Union Station and Chinatown with Pics

This morning as I was trying to get the boys together and get myself dressed to get out and do some sightseeing, Norman surprised us by coming home early! We were sooo happy he could spend the day with us!! We still have a pretty large assortment of places we hadn't been yet, so we decided to go to Union Station for lunch and some shopping, and then explore Chinatown for a bit just to see what was there.

We got to Union Station and ate lunch at Uno Pizzeria (it was Chicago style pizza, and the BEST I've ever tasted in my life. When you come to visit us, we are taking you there!!) It was just superb! From there we walked thru an assortment of shops, and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful things. This isn't just a mall...it is a collection of some of the best shops in the world, and it is just magnificient! The architecture of the place alone is worth the trip, but we had just the best time. Eli wanted to spend some of his allowance money on a souveniere, so he decided on an adorable Revolutionary War Bear, and we had to get one for Chase, of course, so there wouldn't be any wars of our own going on later.

From there we went to Chinatown and just walked around. We saw some of the oldest, most beautiful church buildings I've ever seen, and also found where the Smithsonian American Art Museum is located, but since the boys were tired, we didn't want to attempt that today. We decided to check out Gallery Place, and ate some Haggen Dazs Ice Cream. We really liked Chinatown...It was funny, places like Bed, Bath and Beyond had their regular signs up, but there were the Chinese symbols beneath the words. Pretty cool. And I had to take a picture of the big entrance over the street into the neighborhood. I'm such a tourist still. I was telling Norman how it's so funny...we live here and we still get sucked into every little tourist shop and look at all the little snowglobes and stuffed bears like we've never been here before. But it's fun, and I know the boys are enjoying themselves, so that's all that matters.

We ended up helping a man in the metro station. When we came down the escalators, I saw a man leaning up on the rail, but I wasn't sure if it was another homeless man about to ask me for money, or if he really was having a problem. Well, we figured out quickly that he was just a normal older guy, and he was having some problems so we stopped, gave him some water, and waited until an ambulance was called and he had help there. Bless his heart. He wasn't too old, but he was an elderly gentleman...We happened to have a new bottle of water on us, and so that was able to help him out some. I hope things ended up okay for him. He was about to pass out and Norman so sweetly had his hand on his arm helping him. Norman is such a good man. It was a good situation to talk to Eli about later...about the Good Samaritan. We had been teaching him about that story in the Bible, and it was a good practical lesson for him...with all the people walking past him, someone needed to help the poor guy. I'm glad we were there.

Besides that, I am starting a moms group for our building (please pray that this will be a good thing and the beginning of many friendships), I'm still working on my shop - although I am so proud of the progress I've made!! And I am still applying for jobs. I know it takes time, so we are being as patient as possible. I say "we" because Norman is dealing with me being frustrated, so he is going thru it as much as I am. Bless him for being such an encouraging person to me...He keeps me from getting too frustrated.

Okay, that is all for now. I am blogged out. HA! Yeah right!! :) But here are a few pictures from today...The first one is from Chinatown...the rest were taken at Union Station. Enjoy!!!