Chicago Trip - Day #2

We ate a nice breakfast of bagels at the little shop in the lobby of our hotel - Einstein Bagels.  It was great.  Then we took the bus down to the Field Museum campus for the day.

Sue the T-Rex was great:

Worth another picture.

Another dinosaur bone intended for hands on (or other):

Kids got a bit board, so we walked down to the Planetarium:

Rocket simulators were good:

Then the bus ride back to the hotel:

Pizzeria Due for supper.  I picked it up as the kids went through the tub.  Chicago Deep Dish was very filling.

Chicago Trip - Day #1

We hopped on the train at the Gary Station around noontime.  This is the first time kids had ridden on a train.  It took us into the city, and we hopped off at the Museum of Science of Industry.

 

The big German submarine was cool:

Periscopes were fun:

Anchors are neato:

 

Astronauts make kids smile:

Then, we took a bus to our hotel.  We stayed downtown just 2 or 3 blocks east of Michigan Ave and just 4 or 5 blocks north of the river.  It was a nice location with lots of dining options within walking distance.  Here are kids showing off the 16th floor where we stayed:

We had a nice view of the street below.  

We all spent alot of time at the window.

Saturday's Adventure Trip

This past Saturday, I loaded up 2 of the 3 kids, about 50 stuffed animals, and headed north in the pick-up to pick up another Craigslist purchase.  

I have been searching for quite awhile for a sickle bar mower as a project.  My list of demands were high - it had to be light-weight, mostly functional, and perhaps most important of all - super cheap.  I finally found all 3 attributes in one machine, but it was way up north 90 miles away.

No worries, though.  That's where the adventure trip comes in.  With 2 kids and 50 stuffed animals, we had a fun afternoon travelling through the countryside.  

Upon seeing the sickle bar mower at the seller's 

barn, #2 Kiddo exclaims, "Is that it?!"!"

Well, yes.  That is all it is.

Nothing too flashy, and it will need a bit of work, but that's expected.

This sickle bar is a 1950s vintage Farmall Cub C22 60 inch mower.  It was originally a belly-mounted mower that was powered off the rear PTO of the small similar-vintage tractor.  My plan is to convert it to a front mounted mower for my larger 1980s JD garden tractor.  By having a cantilevered mower, trimming my creek banks will be a piece of cake.  Inspiration for this project originated with my Canadian Cousin with this picture:

I have a bit of designing and engineering to do.  Now that I have the actual mower in hand, I can start drawing and designing a way to attach, power, and raise this unit.  It looks like a fun and challenging project.