a little after I returned by myself, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the time there.
Sunday we visited Shedd Aquarium in downtown Chicago... Andrew had been asking to go there for about a year, so needless to say he and Savannah were VERY happy to find out where we were going that morning. That was probably the best day, but also the longest. after spending about 6-hours at the aquarium we started walking towards Michigan Ave to try and pick up a cab to meet up with a friend of ours to take the train to a restaurant for supper. The kids weren't too thrilled about the cab ride... mostly because they didn't have their car seats, which GREATLY concerned them :) And, he drove a little fast for Andrew's liking. And the train ride... WOW. Andrew REALLY loved that. Actually, we all did...
After supper we still had to take the train back down to the city and then a cab to a parking garage north of Soldier Field... problem is... the cabbie didn't listen to where I said we needed to get out and he tried to drop us off (in the dark) at the south side of Soldier Field AND in the middle of LOTS & LOTS & LOTS of people leaving Soldier Field after a Bears Family Night. He finally agreed to take us back up to the garage and I paid him basically twice what the fee was because I felt bad for him (He did kind of get a little stuck in traffic and probably wasn't going to get anyone back in his cab for awhile). Anyway... we made it back to the hotel pretty late that night.
We headed back home on Monday, but kind of took our time getting up in the morning and leaving. The hotel we stayed at was an Embassy Suites and we got a GREAT deal for our three nights... One of those just-sort-of-got-lucky type rates :)
Ok... it's late... and I've got a busy day tomorrow.
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