Trip to Chicago

Every so many years, physicians have to take "Boards", a huge, expensive test. This year Todd is taking it in March. In preparation for his Boards, Todd had a 5 day Board Review in Chicago from Thursday, January 17- Monday January 21.

We had known about this for some time, and since we have the flexibility of homeschooling, the kids and I had planned on accompanying Todd on this adventure. With all of Evee's health concerns, we were not sure that the kids and I would be going, but Todd had to go, it wasn't an option for him to not go.

There were some who voiced their opinions that we should not take Evelyn to Chicago. They felt that it was unwise and dangerous. Granted, these opinions were coming from people that had not seen her recently but just knew of her troubles.

Todd and I were trying to decide on what to do. We obviously do not want to do anything that would harm our child. We have realized that there are certain things in our life that have changed and will never be the same since she has joined our family, but at the same time we must continue to live our lives. We cannot simply just sit on a rock waiting for the next wave to crash us over. Life is different, but life still must go on.

After Evelyn's hospital stay, and since we had the assurance of the ng-tube, I felt better about taking her to Chicago. The day we were to leave Evelyn had an appointment with the pediatrician, so I made a point of asking if he felt that she were in good enough health to travel to Chicago. I was prepared to listen to his advice and following it for he is wise and cautious when it comes to Evelyn's health. He felt that there wasn't anything too concerning to keep her from going. With that, we finished packing and drove the 6 hour drive to Chicago.

 Todd's Board Review was held at The Westin Downtown Chicago. They extended a great discount for us to stay there, so instead of staying at a cheaper hotel outside of the city, we stayed in a nice hotel right in the middle of downtown at a great rate.
The city was beautiful, and though it was fun to stay in the middle of downtown, it did cause some stresses. We had in and out privileges with the hotel valet, but to park anywhere else was expensive. At the end of the day, when the kids and I got back from our outing, we would walk anywhere else we wanted to go, like to dinner. This normally would not be a problem, and some nights it was rather fun, but it also got very windy and cold. Plus it didn't afford us the opportunity to just run to a store, like a grocery store or gas station, which I will tell later why that was a problem.

 Chicago has some great museums, and using our science museum membership, we were able to get free admission to almost everything.

Thursday

Thursday was our first full day up in Chicago. While Todd went to his Board Review from 7 AM- 6 PM, the kids and I went and played. I know to some that going about in a large city, on your own, with 5 children may not seem like fun, but it was fun. Hard, but fun as well.
We went to the Museum of Science and Industry. This was a huge museum, with plenty to do. (Not as wonderful as Cosi in Columbus, but pretty close). They had some great exhibits and  great presentations. One of the great things about going to places like this during the weekdays is that when there are presentations, my kids usually get some personal treatment and get to be part of the "show'

 since there's usually not very many other people in the audience.

 

The boys had a great time, and inspected a lot of things.

 Evelyn got some "exercise" when I carried her around in my sling. I was happy with how well she held up her body and how long she tolerated it. She is getting so strong

 and she liked looking at herself in the mirror

 The boys tried to walk to the top of the hamster wheel

 And they took some classes on Chemistry. Here William and Grant are learning about elements bonding.

 And this "Reaction Table" was so awesome. I wish I had one at home (Yes, I am a NeRD)

 William loved this train and of course all the boys had to take pictures with it.

 After the museum closed we drove over to Navy Pier. At Navy Pier is the Children's Museum. I had found out that on Thursday evenings they have free admission, so not wanting to miss that chance, we went on over. There is a shopping mall at Navy Pier. Before the "Free Admission Hours" the boys and I grabbed some food to eat, took some pictures, and looked around at some of the stores.

 I found a booth with homemade knitted/crotchet hats. Not only were they cute, but I thought that maybe I could find one that fit Evelyn. I found a couple  that could work:

 Though she wanted both, I said she could only have one

 So we went with

 

Which we were both happy about

 

Friday

We once again returned to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was too big for us to really enjoy in one day, so we had a grand time.

 Met up with Todd at the hotel. then we walked a couple of blocks to an inexpensive Thai restaurant. We had a great time there. Todd and I were able to have some conversation while the boys talked among themselves, then we got to have some great family discussions..... and we got to celebrate Evee. Can you tell that she is loved?

Saturday

Saturday was William's birthday. I felt bad that we weren't going to be able to do the usual birthday celebrations, but we had our own fun.

I couldn't decided between two places to go that day. There was the Natural History Museum, which our pass got us in for free, and then there was The Shed Aquarium, that we had heard was awesome, but we wouldn't get into for free.

