Chi-town

Summer was technically over, but being we live in Texas, it was still hot as Hades, so we still consider it so.  Our last trip of the summer was to Chicago. Eddie had a conference to attend, so why not go and crash that fancy hotel room with 3 kids, their mom and the granny. Poor Eddie. He really wanted to be all grown up and professional but that's hard to do when the crew is going up and down the private elevator (executive floor, woot woot!!!) and making off with stashes of the free Diet Coke and, well, any food we could find. 

We started off rough, which seems to be my summer trip theme, by getting bumped off our first flight. 6 hours in an airport wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 2 napped pretty well and Reid just watched airplanes...endlessly. When we finally got on, they were able to put all of us together, stretched across an aisle. You "space available" friends know how hard that is to get. The kids were in heaven. I had packed a home made Lunchable box and they were excited to get to eat the secret goodies. The flight attendant felt sorry for us (I think) and gave us a bunch of the snacks, gratis. He said he wished he had a grandma like me. Now, I think he looked kinda old, so maybe he meant a sweet auntie, because surely he didn't think I was old enough to be his granny. Regardless, I'll let him think what he wants for the free nibbles.

All the delays made our arrival late and then we had a 45 minute train ride into the city. Not pretty. Carting 3 kids, the luggage and a double stroller up an escalator and 2 flights of subway stairs was the worst thing I've ever done. Ever. Ever. It required getting 2 kids up the stairs halfway, setting them down with a bag, running down, carrying a suitcase up, running down and helping carry the stroller up, with Clark strapped to Meg. Repeat. For 2 loooong flights. At 10:00 at night.

Everything got better when we saw a private elevator and heard about the free breakfast and happy hour snacks. And no one can feel down when you realize your are executive floor material. 

The next few days we tooled around Chicago by bus, water taxi and L train. We went to their fabulous zoo, which is free, and to the aquarium, which is so NOT free. We ate at some great places and enjoyed the city. I didn't get near enough time there, but I saw enough to make me want to plan another trip to see more.

Polar bear at the zoo.

Penguins at the aquarium.

Millenium Park

First Chicago hotdog.

Cranking out a penny for our travel necklace.

My favorite. The guy taking the pic kept saying "smile!" to Reid. I told him that's how Reid always smiles. Oops.

Seeing the sites.