What Has An IQ Of 170 And Is Made Of Wood?

While we were in Chicago, a couple of weeks ago, we had the chance to tour the Smart Home at the Museum of Science and Industry.
It was a pretty cool exhibit. Basically it was a 2500 sq. ft. house that you got to walk through with a tour guide.



So what makes this home so smart? (It only lets you use one square of toilet paper when you poop. I hate Sheryl Crow.)

1) Smart Design
It's designed to feel bigger than it really is with the use of high ceilings, abundant light and by "borrowing" space from outdoors.



2) Material Efficiency
Since the home is prefabricated and modular designed it takes less time to construct the home using fewer resources. Most of the material, including the furniture is made of recycled materials.

3) Energy Efficient
The green roof (plants on the roof) help keep the home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Solar rooftop panels help generate much of the home's electricity. Electricity costs are about half of what a normal home costs.

4) Water Efficiency (this is my favorite one and something we could use in the Arizona desert)
The home is built to collect rain water to later use to water the plants and garden outside. The home also filter and recycles "grey water", (rinse water from the washer, showers, sinks, etc) and uses this water to flush the toilets. Speaking of toilets, the home is equipped with dual-flush toilets, that use half the water when you go number one and more water when you had the big burrito the night before (that was the tour guide's joke).

5) Healthy Environment
Home is built with non-toxic materials. It also has a air and water filtration system.

This home was loaded with technology and made Lisa and I look down upon our dumb home back in Arizona. But at a cost of $500,000 (not including land) maybe we'll have to wait a little longer before was start saving the earth with our smart home.

It was pretty cool though.

Tall-Sticky-Wet Onions.

Our tour guide told us Chicago means, "Tall-sticky-wet onions" and he said they weren't proud of that fact.

We went to Chicago to check out a school Jared might attend and see if we like it there.

We do.



After the school's open house, we stayed a few days and had some fun.



Saw the sights, took some pictures, and ate really good food.



We walked everywhere! Our legs were screaming for us to stop.

But we didn't.



It was such a fun trip. You would have to spend a month there to do everything you want.

Maybe someday we will.

A special thanks to Ely, Chris, and Mom for watching Hannah for us.
We know she had fun.

Does Anyone Speak Baby?

Jared and I often wonder what Hannah is trying to tell us.

It would be so fun to know what she's saying.



This is a very small taste of the usual long conversations she holds all day long. We love listening to Hannah and her talk.

Any guesses as to what she said?

The Many Hairs Of Hannah.

In the morning, it's big and has a mind of it's own.
























It calms down a bit during the day.


















After bath time it looks so nice and tame.



































Then she goes to bed and the hair monster returns.
























She gets it from Jared.

The Monkey Missed.

At the zoo, we went into the monkey village.

The best part was when Hannah tried to grab a monkey and the monkey tried to jump away onto a branch...

... the video says it all.



Actually, I'm lying. That wasn't the best part...



Before we left, we fed the turtles a ham sandwich.