I let William decide, and of course he wanted to go to the Aquarium.
The Aquarium had different entrance options and fees. There was the Main Admission for $8 then there was the Supreme Package for $25. Yes, with the Supreme you got to see a lot more stuff, the dolphins, the polar bears, the sharks, etc, but when you are paying for as many people as I was paying for, it's a no brainer.
When I purchased the tickets, the lady told me that it would take about 45 minutes to see all the exhibits we had admission to. Little did she know, she was dealing with a homeschooling clan. We are not use to "look as you walk by" approach, but rather the "let me see everything I can....oh, look what is happening there.." We ended up spending almost 4 hours there.

 As we were about getting ready to leave, Mikey approached me about going into the store at the aquarium. He wanted, by using his own money, buy William a birthday gift, without William knowing. He ended up picking out a stuffed penguin, which we sneakily purchased then put under the stroller so William couldn't see.

We still had several hours before we would be able to meet Todd, and since we were parked in the same area as the Natural History Museum, we headed over there.

 It was pretty awesome. They had awesome exhibits. They had an Egyptian exhibit where they had real mummies. There was a museum guide in the area, and after hearing the boys asking me some questions, he came over and told them a few things. It really is great to learn things from people who really care about what they are talking about.
There was a McDonald's inside the museum. In celebration of William's birthday I skipped the dollar menu and got all the boys their own Happy Meal!

 

When the museum closed, we headed back to the hotel. Evelyn and I were worn out! But the fun was not over yet.

 Todd's brother, Brett, lives a suburb of Chicago. We had invited Brett, and his girlfriend Erin, to come to dinner with us in celebration of William's birthday. Plus we had never met Erin and they have been dating a year, and Brett had never met Evelyn.
Evelyn has started getting a little bit of stranger anxiety. I hate to see it for she can be so social and charming, but then I do like it for it shows that she is having some developmentally appropriate behaviors.
Todd brought Brett and Erin up into the hotel room when he was done with his conference. I showed off how beautiful my little girl is, then asked Brett if he would like to hold her. I maybe should have given Evee more time to warm up to Brett.
Brett loves kids. He will always get on the floor and play with the boys and he has such a tender heart. But Evee cried and cried. Poor Brett tried to soothe her, while trying to figure out just how to hold her (if you're not use to holding her, it can be quite difficult to manage). I tried talking to Evee, but she was just upset. Brett handed her back to me, but every time she looked at Brett, she cried. She did like Erin though, which we all did as well.

For dinner we went to the Rainforest Cafe. I had been to one years ago and was sure the boys would like the atmosphere. Yes, I was correct in my assumption. They loved it. It was loud and crowded, but they thought it was awesome.My only complaint was that it didn't allow for much conversation for it was terribly noisy.

While at dinner, Mikey gave William his only gift of the day, the penguin. I felt bad that I didn't bring any of his gifts, but we were cramped enough in our car driving up to Chicago I didn't want to add anything more.

William loved Mikey's gift and Mikey loved giving it. It warmed my heart so much. Roger then started asking if he could buy something for William. Since then Mikey has mentioned how the two things he saves his money for are his mission and his brothers' birthdays. Love that boy.

I was hoping that there would be some kind of cake on the menu, and all that there was was a chocolate cake - not William's favorite. So I told him I would make him a cake at home.

He asked if we could get him a cake that night, and though we searched, we couldn't find anywhere.

As we were walking to the hotel, using my phone I found a bakery that was an 8 minute walk from the hotel. It was freezing, it was late. I wanted to get Evelyn inside, but I also wanted to get William something. I asked Todd if it would be okay if I went and got him a cupcake while everyone else went back to the room. He agreed and just as I was about to go, I asked William if he wanted to go with me. He did and we had a great time.

We walked/ran as fast as we could. It was freezing, but it was fun. It was cool to see the city, and it was great to be with my birthday boy. I told him stories about himself as we ran hand in hand. At one point he said, "This is sort of like a date".

 

We got to the bakery, and instead of choosing some beautiful (and probably delicious) cupcakes, William wanted to get Peanut Butter Bars....ones like the ones I make!!!! But it was his birthday, so I wasn't going to complain. 

As we walked back to the hotel, it was getting late and cold. The wind had a way of just slapping you in the face. We had come to a street and ran across the crosswalk. As we got to the other side, my foot hit the very small curb. This threw me down onto my face, and though it hurt, that wasn't the worst part. Because I was holding hands with William, it pulled him down to the ground. Oh, I felt so badly about it. I carried him for the next block. He freely forgave me, but I still felt so bad. It's terrible to see your little boy pulled down to the ground because he was holding your hand.

But he was thrilled about the peanut butter bars.

