April 18 2013; Deluge and Night at the Museum

The storm seemed like a typical spring soaker.  But the rain kept coming.  In the end about 10 inches fell in 48 hours.  The last bit was a real soaker.  The water started to rise.  By 8am, we were an Island.

Pretty surrounded by water, but none in the basement really.

Only the ducks seemed to be happy with all the water.

With the water rising in the back we were getting a bit anxious.  A couple more inches and water might start to spill into the basement through the window wells.

Diane noticed that the village had dumped some sand and sandbags in the area.  We wanted to protect the vulnerable window well area.  We couldn't drive through the water to get to the sand.  Luckily we had a plan B. The small john boat in the backyard.

Using the boat we were able to get 16 sandbags set in front of the window wells.  The rain was letting up.  We were starting to feel like we were in good shape.

The Boys took advantage of the situation and started paddling the boat around the neighborhood.  

They were able to range into the nearby forest preserve.  They had a blast.  They were also able to provide boat rides to some of the neighborhood kids.  They really had a great time.

The rain had stopped and the water was starting to recede rapidly.  After the water level fell below our driveway (no more Hope Falls) a whirlpool formed by the drain from our property.

It was quite impressive.  At time it was 4-5 inches wide.

The danger had passes.  Everything was moving in the right direction.  Now we could focus on Members Night at the Field Museum.  There was only one problem.  Part of the road was covered with 18-20 inches of water.  Thats the bridge from the park in the foreground of this picture. Luckily it was down to about a foot deep when we had to leave.  The jeep drove right through and we were on our way.

The museum was a delightful contrast with the flood related excitement during the day.  In the insect exhibit you got to hold a tarantula.

Patrick joined in the fun.

I went for the head shot.

So did Alex.

Even Sue, the Tyranosaurus Rex came this night.

Alex is now clearly taller than Lucy.

I love this cave bear.  The fossil is pretty cool too!

We have taken many pictures with this bone over the years.  See http://hopefamily61.blogspot.com/2010/03/mammoths-and-mastodons.html.  In the end it was a quite memorable day.  A near miss flood followed by family fun.  Wonderful!

Sao Paulo

I gave a talk at the HIV Pathogenesis course at the University of Sao Paulo.  Over the weekend we "went to the beach" along the atlantic coast.  I stayed in a beautiful villa in the coastal rainforest.  Got to see wild toucans from the deck.

This is a picture of the deck.  It rained most of Saturday.  I guess thats why they call it a rainforest.

The view from the deck.

On Saturday, during a break in the rain, we took a lovely walk along the beach and swam in the ocean.

On Sunday we took a hike in the rainforest.

Even with the ominous clouds, the beaches were beautiful.

So dense and green.  This is our host Jorge.  

Nice falls along the hike.

Also had a couple of nice cigars.  Jorge's smile says it all.

It an unexpected treat, I was able to attend a laproscopic surgery for endometriosis.  Fascinating and educational.

Spring Break 2013 Staycation

We were planning to go to the farm for spring break to explore the fishing.  But unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate.  It was going to be cold with snow.  So we decided to do a staycation.  The weather was pretty bad for us at home too.  But we did manage a couple outing.  We went out on a nice afternoon to the Brookfield Zoo.

Something clearly has the attention of these meerkats.

Penguins are always fun to see.

The family by the Andean Condor enclosure. 

The condor clear has a bigger wingspan than Diane.

Looks like Alex has the same wingspan as a Bald Eagle.

The boys had a lot of fun.

We had a great visit to the Zoo.

We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  Diane had fun with the big Tesla lightening ball.

I beat Diane in the mind relaxation game.  Took a Zen approach.

The exhibits are lots of fun.

Everyone had a great time.  Chicago is such a great city. Lots of convenient and fun things to do on a stay cation.

Happy Birthday Bart

Singapore

Had to go to Singapore for a US-Japan meeting.  The Harbor is very cool. 

Thats the MerLion over my shoulder.  It was very humid.

That building really catches the eye.  What a cool landmark.

We went to the Singapore Zoo.  It was outstanding!

The hippo exhibit was very fun.

But the best thing was an enclosure called rain forest encounter.  Extraordinary!

It was full of friendly Lemurs.  They were like cats.

There was a platform into the trees that was full of flying foxes, birds, and a three-toed sloth.

They were fighting over some fruit that had just been passed out.

The flying foxes were amazing.  Giant Bats.  At one point one tried to land on my arm when I was taking pictures.

This sloth was about 2 feet away.  Unfortunately it was cloudy leading to the picture being blurry.

You can really see why they are called flying foxes in this picture.

We saw a second sloth as we climbed down from the perch.

The meeting ended and we had a free late afternoon.  Even though it was raining, we headed to the botanical park and the Singapore National Orchid Garden.  Breathtaking!  The following pictures speak for themselves.

Illini win!

Got to go to the annual Illinois-Northwestern game in Evanston.  After falling apart for the middle of the season they are looking great winning 3 in a row, including #1 Indiana and #18 Minnesota.  They would prove to be looking good that day.

Turnabout 2013

Its that time of year.  Turnabout Dance at York.