No boys allowed!

So, my honey runs away once or twice a year.  No girls allowed.  Usually it's a nice lake house with lots of guys or Vegas for basketball tournaments.  A couple of the other guys' wives and I are good friends and usually we just complain about how the guys get to have all the fun.  Well, David decided it was our turn (LOVE that he decided and that I needed to be talked into it, not the other way around).  Of course, now I have to just smile and nod next time he wants to go, but I can live with that!  We finally decided on Chicago as our destination and with much planning, e-mailing, and a playdate for 6 kids, found a few days that worked for the three of us girls.

We set out a little after 11 last Wednesday morning.  About time to go I decided I felt sick and would just stay home - ha ha!  I've never left Max overnight and I've only left Luke overnight to go to the hospital to have Max.  But, I did have to leave Seth for five days when he was about 16 months old.  Because of that, I knew that once I was gone and wasn't somewhere the boys had been with me, it would be okay.  And I was right.  But, walking out that door was ROUGH! 

So, what do three moms do on vacation?  Here's a brief recap:

Wednesday - leave home and drive to Chicago.  Stop for a quick lunch on the way and stare at fast food menu, clueless as to how to choose our own meal rather than order it as an afterthought once the kids meals are squared away.  Check into hotel.  Iron clothes [this was when I realized that I don't relax well - my two friends are sitting there doing nothing and I'm ironing!].  Take a little self-guided tour of the hotel.  Get cleaned up a bit.  Head out to wait for a trolley to Navy Pier, stopping off at the [free] manager's reception for some snacks.  Melt into a puddle of sweat Glisten while waiting for the trolley to Navy Pier.  Ride non-air conditioned trolley to Navy Pier and melt a bit more consider kissing the person who invented air conditioning.  Arrive at Navy Pier and marvel at how much cooler it is by the water.  Shop.  Enjoy dinner looking out at the boats on the water.  Shop some more.  Share a funnel cake.  Watch really pretty fireworks over the water.  Grab a cab back to the hotel.  Get comfy and rent a movie.  Go to bed really late.  Awaken in middle of night to trash truck (?) picking up trash, outside of window, five stories down.  Resist urge to yell, "Boys, it's the trash truck."  Ugh.  Back to sleep.

The boys on my first night away.  I had recorded a book for them so I could still "read" them a bedtime story.  David did the same thing for his last trip. 

Thursday - sleep, glorious sleep.  Enjoy complimentary (warm) breakfast at hotel.  Discover that I eat a lot of ketchup.  Hmm.  Back to room to do nothing.  I started to improve at this 'task.'  We had decided to go to a play Thursday night so we spent some time researching our options, buying tickets and deciding where to eat dinner.  Then we sat around and read.  My super fabulous husband got me a Nook a few weeks ago so it was loaded up with books and games, plus the hotel had free wifi for the summer.  The Nook is the coolest thing ever.  But, I digress.  Next up was a little walk/jog on the treadmill.  Yes, *I* got on the treadmill on vacation.  Then back to the room where I crawled into my bed - in the middle of the afternoon - to read.  Did I mention it was the middle of the day?  Insanity!  Later, get all cleaned up and dressed up a bit and head out to the theater to see "Peter Pan."  Worry a bit as we arrive at theater that it's an odd looking tent-like place.  Replace worry with awe and really enjoy the production - round stage/theater, lots of flying, humorous spin on the story, etc.  Take cab to dinner, reservations at 9:45 - white tablecloths and waiters in tuxes, appetizers and dinner and dessert.  Mmmmm...   Back to hotel to read a bit and sleep!  Repeat trash truck experience from night before.

