Chicago holiday train passes Obama houses

GLENCOE, Ill., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The 2009 Wonderland Express, a holiday miniature train layout at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, includes two houses associated with the Obamas.

Michelle Obama's childhood home and the house where the first couple lived in the Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side until they moved into the White House will join Soldier Field, Millennium Park and other familiar sights.

Like other buildings in the layout, the two Obama houses are being crafted from botanical materials.

The miniature Kenwood house has a "brick" facade constructed from white pine park and catalpa beans, the front steps are palm stems and sea grape leaves and the flower pots are made of burr oak caps and acorns. The porch combines Chinese honeysuckle, eucalyptus leaves, okra seeds, and magnolia and lotus pod stems.

The house where Fraser and Marian Robinson raised their children, Michelle and Craig, on Euclid Avenue is constructed of bricks made of pine tree bark with dormers made of redbud seed pods.

The Wonderland Express will be operating in the Regenstein Center at the Botanic Gardens in Glencoe through the holiday season from Nov. 27 to Jan. 3.