Day 6 ~ Planetarium and the Magnificent Mile

Sunday morning we decided to sleep in and go out for a big breakfast. Andrew got up and went downstairs and got a muffin, egg and sausage from the hotel. We took our time getting ready that morning hoping Andrew would get hungry again. This left the rest of us starving. 

I suggested we go to a place right across from the hotel. That was a major mistake. I think we were the only ones in there under 143. It was like time stood still. It took forever to get our food and once it came it was pretty gross. I ordered an omelette and it was more like a frittata. How can you mess up an omelette? 

Anyway, we ordered oatmeal for Andrew and he didn't eat it. His attitude was horrible. When we got back to the hotel we had a major discussion with our boy. There were tears, some harsh words and apologies. From that point forth he was much better. We should had that talk much earlier in the vacation...

We got the Planetarium around 2:00 pm. We didn't spend a lot of time there, it was a little over all of our heads. We did see two shows. The one we enjoyed most was Night Sky Live where they showed what we would see in the Chicago sky that night.

The kids got to go in a mock space shuttle. Here they are in space beds. 

Then we found space toilets LOL! I love potty humor more than just about anything. This picture of Andrew makes me giggle. 

Emma near the surface of the sun.

                         

The moon! 

The good news was the weather was GORGEOUS!!! There was a cool breeze, clear skies and the humidity was almost gone. We spent some time walking around the planetarium near the lake. It was lovely.

We decided to take the kids to the Magnificent Mile for a little shopping. Top on the list was the American Girl store. Emma was in awe. The store had moved since I was there last. The new store in even bigger! It was enormous. She didn't know where to start. She wanted to get a new dog so we made our way up to the accessories. 

We didn't think Paul was going to find parking so we rushed thinking we would have to hop back in the car after he went around the block. We got a call saying he had parked so Emma got to spend a little more time in the store.

                        

We got to walk to meet Paul and enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city. 

We found a Lego store for Andrew. He wanted one of everything of course!

I wanted this Woody. How cute is he?!?

                           

We enjoyed walking around the city looking at all the big buildings. 

                       

As we were driving out of the city we realized that they had been filming for Transformers 3 again. Paul circled back around and dropped the three of us off. We had to keep moving, if you stopped walking they yelled at you and I couldn't use a flash. They were done filming for the day but it was still so cool. We can't wait to see the movie and watch for these scenes. 

                        

Here is Emma's new puppy Pepper. 

And Andrew with his new tiny Lego. 

We got dinner on the way home and then the kids swam for a while back at the hotel. Whew, only two more days to go...

Day 5 ~ The Worst Day Turns out to be the Best Day

We wake up Saturday with plans of driving to Michigan. We ate breakfast, got ready, packed up and headed out. The interstate we needed was closed. Hmmm, that's weird. Our GPS keeps telling us to get back on the same interstate. We can't. At this point the GPS is no help to us at all.

We are driving in circles doing everything we can to get out of Elmhurst. It's not happening. We either can't get on the interstate where we need to due to road closures or it is grid-locked. Traffic is seriously NOT moving.

We drove in circles, around Elmhurst for two hours and basically went NO WHERE. Paul literally screamed and hit the steering wheel. It was the most frustrating experience. I wanted to give up and just go back to the hotel to let the kids swim and we literally could not get back to it. We could go no where.

We got on one street and spotted a tiny strip mall with a few restaurants. We stopped for lunch. We had to go to two different places since Andrew wouldn't eat Potbellies. Even with that frustration again the food and caffeine helped us all feel better.

Somehow we inched our way around, and through and managed to get on some interstate that took us to Chicago. (Not the way we had planned to go but it was something) Later we found out everything was closed due to flooding. That wonderful storm that provided so much entertainment for us the night before was suddenly the bane of our existence.

This is not the worst of what we saw. We saw water half way up the side of a semi that had tried to go through the water that was under an underpass. That is when I asked for my camera out of the back.

Finally we made it through the Chicago traffic and got to Indiana. 

Then we made it to Michigan. It seemed like it took forever. We left hour room around 11:00 that morning and it was right around 4:00 pm when we got to Michigan. 

With this trip I have now been to 25 states and the kids have been to 11. Paul has been to 39! He didn't add any new ones this time around. 

We stopped in New Buffalo Michigan and went to a beach. Once we got to the lake we got to let our hair down and play. We were able to cool off, be carefree, play in the sand, get out some energy and relax. It was exactly what we all needed. Badly. 

Swimming in Lake Michigan was wonderful. We had waves but no undertow and no salt water. The temperature was just right. Cool enough to be refreshing but not too cold. You could go way out without it getting too deep. It was perfect for all of us. Everyone enjoyed the same thing. Shocker.

Emma made an adorable sand turtle with a rock shell.

Andrew skipped rocks.

Paul and I kissed and made up.

The skies darkened and a lot of people left. After a little while it cleared and you could actually see Chicago. I overheard one man say he can't remember the last time you could see Chicago from here. We felt pretty lucky.

We played and played and played for three hours. 

         

On the way home we stopped for gas in a little town in Indiana. Once again our GPS sent us to a closed road and we had to drive through a neighborhood that we we not comfortable in...BUT...while we were in there we saw

 FIREFLIES!!! 

I was so excited I can't even tell you. I almost jumped out of my skin. I was so so so excited. I've always wanted to see fireflies. 

After that we went to more outlets and Paul finally found some hats to get. (He struck out at the last outlets) I found even more dresses for my new niece Mia. We stayed until they closed. After that we filled up on McDonald's and headed back home. We hit some really intense rain on the way home and I was seriously freaking out that we were not going to be able to get back to our hotel. Thank goodness we make it back without any problems.