As a 30th birthday present, Scott got me a penguin. (A penguin encounter, really, but still.) It’s been a meeting thirty years in the making, and it has since been added to my list of Kim’s Life: Top 10 – alongside getting married to my dreamy man and the back-to-back Stanley Cup wins in the early nineties for those other Penguins. Simply put, it made my heart sing. It rocked my socks. I was a happy, happy (and very lucky!) girl.
We made an early weekend out of it, leaving on bicycles for the Shedd Aquarium around lunch on Friday and getting home after dinner the same day. We took advantage of our neon Shedd bracelets and weaved in and out of a few exhibits – with the jellies among our top time suck. I couldn’t help but take twenty photos of each kind of jellyfish (trust, I spared you many snaps), but the colorful displays alone were breathtaking. The rest of the day was spent wandering around an eerily empty downtown (the NATO Summit had most businesses closing up shop by Thursday evening) and napping in flower gardens.
Our Friday lazing kept us busy for the actual weekend, assembling flower boxes (updates soon!), rolling out temporary patio plans, and a hefty dose of spring cleaning (which never seemed to end, since we constantly churned out the messes). And hey, remember when I was going to paint that console 2 weeks ago? I started on Saturday. But didn’t finish.
How was yours?
PS: There’ve been crickets around this corner of the web, but we assure you it’s not for lack of keeping (really, really) busy. You know there’s a new Pet Shop in the works, and with that will eventually come a makeover for these virtual digs, too. Thank you for always dropping by and saying hello.
by Kim
That’s soooo cool! Penguins are my favorite so I would be a very happy camper too!
That is so cool! Both C and I love penguins. I’ll have to do something similar for him for his birthday coming up in August!
Great pictures!
~ Liliana
Wow, how fun! I love chicago in the summer. BTW have you checked out Penguin Cam: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/frozen-planet/penguin-cam/
voyage-on.blogspot.com
E, holy smokes, that’s hilarious and awesome!
I dunno what’s cuter. Jack smiling in the sun or that freaking penguin!!! My animal/mammal wish list item is swimming with dolphins. I’ve been in the ocean when there were dolphins around but we were to freaked out to enjoy it as we were busy determining if they were dolphins or sharks. Not the experience I have in mind.
Scott-good job, that’s a genius present! I love watching jellyfish too, they’re fascinating, although they actually scare me from going into the ocean much. I always think I’m going to be stung. Shedd is a cool place.
I’ve always wanted to go to Shedd Aquarium, it’s on my very own 30 to do before 30 lists! Ahh, to get back to Chicago again. I shall live vicariously through you. To do in the mean time, however, is to visit our very own aquarium at the Henry Doorly Zoo here in Omaha…it was completely remodeled from head to toe. And I hear there are MANY more jellyfish to be seen as well :)
I think your console table falls into your new years resolution. Take time, it doesn’t need to get done now (even though we seriously want it to; we can’t wait!) enjoy life! Like you’ve done :)
PS: Have you or Scott ever considered selling your photos? The very first photo in this blog post took my breath away and I would absolutely adore having a 16×20″ of it in my home. You guys take phenomenal shots!
Jen, I have an abnormal fear of sharks, so that would freak me out!
Kalli, they scare me too – but put them in a pretty pink tank, and I’m okay.
Miranda, I need to take your advice. I want it done, but time is not on my side right now! Thank you for the reminder. As for the photos, thank you! We’ve been asked this before, and we’ve certainly thought of it, perhaps in an Etsy shop of our “week’s end” collection. Of course we’ll let you know!
Kim, I second Miranda’s comment as I was thinking the same thing! You are great photographers. I love the jelly fish shots in particular. Perhaps you could put a few listings on Etsy and just print to order? Lovely shots all around.
Thanks, Emma! That’s sort of what we were thinking – it’ll most likely be on the summer agenda…
I’m so jealous you got to meet penguins!! What an awesome birthday present. :) Love how your jellyfish shots turned out, they’re what I love to watch at the aquarium too.
It sounds like you had an amazing week’s end. Kind of jealous but everyone deserves days like this.
Hahahahahaha! Is there such a thing as a “normal” fear of sharks?
KIM! Penguin encounter=awesome. The person on the fountain is my friend!!! Weird.
Tyrell, too funny! And we must hang out soon!
Happy 30th Kim! I turn 30 in July! Eek! That penguin encounter looks too cool! What an awesome experience. :)