Friday - up at a reasonable time.  Breakfast at the hotel again and then out shopping!  Oh, with a quick stop at Starbucks.  It was attached to the hotel.  It had to be done.  We were just two blocks from Michigan Avenue so it didn't take us long to get started.  First up - Crate and Barrel.  Then spent lots of time digging at Filene's Basement.  Wound up with a junk jewelry bracelet and pajamas for the boys (yeah, I know how to live it up).  Wandered into lots of other little places along the way.  Late lunch of "real" Chicago style deep dish pizza.  Offered to cut up someone's food so I didn't forget how.  Both friends declined the offer.  Then lots more walking so we would be hungry enough for dessert.  Stand in a long (but totally worth it) line at Garrett's popcorn for caramel crisp popcorn with cashews.  Great dessert  On to Hershey's store for a peanut butter chocolate cupcake and cold glass of milk for dessert.  Then a bit more shopping.  Finally, after all that shopping and eating, back to the hotel room for a little resting/reading/regretting - not what I purchased, but what I didn't purchase (of course, something for the older boys).  Then some room service for dinner and a trip to the hot tub for our weary legs.  Watched another movie and then went to bed really really late!

Apparently I wasn't the only one indulging in food.  Powdered donuts.  And a smirky smile.

Saturday - up at a reasonable time.  Laid in bed for awhile thinking about whether or not I still wanted to go back and get what I didn't get the day before (it's a Christmas gift so I'll just be vague).  Decided I did.  Got up and got ready and packed and skipped breakfast with my friends, opted instead to walk back over to Michigan Ave and grab what I wanted.  Might have stopped at Starbucks again on the way back.  Got back from my little excursion to hear that they had deactivated our room keys (almost 2 hours before check out time) while the others were at breakfast and they had had to hang out in the hallway waiting for someone to fix the situation.  Then we headed home, stopping at McDonald's on the way home (had to ease back into the mom thing).  I love vacations, but when it's time to be home I have NO patience for travelling.  When it's over, I just want it to be over and be home! 

I even returned home to a mostly clean house, nearly all the laundry done (except what I brought home, of course), two bouquets of flowers, and lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles.

Family vacation: Day 5

Friday morning we packed up and got ready to head home.  Or at least that was the plan.  We never made it to the pool at the hotel so we thought if we got on the road early enough and the boys slept in the car, maybe we could go to a pool once we got home.  I took the boys a few weeks ago but swimming with Daddy is a rare treat for the boys.  Ahh, the best laid plans...

We were packing up to leave and made the mistake of putting the cereal on the floor, within Max's reach.  Yes, he did help himself.

This one was to just show how tiny the fridge was.  Very thankful that my husband "permitted" us to eat out nearly every meal.  "Cute" is not a word you want to describe your kitchen.

And, this was our accidental detour.  As we were driving along the interstate, we were taking about the things that we had planned to do but just didn't have time.  Dave was pointing out the arch to the boys as it came into view and then Luke started saying, "Mommy, that was where you wanted to go!"  No one else really wanted to go up in the arch, so it seemed silly.  But then Luke started saying he would go with me and we decided to detour.  We were all dressed in our comfy clothes and the car was packed with all of our stuff, but we figured out how to get there, got to the parking garage, and jumped out.  The stroller wasn't accessible since we weren't planning to stop anywhere on the way home so Max had to be held/carried.  And the signs all said that they are likely to sell out of tickets early in the day.  It was a few minutes after 11:00 and I was worried there wouldn't be any tickets until much later.  But, there was a booth just outside of the parking garage and she said she could sell us tickets for 11:40 but that we had to get to the arch (it was a bit of a walk) before the ticket time.

We took off on our walk.  On the way Luke managed create a person pileup and we ended up with a skinned knee and a hurting wrist.  After we got the knee bandaged up, Dave told me to take Luke and get going and that he and the other two boys would just hang out.  We had only bought tickets for Luke and me anyway.  About a minute after we walked away, Luke managed to fall too so now his knee was bleeding.  I was really regretting the decision to stop at the arch as it seemed like everyone was getting beat up by it!

