Summer Road Trip '09 Day 1-2

We've taken on a pretty serious road trip this summer....1 that would involve 4 total days of driving across the country, 3 nights in Chicago and 3 nights in Kalamazoo. Whew!

Day 1 - Reid's 2 year old birthday party was at 10am and we had prescriptions to pick up across town then we finally could leave Arlington - it was 12:30. The drive across east Texas and Arkansas was uneventful. A few arguments over the DVD player and headphone usage - but all was fine. We had hoped to make it to Sikeston, MO but realized after making it through Little Rock, AR that we did not have that much more in us and driving at night didn't sound much more appealing. West Memphis, AR was our Day 1 resting place. A Comfort Inn worked just fine for our first hotel stay. The boys slept in the same bed together, no problems but it was late.

Day 2 - we were up early - or at least I was. We made it down to breakfast by 7:30. The hotel had one of those free continental breakfast dealies - but about 5 itty bitty tables to sit at. Seeing as they were all full we opted to sit at the comfy couch and coffee table area in the "lobby". The boys were "starved" for breakfast...I handed each a cake donut to ease the hunger while Bryan was in charge of making the waffles. You'd of thought I handed them exploding donuts because it was quickly the biggest mess created on those comfy couches. Seriously. I was so embarrassed but nobody was kind of enough to give up their "table spot" to a family of 4 with messy boys even though they were only drinking coffee and reading the paper. Oh well...I guess we taught the Comfort Inn a lesson to get more tables.

We headed out on the freeway of love - okay it was just I57 toward Chicago. We made it through Missouri, crossed the Mississippi and in to Illinois. There was a little more action from the backseat that morning. Brennan was super grumpy and suddenly the 14 year old teenager that "doesn't want to go on a stupid family vacation". Geez - take a nap already. Anyways...the boys had to take turns deciding what movie to watch but there were issues. Issues with the headphones. Brennan has his own pair of headphones. They are his and his only because they are the kind that actually sit in your ears a bit and they are covered in his ear goo. I packed another pair for Evan that go on top of your ears but we quickly realized that one side was broken. He kept taking them on and off his head and we kept having to put them back together - it was starting to get real annoying but we were dealing. I had the brilliant idea to bring along a picture book and CD combo - for Saint-Saens Carnival of Animals. This is where Brennan's prepubscent attitude came into play. Evan was totally into my little cultural/teaching moment and Brennan was not. We all fought through the attitude, enjoyed listening to some music and then quickly hooked the DVD player back up so their was some more quiet time. Lunch happened in Effingham, IL at a Wendy's - pretty uneventful.

Then there was a potty break - can't remember exactly where but it happened at a Target where I purchased a new set of headphones...there, issue solved. I happened to be the one on driving duty when we actually arrived IN Chicago.

I survived and Greta the Garmin (thanks Paladini's) was awesome at getting us to our hotel. We arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn on Grand Ave at 5pm. We were a bit bleary-eyed and hungry but we were impressed by our handicap-accomodated hotel room. Seriously nice with kids - it has a giant bathroom so showers and bath issues are easy here!

We called up Jim and Eleanor Casella. Bryan's great Aunt and Uncle on his mother's side. They live right downtown on Randolph street. The last time we saw them was in 2001 when Bryan and I drove to Chicago/Michigan BK (before kids). They are so sweet and wanted us to come over for dinner. So we venture to their apartment, in our car, through the streets of Chicago. It got a bit tense...lots more honking, one way streets and people that cross extra slow in cross walks than we are used to. But, all's good - we made it. They met us in the lobby and took us up to "their" restaurant. It's the restaurant in their building on the 7th floor. Jim and Eleanor have lived in this building for 39 years - that's long enough to call pretty much anything "their's" at this point. We were the only ones there that night, at least when we first arrived. Our heads were still swimming and couldn't really focus on what to order. Evan ordered spaghetti - what?! - when the heck does he ever order that? And I couldn't talk him into the less messy grilled cheese sandwich...no way! Bryan ordered the Italian sausage sub or some sort of gastric nightmare, Brennan had the chicken fingers and I ordered the spaghetti as well. What was I thinking? Well, Meg, the waitress finally delivers our meal after the boys are climbing the walls and Jim and Eleanor are looking at us like we have wild, wolf children. The biggest plate of sgetti is delivered right in front of Evan and the same size for me...apparently she didn't pick up on the fact that I was ordering from the "kids" menu. oh well. But, I felt like I was wrangling a wild monkey trying to manage Evan and his meal at "their" restaurant. Brennan was devouring his along with every bit of ranch dressing and ketchup he could squeeze on his plate, licking fingers and slurping milk. Nice. And the boys were drinking their weight in milk (this will be an important fact later). Some employee even had to go done to the store to buy more milk!

We went up to their house to sit for a minute but again - wild, wolf children had taken over our boys. They have a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline but it was hard to take in when I was trying to prevent Evan and/or Brennan from destroying any number of things in their very non-kid proofed home. It was lovely to visit but I was tir-ed. So, we kindly smiled, took pictures,

gave hugs and off we went back to our hotel. Once the bed situation was worked out we slept and slept until 6am when I woke up ready for Day 3.