THAT was a good idea. Blessings to Eric for suggesting that we take time off together as a family. It felt so good to be together---just us---and relaxing and indulging ourselves. We talked about Judi and how the trip was a gift from her. It was very, very, very good. Of course we didn't do half of what we planned but that was o.k....another time. We just tried to really enjoy the present....
We took off Tuesday morning and first stop was....of course....Legoland. All I can do is thank the Gods that we weren't there on a weekend because it must be absolute hell. Leo was beyond excited----I wish you could have heard his screech on his first sighting of the marquee. We went in to pay and the person at the counter evidently felt sorry for us not having any coupons so he gave us some grocery store discount rate which cut it almost in half. THANK you. We walked into miniland----by family consensus our favorite part of the whole thing----and Leo just turned to me and said breathlessly, "thank you for bringing me here." Oh what that boy does to my heart.
After Legoland we went to a Lego store....just in case we were missing something you know.... By that point we were getting tired..couple of hours driving and a couple of hours of Lego....so we headed to our hotel. We stayed at a Hampton Inn and my I DO like their beds and bedding. Mmmmm-mmmmm. I had picked one kind of equidistant from the city and Legoland and Superdawg. It was mostly business travelers and so the hotel pool became a private resort for us. We spent many hours in it and never once had to share it. It wasn't huge and the deepest part was 5 feet but given that I'm 5'5" and don't know how to swim it was perfect. We splashed and laughed and watched the grey day turn to black. The hotel had lots of floats and pool toys and having it to ourselves meant that Ernie and I spent more time in the water and were probably much goofier than we would have been otherwise. Water does feel healing, doesn't it? The rest of that day was room service, swimming, reading, Lego, TV, crossword puzzles, more swimming and ordering food before snuggling into the beds.
We indulged ourselves totally so if that meant junk for breakfast....well, so be it.
Wednesday we spent the morning at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It was cold and windy and Leo was SURE that we were trying to kill him but he enjoyed it despite himself. It was wonderful and mostly deserted so we yelled and walked and took pictures. Owen said Aunt Judi and Wally were there with us and made sure I left room for them on the walkway....
Leo began to freeze and while I was taking this picture was heard muttering, "I just hope I get out of here alive."
After spending a bit of money in the gift shop we scrambled into the car and tried to warm up while trundling off to Superdawg.
Ahhhh. Superdawg. It was all that I remembered. Owen LOVED his Superdawg and Leo was quite taken with the tray hooking on the window and the switch you hit when you want it picked it up, etc. Ernie and Owen got t-shirts but Leo declined. That hot dog is frigging amazing and the FRIES... Well....oh man..... I suggested to the guys we do a hot dog tour of Chicago some time. I used to love hot dog signs...Fluky's, on Western was it? had a hot dog in the sky and there were others....I wonder how many are left? Anyway... Superdawg was everything it should have been.
The rest of the time was more swimming, eating, reading, Legoing, etc. I'd wanted to get to the Art Institute (and thank you Amy for telling it was free this month but how come the woman living in France knows that and I don't?!) but the boys begged to go to Ikea to see the shopping cart escalators and by the time we were finished there we were all tired. I decided to call it off and instead drive by the house I grew up in which is near our route home and maybe stop at the Penzey's store in Naperville. By the time we hit that area the boys were sleeping so we figured we'd done enough and headed home. Beautiful day and drive.
On a side note, I've never gone to Ikea and bought so little. A 99 cent turquoise runner for the dining room table (thought it would be nice with the orange walls) and some of their dripless white candles. I was sort of intrigued by the fact that we both felt so non-aquisitive..... Are we growing up or are we just tired?
oh....and we did stop by New York Bagel and Bialy and have three dozen safely stowed in our freezer.
I wish we could have stayed longer but it felt good to come home just the same. I just wish I could have brought the private pool with us....
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