There were four lines we had to stand in before we were on the tram to the top of the Arch.  First was security outside.  Luke made new friends, of course, in that line.  After the two injuries, it was exactly 11:40 when we got through security.  Then we had to stand in line inside to give them our tickets.  This was a short line and then we stood in the third line.  In this line they gave us all these plastic numbered tickets (Luke enjoyed playing with them, and having me take his picture).  Five people can ride in each car so this was our car assignment.  At the end of this line they take an overpriced photo of you and your party and release you into a little room with educational Arch info.  Luke enjoyed talking on the phone.  Ahem, listening on the phone to all the info about the building of the Arch.

Then came the fourth line, on these stairs.  You are called by the number on your plastic card and you stand on these stairs and watch a seven minute video about the Arch.  Then it's time to board the tram.  At this point I was really amazed at how good Luke was being.  He is a busy guy, but I think because it was just the two of us and I could focus all of my attention on him, he was really good.  At this point I was also VERY thankful that Seth, and somewhat Dave, had stayed behind.  I don't think Seth would've gotten into the tram and I don't think Dave would've enjoyed the closed in feeling.

It's tough to tell, but the doors are 4 feet tall and are encased in steel.  Watch your head!  Five people fit into the little car.  The doors close and you there's a little window.  However, the view is only of the stairs you would have to use should this ride malfunction.  Not sure why I thought we would be able to see out on the way up, but that was definitely not the case.  It's a four minute ride to the top - I was glad they told us that ahead of time, just so I knew it wouldn't go on forever.  You could feel it going up and then it would rock a little - over and over.  One of the passengers in our car wasn't real thrilled with the experience so I kept talking to Luke, hoping she wouldn't scare him.  Apparently, Luke doesn't scare easily.  Or didn't listen to her anymore than he usually listens to me!  He did tell me later (actually, at bedtime) that he didn't like the ride.  Made me wonder if he was thinking about it all day?

The viewing area is rather small.  It just wasn't at all what I expected.

The windows are really tiny.  There are 16 on either side.  Luke was too short to stand on the ground so I put him on the slanted wall and he could see just fine - and loved it!  He even let one of the employees know that, "We are IN the Arch!"  Thankfully, the employee just played along, "OH, that's where we are?"  Cute.

He was most excited about this helicopter on its little landing pad out in the water. 

A view of the stadium and some of the city from the top of the Arch.

After we finished looking around, maybe 15 minutes, we headed back down the stairs to stand and wait for the tram.  The ride down is only three minutes.  Gravity, I guess.

Little did we know that the helicopter was also providing the entertainment for Dave and Seth (and Max).  It was a sightseeing helicopter and the boys were sitting in the shade watching it take off and land - over and over.

Once we were all reunited we let the boys run for just a little while.

Two of my boys with the Arch.

One last Arch shot.  It's tough to see them, but the 16 tiny viewing windows are nearly in the center of the photo.  The windows are actually in the middle of the Arch, of course, but I was at an angle taking the picture.

And THEN it was time to come home.  Everyone was hungry and hot and I chose to bypass the first exit with anything good to eat and then it was more than an hour before we found another exit with anything worth eating.  Ugh.  But, that also meant that after we ate it was only a couple more hours until home. 

We got home around 8:30pm, after a quick trip to the store and car wash.  We got the boys in bed [I think Max was most excited to see his own bed, but Luke was a close second.], I sorted all the laundry and started a load of it (so I had something to wear on my Saturday adventure), unpacked a few things, and collapsed onto the couch.  Then at 9:30 the next morning I was up and ready to head to Ikea in Cincinnati with three of my favorite people on a girls only day trip!  The perfect ending to my vacation - although I'm not sure David, who stayed home and did all the rest of the laundry and dealt with grumpy post-vacation kiddos would agree!

Thank you for coming along for our 2011 vacation recap! 

Family vacation: Day 4

Aaah, Day 4.  The 'aaah' is for any of you still reading.  *smiles*  We came home on Day 5 so you've almost made it.  Day 4 was probably my favorite, although for me Day 5 was a close second.  Now you must come back to read tomorrow's too, huh?  How'd you like that hook?

