BTRIPP (btripp) wrote,
BTRIPP
btripp

Busy day ...

Well ... The Wife (and The Girls) sort of over-did themselves on the planning today ... taking whatever vague musings I might have had over the past couple of weeks as to what I'd like to do for Fathers Day and making a schedule out of them. Things started out early, with breakfast pastries and some gifties (heavy on the fancy cheeses they know I like, plus the ever-popular Amazon gift certificate so I can indulge my book buying habits). Then we headed out to the Field Museum for the Pirates exhibit.



We had thought that we'd be seeing more than that, but it took us nearly 2 hours to get through it (there was a lot to read, with almost every element in the exhibit having contextifying/explanatory copy associated with it), and The Girls were hungry by the time we got out, so we moved right in to activity, #2 ... Dim Sum down in Chinatown.



We went to our "usual place", Three Happiness, right across from the Chinatown El stop (despite recent recommendations for other places down there), and The Girls got their favorite (sticky rice), I got my favorite (shrimp toast), and The Wife got a random sampling of other stuff.

We then headed home for a bit. This was the first time I can recall that I had the presence of mind to have suggested we stop off before things got underway and pick up some CTA day passes. These run $5.75, but given that the basic fare is $2.25, if you're pretty sure that you're going to end up with 3 full fares (as opposed to being able to get around on transfers) they're a great deal ... by the end of the day, I think we saved four bucks a piece over what the fares would have totaled on the regular transit cards.

Our next stop was up to the unfortunately-named "Summer Fest" (notably not the huge one by the same name up in Milwaukee!) in Lincoln Park. This is a fairly low-key neighborhood festival, but for one of the most famed neighborhoods in Chicago ... it's a couple of blocks of booths (about half "stuff", half food), and a big stage out in the street right where Lincoln Park West peels off of Clark Street.



When we got there, a group called "Wedding Banned" was playing ... very good (albeit covers) with a humorous shtick of being a somewhat off-kilter wedding act. The Girls, who almost never get out to hear live music, enjoyed it quite a lot. We hung around for a while, and got a number of songs into the next act's set, before hopping back on the bus and heading up to dinner.



As is frequently the case for "special" events involving me, we went to our favorite Indian place, Standard India up on Belmont. Aside from having fabulous food, the also are one of the rare places that has a dinner buffet (and a BYOB policy, and it's only $10.95!). Plus, if you go there on the weekend they have their famed Butter Chicken, which is quite a treat, and a favorite of The Girls. Fortunately, The Wife likes their food almost as much as I do, so it's a place we can easily agree on most of the time.

By the time we were done, it was already 9:30 (which on The Wife's and Daughter #2's schedules is "bed time") so we dragged ourselves back over to the El and on home. The Wife had got in some cheesecake for a special dessert, but we were too wiped out (and full) to deal with that, so I have another treat to look forward to in the next couple of days!

It was exhausting (and kept me AFK all day so I "didn't get anything done"), but a very entertaining day with The Family ... which is good way to spend Fathers Day.


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