The Windy City

So much for blogging our vacation photos, oh I don't know, when we got home? If it makes anyone feel better I still haven't completely unpacked either. So. Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. If anyone is interested in coming over and unpacking the suitcases full of jeans and sweatshirts be my guest. If not, they'll likely sit in the corner of my bedroom until early December (the next time we'll be able to wear anything with pant legs or sleeves without bursting into flames) or until we move, whichever comes first. =)

For my sanity (and your reading pleasure) I'll break down the pictures into multiple posts and hopefully get them all blogged before our next vacation. 

On the road...

We were fortunate enough to be able to take a marvelous three week vacation in early June. We started the trip at 4:30 am with a kamikaze drive to Chicago. 20ish hours, three stops, two drivers. God bless our car that can go 400 miles on a tank of gas. The Plan consisted of getting as close to Chicago as we could, without staying in Chicago and paying big city prices. Mission accomplished.

 Chicago skyline

Checking out the big city

I should interject here that Gary and I are huge fans of the name your own price feature on Priceline. William Shatner and his price chopping has never let us down. Knowing that we were on a budget and staying more than one night in Chicago, our first order of business was to book our hotel. We always start bidding low and at the highest star rating for the area we're interested in. Sometimes it takes us a couple of days to get a room, but we always get a great deal. This trip was no exception. We booked the Palmer House Hilton for.... drumroll... $180 TOTAL. Two nights, including taxes and fees. I know. Amazing.

 Our amazing hotel room

Putting our stamp on it

 An elevator bank at our hotel. LOVE.

The carpet in our hallway. I wanted so badly to take this home with me

Not wanting to pay more for parking than we did for our room, Gary dropped us off in front of the hotel with all of our luggage and went off to find a parking garage that we didn't need to take out a loan for. Let me tell you all of the ways that a frazzled mom with mismatched luggage and a road weary toddler can bring down the class level at a nice hotel. That's just how we roll.

 Destiny. This was like a half a block away from our hotel. I never wanted to leave.

Grayden's first Slurpee!!

Such a proud Mommy

Strolling through the park

Our hotel was only a few blocks away from Millennium Park and Grant Park and Shedd Aquarium was a pretty short walk as well. The only downfall was that we had two double beds, so Gary and Grayden shared a bed and I had my own bed. Wait... how was that a downfall again?? =) We were able to see Navy Pier, the Sears Tower (Willis Tower now), Shedd Aquarium and a Cubs game. We also met up with an old college friend of Gary's and were able to take Grayden to an impossibly cute park in Wrigleyville. I so badly want to move to Chicago. I love it there, even when Gary and I went for our 1st anniversary trip a couple of years ago and it was freezing cold and rainy the entire time. I love Chicago. Love it.

 The 'Married With Children' fountain

Picnic lunching in the park

Gary made a friend

The view from Shedd Aquarium

Grayden's first "movie". We saw Happy Feet 4D. He was indifferent.

Beluga whales at Shedd

We were able to see a dolphin feeding up close. It was amazing!

Going to the top of the Sears (Willis) Tower

Grayden had no problem running out onto the walk out. Freaked.Me.Out!

103 stories up... or down...

Vacation is exhausting!!

Breakfast in bed

He digs it

Getting sick as we speak...

Our trip to Chicago ended with Grayden waking up at 3 am and defiling our fancy hotel room with projectile vomit. It was our first time with big boy puke, and man did he come barreling out of the gate. We spent a good hour getting everything cleaned up and trying to bring down Grayden's temperature in a cool bath. Then we got to huddle in my bed for the rest of the night, trying to get some sleep. I won't lie. It sucked. Bad.

On Saturday morning we did the walk of shame out of our ruined, fancy hotel room and made a run for the border. The Michigan border. Grayden seemed to be a bit better, although he wasn't interested in eating much, which is very unusual for him. I was terribly concerned that we were going to have another projectile vomiting incident. Every sound Grayden caused me to whip around in my seat prepared for the worst.The traffic gods had a good chuckle at our expense on the way, too. We were about a mile from the border when traffic came to a screeching halt. It took us about an hour to go that last mile. Pure torture. But eventually we made it to my mom's house without incident. Grayden's health proceeded to swiftly decline and little did we know that it would be a good 36 hours before we would sleep again. But that's another post, for another day (I promise it won't be in another month from now!!)

 Back on the road

Moving painfully slow

On the plus side... crossing into MI at a ripping 4 1/2 MPH allows you to get really good pictures of the welcome sign