Anyway, Day 4 was Grant's Farm.  Named Grant's Farm because a cabin/former home of Ulysses S. Grantis located on the property.  The property was eventually purchased by the Anheuser-Busch family and is home to some commercial celebs - the Clydesdales. 

Upon arriving and parking, horse shoe prints lead you to the edge of the parking lot where the security guards stop traffic and let you cross over onto a little bridge.  Once across the bridge the line weaves around to the tram boarding area.  And, if you are travelling with a 3 and 5 year old, as soon as you are in the front of the tram line it detours to the General Store for a potty break, and then back to the end of the tram line.  Fortunately, the lines weren't too long - bathroom or tram. 

The staff asked us to empty the stroller, then they whisked it away to the front of the tram and it magically appeared once the ride was over.  Awesome, because most of the day was spent exploring the zoo-type exhibits, post-tram drop off. 

On the (very nice) tram - not even sure what they were looking at, but I love that all four of them seem so interested.  Probably the two swans on the lake. 

We drove by this gate and statue on the tram.  They were real antlers, found on the property and dipped in bronze.  Also, this gate (tough to photgraph on the tram), is the one the Clydesdales are often seen running through in the commercials.  Kinda cool.

The best of the tram ride was that it took you through all sorts of just open area with free roaming animals - deer, lots of geese, cattle, and these guys.  It's such open area, in fact, that this guy was hanging around on the bridge we were supposed to drive across.  The driver had to stop and honk at them for awhile so they would move.  He then kindly asked us not to stick our hands out and try to touch them.  Umm, fine by me.

As soon as the tram dropped us off, I noticed a show was about to start.  Dave took Max and I took Seth and Luke and the three of us hurried into the show.  Because I thought it was the elephant show.  But it turned out to be a lot of birds.  I don't love birds.  Truthfully, I am really not a fan of birds.  Especially not when the bird trainers are begging everyone to sit still and be quiet (and the audience is full of small rowdy children) so as not to upset the birds.  Ugh.

There were a lot of interesting animals.  Some of them not really "farm" animals - there were two bald eagles.  They had been injured and were unable to fly so they were living here.

"Ooh, Daddy, let's feed the camels," quickly became "Daddy, you can feed the camels."

Goats were another story!  The Farm had a 'fun pass' and for a discounted rate you got a snow cone, a carousel ride, and two bottles to feed the goats.  I must say that watching my little boys seek out hungry goats was quite cute.  They both fed them without much hesitation. 

I was surprised at how much Seth enjoyed it as he's not one to do things like this often.  But, he seemed to really enjoy the goats both at the zoo and here at the farm.

Seth even did some more goat brushing.  I guess he figured out that it was okay at the zoo so he couldn't be so bad here.

After we finished at the animal exhibit part, we boarded the tram again and headed back to the parking lot.  Just on the other side of the parking lot were the Clydesdale stables.  I just thought this was a really pretty "scene" - the truck and the beautiful flowers and the white fence.  Unfortunately, I couldn't convince a horse to wander into the photo.  Bummer.

Luke jumped right up on the fence to put the horse.  Seth alleges he also at least touched the horse.  I never saw it.  [The blue shirt is not mine, but I was melting and couldn't wait for him to be done to take the picture.]

Another horse.  They really are huge animals - very amazing to look at.

Little Max put up with SO much on this trip.   Thankfully, he really loves his stroller and loves to take in the sights (no idea where he gets that slightly nosy gene).  But, to put up with anyone this close to your face when it's nearly 100 degrees outside, he deserves a medal!

Everyday we thought we would go back to the hotel and swim in the little hotel pool.  Everyday we were gone longer than we planned to be.  We never got to swim!  But that's okay.  I don't think the boys cared at all.

