Take the Kids to Work Day 2013

This year marks the third time I got to take the boys to work with me on the national Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day. Since I've done such a great job with organizing and executing events for the RTA,  I have a standing order to take this on every year, and I was up for the challenge! We took the kids on a Red Line CTA train to Chinatown. 

We had the Chinese Cultural Institute give us a guided walking tour of the area. Here the boys check out the wall with the 9 dragons. Our guide told us the origin of the wall and its significance to Chinese culture. This wall was built in China and delivered and re-assembled here in a three-month long process. 

We visited a Buddhist temple:

We also walked around to see the Chinese zodiac statues. Jack and I were both born in the year of the Rooster. Since the zodiac years cycle over 12 years, you can kind of figure out how old someone is by asking what zodiac sign they were born under. That is, if you can ballpark someone's age within 12 years.

Jason had some issues with listening and not disturbing the tour guide. Also, he was not too thrilled to discover he had been born in the year of the pig. 

After heading back to the RTA and working with me a bit, and learning from our Executive Director about what we do and how we pay for public transit service, we took a tour of the Federal Reserve's Money Museum. The boys really liked it! 

 Here the kids check out a million dollars (in twenties).