Waking Up in Cleveland

Last night I went to sleep in Chicago and this morning I woke up in Cleveland!

We caught the Amtrak overnight and I am happy to say that sleeping on the train is way more comfortable than sleeping on a plane!  Did I mention that I seem to only fall asleep on a plane when the pilot announces that the plane is ready to descend.  I really must work on that before we have to fly home.

I wonder what adventures I will find in Cleveland?
Love AJ Pickle

Following Ferris

Have you seen the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off?  It isn't really a kids movie but mum and dad let me watch it a while ago and I think it is pretty cool.  Anyway, just in case you haven't seen it, Ferris is about a boy, his girl-friend and his best friend and all of the crazy things that they do when the wag school.  Now since I am already wagging school, I thought I should do some of the things Ferris did on his day off.

Since I am still a little kid, I couldn't sneak in to a restaurant and pretend I was someone famous.  I would have sung a strange song in a parade but there wasn't a parade to be found.  Even if I knew someone in Chicago with a fancy car, I'm not big enough to see over the dash if I took it for a joy ride.

Really, the only other Ferris thing I could do was visit the John Hancock Observatory and look down on all the little people.  (Of course I couldn't look down and see my parents, they were with me!)  I could have stood on the railing just liked they did in Ferris, but I had been walking around Chicago all day so I needed the seat.

I might not be as cool as Ferris, but I had a great time looking out over Chicago, during the day AND at night.

Since I am not actually from Chicago, I listened to the audio tour to find out a bit more about Chicago.  I found it so interesting that I did it twice, first as a kid, then I listened to the adult version.  To be honest, I learnt heaps more from the kid version.

Did you know that even though it is pretty windy in Chicago, it is more likely that it is called the Windy City because of all the wind caused by the politicians.  (I wonder if they mean wind from farts or from the hot air of talking rubbish?)

Also, the very first ever ferris wheel was invented and built in Chicago by Mr George Ferris!

So many interesting facts from the kids version of the tour that mum and dad didn't know about!

I did get to do something that Ferris didn't get to do - I washed the windows of the Hancock Observatory.

 (Don't worry Nan, we aren't really outside the building, 100 floors above the ground!)



I have had heaps of fun in Chicago, it is a shame that tonight we are leaving!
Oh well, plenty more adventures to be had.
Love AJ Pickle

Old Friends in New Places

Can you believe that even though we are in another country we get to catch up with one of our best friends who is an old neighbour?

Paula showed us so many different and amazing places all in one fun filled day.




First there was Millennium Park and the giant jelly bean as well as other really cool sculptures in a great park.

We could have spent all day just playing in Millennium Park and looking at all the crazy and beautiful reflections in the jelly bean (look, can you see all of us in the reflection?)
We knew that there were other amazing things to see and do so we kept on exploring.

Eventually we got hungry so wandered down to Navy Pier for some lunch and to see if there were any more adventures to be found.

There were rides that we could go on but we didn't go on them, we wimped out because it was cold and really windy.  There were ice creams to eat and we made sure that we ate some of them.  There were even some shops to wander through for some fun.

We found some great gardens to relax in but our favourite place was at the very end of Navy Pier where you could just look out over the seemingly endless water of Lake Michigan.

Navy Pier was great but we really think we need to come back in summer to really experience it all properly and go a little crazy.

We had an amazing day but what made the day with Paula even more special is that she doesn't even live in Chicago any more.  When she knew we were in town, she flew in just to see us, how awesome is that!

See, clearly Paula is crazy enough to be a part of our family!

We love you Paula, come to Melbourne and visit us really soon!
Love the superRelish crew

Dreaming of Dolls

We had grand plans that after visiting Lincoln Park Zoo that we would wander downtown and do some exploring.  We wanted to go to the observatory at the top of the John Hancock Building but it started to get foggy and they said that the visibility was down to only 4 miles.  I don't really know how far that is but since you can normally see for 80 miles I figured that is wasn't very far.

Initially I was disappointed that we didn't get to go to the observatory but I soon cheered up when I stumbled across this place - American Girl Place!  It was a ginormous shop full of dolls and doll stuff.  I spent ages wandering around trying to pick out my favourite doll.  There were dolls from all different times in America's history.  My favourites were Kit and Julie, mainly because they looked a little bit like me.


This one is Julie, she is from the 1970s.  I really like her, her hair was just like mine before I had it cut and her bedroom is decorated the way I want to decorate mine.  If only she had blue eyes like me we could be sisters!

As much as I loved Julie, I ended up buying (with my own money!) a miniature Kit doll because she look most like I do now.  She is from the Great Depression in the 1930s when there wasn't much money for special things like gorgeous dolls or huge holidays.

There were other girls there with dolls that looked like them, but they weren't the dolls from history, they were dolls made to look like them, they even had matching outfits.  It was kind of creepy, a little bit crazy but at the same time very very cool.  Some of the girls were wearing heaps of makeup and were having their photos taken in a special studio and their photos published on a magazine cover.  I don't think I would go that far but even if I do think it is crazy, I would really love my very own American Girl doll!

I wonder if Santa can get presents from America?
Love Princess George

PS - Santa, if you are reading this, I really have been a good girl :-)