Chicago Marathon, Chicago Botanic Garden

October 13, 2013  Sunday

We were in Chicago last year for the Chicago Marathon and we managed to be here again to support Tiffany's friend, Jane.

KC was excited to see her "Auntie" Jane run.

We found this parking garage and was amazed to discover that we got the LAST parking space. 




We wondered what the security would be like after the Boston Marathon bombing.  Sure enough, there were LOTS of patrol cars showing the strong presence of Chicago's finest.

And then there she was!

"Auntie Jane" stopped to give KC a little hug, letting her know how much she appreciated KC's efforts with her "Go Auntie Jane" sign.

Over 40,000 runners competed in the race. 

This big dog seemed to be trying his best to read KC's sign.

He then jumped on KC.  Incredibly, she wasn't frightened.

With all the noise and pandemonium of the race, I'm surprised some people chose to bring their dogs into the crowd.

After the race, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed out to the Chicago Botanic Garden.  Since we all had cameras, KC wanted to take photos too.

 

Ed decided to try out his new camera at the garden.   The shots were all crisp and the colors were incredible.

KC loved having her daddy close by since he'd been gone on a business trip.

The top photo is of Autumn Crocus.  The bottom photo is of the bonsai display.  KC begged Art to let her use his camera.  I was nervous for him, but he taught her to keep the strap around her wrist so she wouldn't drop it.

 There were Canadian geese on that island.  We loved walking through the rose garden.

For some reason, we're always drawn to the water lilies.

Here KC is taking a photo of her father while he took a photo of her.

Below KC took a photo of Tiffany and Art.

Here are some photos from a 6 year old's perspective.

KC took a photo of a photo from Tiffany's iPhone of the Marathon.

What made KC happiest of all was when we got home and Ed gave her a spare older camera they had.  She was ecstatic and learned to navigate how to turn her camera on and off, view, delete a photo, force flash, etc.

Tiffany said Ed believes she should have the real thing to use instead of a toy because he feels if she wants to learn how to use a camera, she should have the opportunity to do so on the real thing.

If she breaks it, that would be a lesson too.  As it turned out, she treated her camera very carefully throughout our time in Chicago and LOVED taking photos at every opportunity.  She is learning quickly.  However, there are quite a few photos she took of me that I hope Tiffany will quietly (and quickly) delete.