Chicago: Day 1 - The Good Stuff!

Julianne and I had to be up at 4:30 in order to leave the house at 5:00 a.m. to get our 7 a.m. flight.  I wanted her to go to sleep at 8:30, but she decided 10:30 was a better time.  So I was up until 10:30 until she fell asleep.  And then I couldn't fall asleep, so I got very little sleep on Thursday night.  I eventually got out of bed around 3 a.m. and just putzed about the house waiting for everyone else to get up.

Once we were up, we all got dressed and ready, then headed off.  We got to the airport later than I wanted to and the line at Southwest was really long, so we were already running short on time when the lady at the counter told me that since I didn't have "proof of age" that I had to buy Julianne a separate plane ticket.  So my dad put it on his credit card and kept the receipt since they said he could mail the receipt in and they would refund the price of the separate ticket onto his credit card.

Once we got the ticket issue settled, Julianne and I had to RUN through the airport.  Security started out to be an issue, but I found a decent guard who helped Julianne and I get through ahead of everyone else.  Once we were through, I hoofed it onto the tram, then had to sprint from the tram to the gate and we were the last ones on the plane.  They had to make people on the plane move seats so there would be two seats next to each other for us to sit in.  At first they insinuated that I should just hold Punkin on my lap but I made a big stink about just having paid for a ticket for her and they were able to move people around.

Watching Dora on our flight

Juli and Silas' first picture together!

The flight itself was uneventful... Julianne did really well, especially since she had her own seat.  Played a little, read a little, watched some of her Dora and Barney DVDs, slept a little.  Once we landed, we found that our luggage hadn't made it onto the plane, so we had to wait until the next plane for Orlando came in, an hour later.  It wasn't such a big deal because Jasmine and Silas weren't at the airport yet, so we found a bench to sit at near baggage claim and just hung out there.  Once J&S showed up, we let the kids run and walk around while we waited for the bag to come, which it did on the 10 a.m. flight.

After we had all our bags, we headed out to the car, jammed everything inside, and took off.  We flew into Midway and we staying in Rosemont, so we had a bit of a drive . We used the GPS on my phone to get us to the hotel, but we hit bad traffic on the way so it took us a while to get there.  Chicago wasn't really what I expected... maybe because we weren't downtown, but it kinda looked like it needed some heavy duty industrial strength scrub brushes taken to it.  Everything seemed kind of gray and dingy.  It could have been because the day was overcast, but I have a feeling it looks like that even when it's sunny.  It was only the outskirts though, so I was still really looking forward to getting some lunch and getting to the zoo later in the day to REALLY see Chicago.

The hotel was really nice (except for the EXORBITANT parking fee of $22!).  As we were unloading our stuff in the parking garage, we ran right into Monica and Elodie!  Elodie is such a cutie with her big blue eyes!  And for anyone who had any doubts, Monica is SO sweet and nice!  When we checked in, the first room they gave us was tiny.  I swear I've been in storage closets that were bigger.  Not only that, but there was no view and there was only 1 king bed, which was SO not going to work with two adults and two toddlers.  So we spoke to the lady at the front desk, who worked something out for us and told us we would have to move as soon as we got back from lunch.  We were okay with that, especially because they said we could leave our stuff in the first hotel room while we were at lunch.

The three kiddos eating lunch at TGI Friday's

I used the GPS on my phone to find a TGI Friday's nearby the hotel, so we talked to Monica and agreed to meet there for lunch.  It was so cute - the waitresses put all three high chairs on one side of the table while we three adults sat on the other side.  It was so cool to be sitting there with these women I had only known on-line!  And the kids were SO cute together!  They didn't pay much attention to each other at the table, but they sure were interested in the food and their drinks, which naturally, all 3 managed to spill on themselves.  It was okay, though - we had a good time with our kids and just being together!

View of the skyline from our window

Our plan for the day was to try to get the kids to take a nap back at the hotel and then head to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Back at the hotel, I stopped at the front desk again and we got our new room keys and went to our new room, which was much bigger and on the 9th floor, so we had a nice view!  Even though the sky was still overcast and hazy, we could see the Chicago skyline, which was cool!  We also had our two double beds, which is what we were really after in any case.  We pulled the shades and put the kids in bed, but they were having none of it.  They wanted to get down and explore, which is what they wound up doing.  So Jasmine and I were the ones laying in the beds, trying to rest while the kids were going nuts.  Eventually we talked to Monica and found out that Elodie wasn't in a napping mood either, so we decided to get up and get going to the zoo since it closed at six.  We got the kids ready, got in the car, and took off!

And that's when the shit REALLY hit the fan.  More to come!