This night we went to Moe's for dinner.  I love Moe's.  Seth will eat chips and queso forever.  And I know Luke can eat there without allergy incident.  Funny story:  I kept marvelling at the fact that there was no one else there.  "Isn't this odd?"  "Do people here not like Moe's?"  "Do you think people know something we don't?"  Yes!  They know that this Moe's closed 15 minutes ago!  Oops!  We hurried up and finished our dinner and scooted out.  Again, they were so nice about it.  Anyway, then we went back, got the kids in bed, and started packing for home. 

Family vacation: Day three

Wednesday it cooled off to a chilly 90 degrees so we headed out to the zoo.  We didn't have a lot of options as we only had two full days left and both of the remaining activities on our list were outdoor activities.  We had heard their zoo was huge.  That seemed to be an understatement.  We spent nearly 7 hours there and still didn't see everything.  Silly mommy thought Max would eventually just fall asleep in his stroller.  Ha ha!  Max is tooooo nosy for that!  He was awake the entire time.  And, he was actually really good at the zoo.



They had a nice children's portion of the zoo - some guinea pigs to pet, some tunnels to crawl around in and get better views of the animals, a little area with owls and a volunteer to tell you all about the owls, donkeys to pet, etc.  Side note: there was a volunteer in a rocking chair with a possum.  Gross!  I acted like I didn't notice her and scooted the boys on by.  Were there no bunnies available for petting?   Did I mention 'ick?'



Some of my favorite animals.

A chicken on the loose in the chilren's part of the zoo.  The boys didn't seem to mind sharing the sidewalk with her.

Grooming the goats.  Seth really got into brushing them.  He is definitely my  more timid one so I was glad to see him take an interest in something hands-on.

They had a small butterfly garden.

Trying not to post too many animal pictures, but our zoo doesn't have ant eaters and these things were so different looking that I had to share.  Although this picture doesn't really do it justice.  I spent most of the day debating which of my two lenses to use and usually regretting whichever decision I made.

This was a younger elephant.  The exhibit was set up well in that the elephants got really close to the crowd.  It was so hot and they were throwing water around with their trunks.  This was a fun one.

Our non-sleeper, looking very sleepy.  He cuddled with both of us on the train ride, but still refused to sleep.  The train actually makes five stops along the route and you can get on and off at different exhibits.  However, you have to leave your stroller wherever you board the train so you end up with 20 pounds of heat to carry around.  That said, we went for the round trip train ride, back to the stroller.  We were able to see a lot of animals on the train ride so that was fun.  Plus, it was a nice break for all of us from walking around in the heat.

Penguins!

The bear - check out those claws. 

A family portrait?

Our final stop at the zoo was Build A Bear.  We wanted the boys to have a special souvenir.  Seth is the only one who has even been to Build A Bear.  Aunt G and fam took him the day Luke was born, so Seth wasn't quite two and, obviously, doesn't remember it.  Here is Seth helping to stuff his goat.  After petting and brushing the goats, that's the animal he chose - I thought that was too cute!

Luke, hand on hip, assisting with the stuffing of his elephant, Bamboo.

Both boys "bathing" and brushing their new friends.

We held up a few for Max to choose from and he picked the guinea pig.  This girl was so wonderful - she let both boys put hearts in Max's animal (avoiding the fight that could've been). 

It didn't take long after leaving the zoo for 2/3 of the backseat to fall asleep.  Lukey is loving on Bamboo.   

Luke loves his new Bamboo.  Max actually gets a little excited to see Sleepy (I named his because Max was so sleepy).  And Seth, well, Seth loves his stuffed dog Beckley and seems to always feel guilt loving any other stuffed things.  He was very excited with Grassy the goat, until he got back to the car and found Beck.  For the most part, Luke just loves on Bamboo and Grassy. 

For dinner this night, we went with simple food from the fridge.  All Max could do was sit in the floor with his arms up and cry.  Everyone was hot and tired.  We got a little food in Max and bathed everyone and they were out for the night.  In fact, I think this was the first night that Max went to sleep without me laying on the floor next to his bed!