The Journey Here-Part 2

The rest of our ride to our friends Mark & Kelly's house was pretty uneventful. Well, except for when we got pulled over. Eric doesn't speed, so we were very confused as to what was going on. The very nice police officer said Eric had swerved a bit, and since it was past midnight on a two-lane road in rural Wisconsin, he wanted to know if Eric was drinking (he wasn't, of course). He asked if Eric was tired and falling asleep (the rest of us were asleep; I woke up when Eric stopped). Eric said no. He asked if we had been arguing. Nope again, as I was asleep. So he took Eric's license to run it through. We figured the problem was that Eric's non-trusty navigator and driving partner had fallen asleep on her job, and so Eric was trying to either fiddle with the radio or get some snacks that had fallen by my feet. Eric said he knew he swerved a bit, but figured it didn't matter since he didn't actually cross any lines and there was no one else on the road (you know, except for drunks and the police). The officer came back and said we were just fine. By then Joshy had woke up and was eager to talk to the policeman. He was very kind to Joshy and even answered his many questions before we left. Joshy thought that was all just great. "Aren't policemen so nice and always there when you need them?" he said.

For those of you who are keeping track, we think this is about the 12th time Eric has been pulled over by law enforcement. Number of tickets? ZERO.

We arrived at Mark and Kelly's house somewhere around two in the morning. They had graciously left the light on for us, and we found our way through their beautiful house to our beds for the night. Eric got up the next morning to visit with Mark before he had to leave for work. Later the rest of us had breakfast with Kelly and their sweet daughter Senna. Kelly was kind enough to give Joshy and Mari little travel snack cups and filled them with Nemo treats (goldfish crackers). We played around both inside and out before packing up to leave again.

We headed down to Chicago in the late morning. We had planned on getting there in time to catch the dolphin show at the Shedd Aquarium, walk around a bit, and then drive as far as we could into Indiana to stay the night. Our plans had to be tweaked a bit when we were delayed FIVE HOURS due to road construction and traffic.

(Joshy and Mari actually did remarkably well for riding in the car for a total of 20-some hours, and all without any electronics! It would have been easier had they slept more, but it really was amazing how they could amuse themselves by looking at books, playing car bingo, singing, and looking out the windows. Mari also enjoyed spending 20 minutes twice a day "bathing" herself and everything near her with a wet wipe.)

So after we had traveled about four feet in two hours, Eric suggested maybe we stay overnight in Chicago. It was already clear we were not going to make it to the dolphin show. And here's where the perks of having a husband who travels comes in. We were able to book a hotel room that night in downtown Chicago for...FREE. Thank you VIP Points Plans!

We got to our hotel around 5. I wish I had a photo of the valet when he came out to help us unload our stuff. We opened the doors and piles of wrappers, stuffed animals, Nemo treats, books, shoes, and children came spilling out. I'm thinking a family with two small children and a pregnant mother is not normal clientele for that downtown hotel.

After dumping our suitcases, we headed out to walk around and find dinner. We came across the Rainforest Cafe. The little ones were so very excited and thought this was the best vacation ever. We had a super fun dinner surrounded by robot animals, live fish, and a man in a frog costume. We left sticky, but satisfied.

On the way home, in the bright sunlight and busy rush hour traffic, Mari fell asleep in her stroller, so we just headed back to the hotel room and promptly put her to bed. It was about 5:30pm. I stayed in the room while Eric and Joshy went swimming. After they came back , we tucked Joshy into bed by 7pm. Since we were all sharing a room, and since we were all exhausted, we decided to tuck ourselves into bed...by 8pm. And we all slept soundly until 8am.

We ate breakfast at the hotel while watching Chicagoans bustled about the streets below. We packed up and headed to the aquarium. We had a small detour when we got lost in this weird underground road/parking lot. We eventually found daylight once again and had our first look at Lake Michigan. Eric and I admired the architecture of the city and the beauty of the lakeside parks. Joshy, on the other hand, was amazed at how many Porta-Potties there were lined up along the street. Apparently they were setting up for some festival and the rows upon rows of bathrooms-in-a-box were all Joshy could talk about.

We arrived at the Shedd Aquarium soon enough. After purchasing tickets, we made a stop in the gift shop. My memory card was full and there was no way I wanted to miss photographing the rest of the road trip. So my "souvenir" was a completely overpriced, very low-quality disposable camera. Ouch.

We slowly toured through the massive aquariums. Mari was a bit afraid of the big fish that came so close to her eye level, but her big brother was right there to hold her hand. At a live demonstration, Joshy eagerly volunteered to hold a Peruvian millipede. (I did too-it was very tickley!). Mari eagerly jumped into Daddy's arms.

We did get to see the dolphin show, which was very fun. Joshy and Mari were a bit impatient with the educational part (when the trainers just talked), but both said later it was the highlight of the visit for them. It was so great to see their faces every time a dolphin did a trick.



After eating a quick lunch and stopping by a few more exhibits, we headed to the gift shop. Eric had said they could each pick out one thing. Mari immediately grabbed the closest snuggly animal at her level: a baby penguin. It was appropriate for her and she loved the penguins. She could not be persuaded to even consider anything else. Joshy, on the other hand, wanted everything and had to have Eric pick a few things and lay them out so Joshy could choose. You would not believe the agony he had over this decision. Finally, with some parental prodding, he chose a bag of plastic sharks. After that, we hung around outside admiring the lake and the cityscape, took some photos, and then were on our way.


Indiana, here we come!