Saturday, August 17, 2013

Chicago trip--day 1

Thurs. 8/15/13
8:00 a.m.  Went to get in the van and discovered Marty was in my seat.  Had to kick her out so we could get on the road.  Kids are watching a DVD they've seen a hundred times (Meteor).  They're still laughing at it, so I guess it never gets old.  Gas ($3.39/gal) and McDonald's drive-thru in El Paso. 

9:00 a.m.  Kids are watching a new DVD that I checked out from the library.  It's called "What's in the Bible?" and it's a big hit.  It's cracking me up, and I can't even see it.  Then they watched "Imagination Movers", another one they've seen many, many times and still love. 

10:30 a.m.  Sarah is listening to "My Side of the Mountain" on playaway from the library.  Noah is playing on his ipod and chattering.  Getting into Chicago traffic. Ugh.

11:15 a.m.  Noah is being super annoying, making constant noise.  Mike has forbidden Sarah to ask, "How much longer till we get there?" for the rest of her life.  Traffic is nasty.  I have to pee.

12:00 p.m.  We were planning to be at American Girl an hour ago, but we're still trying to park.  Mike pulled into a self-park garage and drove around and around, up and up, faster and faster, whirling us around like a bad amusement park ride.  He said, "This is actually kinda fun!" while I was about to hurl.  He drove all the way to the top of the deck, and there was not a single parking space available.  So he drove all the way back down and put his parking ticket in the machine, which said he had to pay $19 to get out.  He told it in a hostile way that he was NOT paying $19 and drove around the gate, which scraped the side of the van.  We finally got parked in another garage.  $15 cash for less than 2 hours.    We were crossing the street, all of us in a foul mood, and Mike shoved me.  He claims I was in danger, but the only car I saw was a long way off.  He also barked orders at me in the parking garage.  [Note to self: Never, ever drive to Chicago again.]

Finally made it to American Girl. Sarah, McKenna, and I.

 First stop was the bathroom.  McKenna is hanging on the wall while Sarah washes her hands.  Those American Girl people think of everything!

 Sarah & McKenna with Saige, the girl of the year.

 McKenna had a good time riding the escalator.

 They did a hot air balloon craft.  Noah was a surprisingly good sport and participated too.

 Sarah did a scavenger hunt to get a free poster.

Leaving, and heading for the Lego store.


 Noah wanted a Lego mini figure, and one of the workers told him he could have a free one if he would sort and put away all the Legos that other kids had left in a jumble.  He actually likes sorting, so he was happy to do it.  


 Chicago scene built out of Legos.  

2:00 p.m. Leaving downtown, heading for our hotel.  Traffic is gridlocked everywhere, and the GPS went beserk. "Turn left, make a U-turn, recalculating....turn right, turn left".  We were under the El tracks, and apparently it couldn't get satellite reception.  Then some maniac in the gridlock started backing up and nearly tore our side mirror off.  Mike laid on the horn.  How can anyone stand to live here?  It's so loud, crowded, polluted, busy, stressful, angry, horns honking, sirens blaring, people cutting you off at every turn.  It's horrible. 

2:30 p.m.  Finally having lunch at Chik Fil A. 
 Sarah doing a handstand at the hotel.

 Ahhh...the reason we're here.  I love this guy.

 Sarah meditating in the hotel lobby while Mike waits in a very long line to check in.

 We got to relax in the room for all of five minutes before the kids wanted to go swimming.




 Sarah loves to push Mike into the pool.

 walking on water

 Shooting poor Daddy.

 Beaning poor Noah in the head.

 retaliation
 5:30 Mike ordered a pizza, and Sarah and I walked to the mall across the street.  
 
 

7:00 p.m.  Andrew Wommack meeting.  He's teaching on Colossians.  Great stuff!  Noah is working on a logic puzzle while he's listening. 

10:30 p.m. Bed.

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