The 5 Hirning's Happenings

My thoughts & happenings in the life of the Hirning's that I want to share with the world...



Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I Don't Heart Chicago


By 8:52 est time we are on the road, got gas in Erie $2.32. On to our next destination - HOME! But, first a stop in Chicago! When Benjamin realized this morning that we were getting up and heading home he was in the bedroom getting dressed singing a little song "going home, yeah home". I didn't realize that he wanted to go home, I thought he was having a good time. I think the truth is we were having lots of fun but it was time to go home, back to our neck of the woods and get back into our routine.

We spent over $20 in tolls again heading to Chicago - my goodness. We did have Benjamin's first experience peeing in a bottle though. In Chicago traffic trying to get to our hotel, poor little buddy had to go and had to go bad. He had been doing the potty dance a lot, finally I asked him if he wanted to pee in a bottle. He looked at me like I was crazy and his sisters got so grossed out I could even suggest such a thing. I think that really was the BIG push for Benjamin to change his mind. If his sisters wouldn't have made such a big deal about it he might have let it go but then when he realized that they were going to be so grossed out - he had to give it a try! He did pretty good he did drip a little but it was okay. It only dripped on Emily's flip flops! Hee hee. Afterwards he says "that would be gross if a girl did it". Emily says "it's gross if a guy does it" and Benjamin looks at her so serious and says "I'm not a guy, I'm a kid".

We finally got to the hotel about 3:45. It's a dreary day here, what is it following us??? We stay at the Quality Inn in Schiller Park, we found it in one of those travel magazines, we had a coupon, it was cheap! Dan had separated the girls in the car before we left Erie. They just pick on each other all the time. We decide that the hotel has two beds and Benjamin gets to sleep on a bed, not just the floor all the time. Him and Emily share a bed tonight and next time we are in a hotel - Emily gets the floor!

Our experience in Chicago was not a good one. I'm used to big cities and lots of people and traffic but nothing went right in Chicago. I'm tempted to write Oprah and ask her what she thinks is so great about it. Our plans were to go down to the Navy Pier that first night and then the second day we were going to hit the Aquarium and then head out of Illinois and try to spend the night in WI or MN. So, once we are all settled in our hotel we decide that maybe we should take the train down to the Pier, it will be an adventure. Something the kids have never done. To make a very, very long and painful story short. It took 7 people including 3 Metra workers, 1 security guard and 1 police officer to tell us how to get to Navy Pier. We walked many blocks, rode a bus or two and the train. It was horrible. It's one of their BIG attractions in Chicago, you think they could make it easy to get to!!! Once we were there the kids had a blast - they rode some rides and we played mini golf.

Dan wanted to take the train to the Aquarium the next day and I just told him I was done - I just wanted to get out off Chicago and head towards home.

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