Sunday

 It being the Sabbath, and the fact that we had been going, going, going, I decided that it would be a good day to just rest.
I found an LDS church about 20 minute drive from our hotel. Amazingly enough, the kids and I made it to their 9 AM worship service.
The sacrament meeting was wonderful. The speakers talked about coming to Christ and being His disciple. Then afterwards they asked everyone to stay in the chapel as someone from the Stake Presidency had an announcement. He announced that they had purchased property and gotten approval for a church to be built downtown Chicago. This building is going to be 6 stories, 3 for garage, 3 for church use, and would be able to house 6 wards! Wow, the missionary work must be going so well up there.
After Sacrament meeting, the woman behind me introduced herself and then asked if I needed any help getting to the next classes. Her teenage daughter offered to take the boys to their needed classrooms while the woman walked with me to the Adult Sunday School class.
Sunday School was awesome, as was Relief Society. Everyone was so nice to me, and one woman even approached me afterwards and asked if I knew Stephanie Woolf. Of course, who doesn't? This gal use to be a roommate of hers, so then of course she knew my sister Lyndee as well. Stephanie and Lyndee are ridiculous. They seriously know someone everywhere.
During Relief Society I had to take Evee out to feed her. As I leaving the Mother's Lounge, a woman came up to me. She told me that she was working in the Primary and said, "We are so impressed with your boys. They were so reverent during Sacrament, and in Primary they are being so good". Those are moments that mothers love. To know that my kids have fooled at least someone :)
Actually I am just joking, my boys are pretty good. And after Relief Society was over I tried my best to hurry out of class so that I could get my boys. Imagine my surprise when I came out into the foyer and Mikey had William and Grant with him. After class he had retrieved them and brought them to where he thought we would be meeting up. I was so proud of him.
My only mission was to find Roger. I went towards where his classroom may be, and finally found him. He was talking with his teacher. He came out and the first thing he said to me was, "Mom....I'm so sad that we are not going to be here next week". He had had such a good time, and so did my other boys. Mikey said he liked the kids in his class, Grant came up to me all very excited and telling me about his class, the primary sang Happy Birthday to William, and even gave him a cookie for his birthday. They loved it. I was so glad.
It was noon and time for lunch. Since we were in the suburbs, I decided that we better eat there where we could just drive somewhere rather than have to walk somewhere in the city.
When I pulled over to park, Mikey was just flabbergasted. He could not understand why we were going somewhere to eat on a Sunday!!!! I understood his concern but tried telling him that the hotel doesn't have a fridge, a microwave, or a grocery store nearby, so there wasn't a way that we could have gotten food. Mikey asked why couldn't we just fast for the day. Hmmm....sorry, we had little kids, we needed to eat.
We went into the restaurant and everyone told me their order. Mikey said he was just going to fast. I ordered a bowl of soup for him just in case he changed his mind, for he can eat A LOT. I was so impressed with his willpower. I didn't try to persuade him to change his mind, but I did let him know that there are circumstances that sometimes you have to make an exception. In a non-demeaning way he asked me, "Mom, is it important to follow all of God's commandments, or just some of them".
Though I had thought I had made a good effort to observe the Sabbath as well as we could with purchasing donuts for breakfast beforehand, going to church, foregoing to any activities or museums, I realized that I had not honestly done all that I could/should. It made me realize that in the future I am going to give a more valiant effort.
We went back and hung out at the hotel.
That evening for dinner we wanted to try out some Chicago Pizza, especially since it was our last night. We walked to a nearby one, which we were told was delicious. Thankfully, Mikey was willing to eat now, so he didn't starve. The pizza was amazing.

 Monday

This was our last day in Chicago, so the kids and I packed up and checked out of the hotel before heading onto our adventure.
We decided to go to the Natural History Museum again for we didn't get to see the whole thing on Saturday.
It was Martin Luther King, Jr day and I was happy when I saw that they had an exhibit on the slaves in America.
The boys and I have talked about Slavery in America, and we had talked about Civil Rights. I have read to them about Martin Luther King, Jr, and they even excitedly checked out a video of his "I Have a Dream" speech, but were quite disappointed when they realized how boring it was to listen to with their young minds.
But this slavery exhibit put some things into perspective. It showed how life was like. It was really cool and very appropriate for that particular day.

 At 2 PM we had to leave  the museum early so that we could pick up Todd at the finish of the entire conference, then head home.

It turned out being a great trip. The boys and I saw a lot of stuff and were able to do a lot. Evelyn turned out handling the trip fine without anything scary or getting sick. I am glad we went, even though it was tiring, at least we got to see Todd in the evenings. Evelyn has made our lives very different, but it doesn't mean that they have to change entirely. We can keep living despite the constant fear that something is going to go wrong.