Quick Weekend to Chicago....WITH TWO KIDS!?!?!? Who's idea was this!!!!

I believe the conversation started Thanksgiving weekend with the fact that Jared and I were going to miss seeing the tree in Rockefeller Center this year. This gave my husband the wonderful(!?!?)idea of going to see the tree in Chicago. I don't think I really responded to this thought until the following week when he told me that he really wanted to go to Chicago. My response was simply, 'if you want to go then you have to plan everything'. I am sure I was thinking that he would NEVER get it together enough for us to go. Not that he's not a good planner, he's just so busy.

Well the next time he spoke of Chicago was to tell me that his cousin Tina offered us a place to stay and it was free. It seems her company has a 2 bedroom apt that wasn't being used that weekend (Thank you again Tina it was wonderful!). Again I don't think I really thought we would go, the kids had been sick and it was just too close to Christmas.

Now anyone who knows me knows I am a planner, a list maker, an over thinker, etc. Well I never made a list of what needed to get done before we went. In fact I almost forgot to make reservations for Murphy. When I made them I thought they would be full and that would be the end of our weekend trip. Brayden was sick Monday and Tuesday and we were supposed to be leaving on Friday, so again I thought this is so not going to happen. Well they had plenty of room for Murphy and Brayden started to feel better on Wednesday and then was completely back to normal on Thursday. OH NO, we actually might be going!!! So laundry needed to get done, the dog had to be dropped off and I needed to start the mind-numbing task of packing for 2 kids!!! YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME, I CAN'T PULL THIS TOGETHER! I am so far behind on my Christmas shopping, baking, etc since the kids had been sick for the past 2 weeks. A million and three reasons not to go but my husband did it, he pulled this thing together and planned everything so now what!?!?!?

So now Thursday evening after the kids are in bed I start the packing process. Anyone with kids knows you can NEVER pack lightly when you have children even when it's only for 2 nights! Jared pulls down mapquest for directions to the apartment and finds that the travel time to Chicago is about 7 hours (translates to 9 hours with children). WHAT, it was supposed to be 5 hours!!!! Well if I would've thought this was actually going to happen and would have spent more time thinking about it I would've maybe thought it through and realized that 5-6 hours didn't make sense since Jackson is about 2 hours from Chicago and it takes us 10-11 hours to get to MI from MN. Oh well we push on! Now the car is packed with suitcases, pack and play, stroller, etc and there is almost no view out the back window.

We get stuck in Chicago rush hour and Camden begins to cry (aka SCREAM). Jared says 'this is the first and last time we will do this'. We get there finally around 6:30pm and meet friends for dinner who we hadn't seen for a year. The kids don't get to bed until 10:30-11pm but we get everything settled in the apt after Jared makes 3 trips up and down to unload the car (we were on the 21st floor).

Saturday Jared and Brayden head out into Chicago to do some exploring while Camden takes a nap. Then we all leave after lunch and just as we head out it starts to snow......lots and lots of wet snow. I remember Jared saying flurries but he says he told me about the chance of a snowstorm, again if I'd been paying more attention and thought we were actually going I might have squashed this trip! Luckily I did have to forthought to bring the plastic cover for the stroller. Brayden gets into the stoller since carrying a 22 lb. baby is easier than a 37 lb. little boy! We hike out into the slushy mess and find the tree that was supposed to be the replacement for the NYC tree, whatever!!!! Nice tree but NOT the Rockefeller tree by any stretch! But there is a German Christmas festival going on by the tree and we get spiced wine. Things are improving! I look like a drowned rat from all the snow that is melting on my head (the above pic) but the kids seem to be enjoying themselves and I have warm spiced wine in my belly. We head out to Macys to see Santa and get inside out of the snow. We stand in line for an hour and when we get to Santa and I put Brayden in his lap, well it was priceless. I wish I could post a picture of that on this page.....just to give a visual, Brayden was red faced, arms outstretched and crying 'I want Mommy'. Camden just has a confused look on his face wondering if he should also be upset that his Daddy just dropped him in some Santa guys lap?!?! As Jared and I back away I yell "take the picture" to the lady behind the camera and then sweep in to pick up my son. We stand and talk to Santa for a few minutes but by this time Brayden won't even look at him! Some might think I'm an awful mom for doing that to my 2 year old, but it was that or take the chance that he would cry after we left because he didn't get to sit on Santas lap like his brother. And I was not going to stand in line for another hour! We leave and get outside and it had stopped snowing. We go to dinner with Jareds cousin and her boyfriend to a really nice Greek restaurant (the flaming cheese was impressive!) and my boys did wonderful. We left the restaurant and the 'real' snowstorm was in full swing, who knew?!?! We get a cab (wondering if we should have our children in a cab without carseats in a snowstorm?!!?) and slide back to the apartment. Then we sit inside watching near accidents happen on the streets from the 21st floor while eating Garretts popcorn (this stuff should be illegal!). And the guy from the apt across from us watched us as Jared pointed to where the Sears Tower was (couldn't see it in the storm) while he was standing in his pjs brushing his teeth, hello neighbor!!!!

Sunday Jared makes the 3 trips back down to load up the car and we leave to meet more friends on our way out of town. The storm has passed and the roads are clear. We meet our friends who live in Virginia but just happened to be in Chicago visiting the same weekend! We hadn't seen them for 4 years. We get back home to Minnesota around 8pm and Camden throws up 3 times when we get into the house (stomach bug we guess, he's fine today).

So some reading this would think this was a bit of a disaster (especially those without kids!) but it was actually a lot of fun. We got a taste of the city and Jared is now fully into the holiday spirit. We got to see friends/family that we hadn't seen in a long time, hang out as a family wandering Chicago a city I love (probably even more than NYC), and the boys were very well behaved with little to no whining or crying. I realized that sometimes not over thinking things is better and it can really open things up for a fun (at times hilarious) memorable experience. We are already discussing the next time we head out for a weekend.....we will add an extra day!!!!