Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I'm not ready for the Chicago trip to be over.

Friday evening my family got here. We had dinner and turned on the air conditioning. The air mattress pump wasn't charged so we had to run to Wal-mart for another one. I got a foot rub from my mom before bed
-4:30am was to come early.

Saturday morning I was awake at 3:45am. I laid around til about 4:20am when I finally got up. I didn't want to get up any earlier and wake any one else but it turned out that almost all of them were already getting around.
Out the door by 5:10, we were on our way.
We all pretty much slept the drive, stopping at 9 for some Cracker Barrel. Breakfast was alright but Bryan was still pretty sick and didn't really enjoy it. Grampa didn't really enjoy his either.
After breakfast we finished our journey into Chicago and at about 10, hit the Field Museum right away. Some of the exhibits were pretty amazing. My favorites were the t-rex and whale skeletons and the elephants, the Egyptian tomb and the underground.
We said we'd meet at 4 but by 2:30 we were all pretty much beat. My sisters went to the aquarium and then the museum so we had to wait for them for a bit but they were done pretty quickly so we headed to the hotel. Plus I was incredibly swollen from all the walking on the hard floor.
It took us about an hour and a half to get there but it was worth it because the hotel was really nice. The only thing that was bad was that our rooms weren't connected so we had to keep going through the hall and knocking on each others doors.
We all were starving so Grampa ran to target and we ordered pizza, eating almost everything. We all went to bed pretty early, around 9. But all in all it was a good day.

Sunday, Grama and Grampa were up bright and early -6am. They went to the pool and walked in the water for some exercise. They are some tough grandparents. Bryan and I were up at 7:30 so at 8 we tagged along with the grandparents to IHOP. It wasn't too far so we walked, plus by the time Bryan and I figured out we were walking we didn't want to turn around. But it was worth it. Breakfast was good and so was the conversation. At the end a family sat down with two little girls who blew us kisses. The youngest one, about a year old, looked like an adorable little elf. She kept grunting at me to get my attention. I was ok with that.
We stopped at Target since it was on the walk back, and shopped around a bit. Bryan was coughing so bad that he was miserable so we left. We got back to the hotel by around 10 and my mom and sisters were just waking up. Soon Courtney, Bryan and I headed down to the pool while Sarah hit the weight room.
We swam around for a few hours before some little kids came down about 12:45. One of the kids shouted to his mom, "Hey mom! Take off your clothes and get in the pool!" It was so funny. We decided to get out and get ready for the day.
Mom, grama and grampa headed back over to Target for a food run. When they got back we hung around the room. My mom, sisters and I got bored so we decided to put on fake tattoos. It was quite entertaining but now I'm thinking of getting one inspired by one of the fake ones.
We walked over to Chili's because we were craving steak. Bryan ended up getting his meal for free because they screwed something up. However, it was really really good. I love their mashed potatoes -mmm. We thought about stopping at Coldstone but were all too full. So we stopped at Target -again. We walked around and I found a pair of maternity shorts. They are so comfy. And so much cooler than wearing capris. We headed back -exhausted- and hung around for a bit before we decided to go swimming again. This time we all went except for Sarah. It was a little chillier than earlier but it was nice.
We all got out around 9 and thought we'd order a movie but Bryan, grama and grampa headed to bed. So mom, court and I watched the end of Hairspray and then headed to bed for another long day.

Monday we got out of the hotel by 9 and started to head out. Someone gave grampa different directions to the Museum so we wouldn't have to hit the interstate. It took about 45 minutes but that was better than the 2 hours it would've taken. We missed the exit twice but got back into the Field Museum for the free day -second monday of the month.
Bryan and mom wanted to check out a couple more things so Courtney and I hit the gift shops. She didn't want to leave Chicago empty handed. So after some careful searching she found a really cool rock windchime. I found myself an amber ring and picked up grampa a wood-burned gord owl. It all was pretty dang cool. I really wanted this cute panda but it was a ridiculous gift shop price of $40. Not worth it.
We left the museum at 12:20 and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. My legs from the knees down were killing me so I got a wheelchair and Bryan pushed me around. I wouldn't have made it otherwise.
We started checking out some of the old cars when my family spotted a guy from Project Runway. So we started to chase him down so I could see him but he was quick and obviously in a hurry to get somewhere. So we got some water and checked out the circus area. It was a lot of fun even though we are "big kids."
We found the PR guy again, he was in a side room decorating. Courtney got a couple of pictures.
We then headed to a quick 3-D show where I had to switch seats with Bryan because someone with a big head who couldn't sit still sat in front of me. We then went to see the U-505 submarine. It was incredibly cool. We even got to take a tour inside of it and in spite of how big it looks it's incredibly cramped on the inside.
We kind of jipped ourselves by not going earlier because we didn't get to see everything we wanted. At 4:30 we left and headed on out.
I fell asleep and woke up when we stopped for gas an hour later. We were stuck in traffic that whole time so we didn't get very far. We all got out and had another round of Cracker Barrel. Our waitress was terrible and it made things worse since we were all starving.
Bryan made up for it. When we were all heading to the car, Bryan had to use the restroom. When I went to get in I found a Cracker Barrel bag and tried to figure out who's it was since everyone seemed to have bought one. When I opened it I found a panda bear. I was tickled pink.
Bryan had bought it and snuck it out before the food had arrived. Then when he came out he was carrying something. Openening the door he handed me a box saying, "this is for mom, mom." It was a cast iron bird feeder -gorgeous- and it was for Mother's Day. He had had Court do some detective work in finding out if I'd like it. I really had :)
The rest of the ride was kind of long but we made it home by 11. A little squished, a little tired and poor Bryan still sick.

Tuesday morning, everyone was ready to go by 8:45. We gave grampa his gord owl for Father's Day and he really liked it. We all prayed and they headed home. I missed them immediately.

I had a Dr. appointment yesterday. I had to drink some stuff and have them draw some blood for a diabetes check. Hopefully I don't have it but we'll find out soon enough.
My doctor tried to find the hearbeat to check on the baby but the baby is a swimmer and very fidgety. My doc called -her- stubborn. At one point the baby kicked the microphone. I thought that was pretty funny.
Bryan -still sick- got checked out and they think he had bronchitis. I'm starting to feel a little dry throat but I'm fighting it and in denial. I think that's the best way to keep from getting sick.

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