My Trip Alone with the Kids to Chicago

Samantha: 63 Months, Week 2
Aedan, 27 Months, Week 4

As I wrote my blog from last week, I forgot to include this picture of the kids posing with Ronald McDonald outside the McDonald's that we stopped at for lunch. Too silly and cute not to include.

Well, even though we made it to Chicago, Aurora to be exact, I was totally exhausted on Monday evening as I sat in the living room with Matthew and Christy. I also didn't sleep very well that night because of various things waking me up and then Aedan was up making noise at 5:40. I told him to go back to sleep, but it was pretty bright in the room he was sleeping in. He got quiet, so hopefully he actually fell back asleep. Samantha's bedroom only had blinds covering the windows, so it was also pretty bright in her room that morning. I put a clock in her room so she would know not to get up before 7:00, but she started talking as soon as the clock turned 7:00, so you could tell she had been up for awhile just waiting for the clock to change. Needless to say, the kids were tired that morning and weren't exactly in the best of moods.

Christy and I wanted to take the kids to the Brookfield Zoo and Tuesday was the only day without a chance for rain, so we planned to spend the day at the zoo. Samantha and Aedan were up at 7:00 that morning, but we didn't get out of the house for awhile because Christy had a Comcast guy at the house connecting their internet and TV. He showed up at 7:40, which was nice, but we obviously had to be around while he was working. It's difficult to get showered with three kids around, and I felt bad leaving Christy in charge of all three kids, but I was able to sneak a quick shower in which helped me to feel more alive. Then, I had to switch the car seats over to Christy's car so that we could all ride together, and that always takes much longer then you'd think. I think that's one of the hardest things about being alone with the kids because I have to do everything by myself. I don't realize how much I rely on Ben's help until I have to do it all on my own. We eventually got out the door and arrived at the zoo a little after 11:00. It was a warm, sunny day, and after stopping for a potty break and getting tickets for the dolphin show later in the afternoon, we started walking around the zoo. 

We didn't see too many animals in the first exhibits we visited because they must have been inside or off resting in the shade. As it was getting close to noon, Samantha and Aedan were starting to lose it. They weren't listening anymore. Aedan didn't want to ride in the stroller, but he also wouldn't stay with us as we walked. In fact, he actually ran away from me one time, which caused him to get a time out right by the giraffe exhibit. Then, the kids were trying to look through these binoculars that gave you a view like you were a giraffe. Aedan wanted a turn, but Samantha wouldn't move out of the way for him, pushing him and causing him to scream. So then I gave her a time out. It was at this point, when both my kids were crying and melting down, and Christy and Brielle were just waiting for me to deal with their misbehavior, that I wondered why I even thought it was a good idea to bring them to the zoo. Samantha and Aedan were just so tired, and going out for the day, right after we were just in the car all day the day before and didn't get enough sleep the night before, probably was not the best idea. I was tired of dealing with them whining, crying, and fighting, so it was not the greatest day so far.

After the time outs, I decided it was time for us to stop to eat lunch. Christy was nice enough to pack a lunch for us, and we found a picnic table to eat at. However, something I should have realized ahead of time, the bees really liked the picnic area and especially liked our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and yogurt. It was difficult to keep the bees away, and Samantha overreacts terribly to bees flying around her. Instead of just eating her food, she was too worried about the bees flying around her. Eventually I had her just get up and eat so that she could walk away from any bee flying near her. However, at one point a bee landed on the lid to Samantha's yogurt, and she just freaked out crying and dropped her yogurt, causing it to spill all over the ground. At this point, I took her over to a picnic table off to the side so she could have a time out and just calm herself. I was pretty frustrated with her behavior because I felt like she was causing our day to be no fun. I wasn't able to really talk with Christy much because I feel like all I was doing was monitoring the kids' behavior. I was exhausted already, and it was only noon.

Once we were finished with our lunch, we let the kids play on the playground and then went to look at the bears before going into the large monkey house. Samantha and Aedan did much better after lunch, so maybe they were just hungry and that was part of the reason for their crankiness. Even though they had a snack right when we got to the zoo, sometimes I forget that hunger can cause so many problems. We had a good rest of the afternoon seeing all the monkeys and walking around the zoo a little more until it was time to see the dolphin show at 2:30.

The kids were all pretty excited about the dolphin show. We used to go to the dolphin show at the Indianapolis Zoo all the time, but it's been a couple years since we've been to that zoo, and Aedan had never seen a dolphin show before. It was a little difficult trying to keep Aedan in one place during the show, but everyone thought it was pretty cool to see the  dolphins swimming and jumping out of the water. Here's a great picture of my sister and I with all the kids. What a great picture of everyone!

Aedan was very tired and fell asleep before we even left the parking lot of the zoo. Samantha was tired, too, but she was distracted by the movie on Brielle's DVD player and didn't fall asleep until we were like five minutes from the house. It was okay though because we planned on having an early bedtime that night. When we got back to the house, the kids played for a little while before dinner. Here's a cute picture of Brielle and Aedan playing with play-doh together.

Christy made tacos for dinner which the kids ate well, then it was time for all the kids to take a bath. It was kind of funny having all the cousins in the bathtub together. They had fun splashing around playing with toys together. After bath time, I got the kids ready for bed, we were able to Face Time with Daddy, and then the kids got to bed early. I was hoping for a better night's sleep that night and more well-rested kids the next day.

On Wednesday morning Samantha again was making noise right at 7:00. Everyone else in the house was still asleep, so I had her color quietly in her room for awhile so she wouldn't wake everyone up. Once Aedan got up, I let her come downstairs, and then the kids and I played together until Christy and Brielle got up. The kids really liked the cats, especially this one you can see in the picture, whom Samantha affectionately called Coley-cat.

Wednesday was a pretty low-key day. It was rainy most of the morning, and Christy was watching Ava, so we just hung around the house, played, had waffles for breakfast, and eventually played outside once the weather cleared up. I had Samantha take a nap that afternoon as well as Aedan because I knew it would be a later night with family coming over to hang out. I stayed in the room with Samantha and laid on the floor until she fell asleep. It took awhile for her to calm down, but she gave up eventually, and I was glad. We had a few moments that morning that she was very emotional and was pushing my buttons. I was grateful for a few moments of peace and quiet while the kids slept.

On Wednesday evening Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Matt came over for dinner and to spend some time with us. Christy made a good pasta dish for dinner, the kids played outside in the backyard, and then we out for ice cream at Oberweis. The kids all enjoyed their birthday cake ice cream and played with the chess pieces when they were finished.

The kids got to bed a little later on Wednesday night since we went out for ice cream, but they were in pretty good moods on Thursday morning. We planned to go to the DuPage Children's Museum since we all could get in on Christy's pass. I hoped that we could all stay together so that Christy and I could talk to each other more while the kids played. But you know how kids are, all three of them were off in different directions and sometimes I didn't even know where Christy and Brielle were. Nevertheless, the kids had a lot of fun playing with and exploring all the different hands-on exhibits. This is definitely a fun museum to spend a couple hours playing. Here are some pictures from our day at the museum.

We bought lunch at the museum so that way we didn't have to worry about bringing food with us. Then, we spent a little more time in the upstairs of the museum. The kids were getting tired, so a little after 1:00 we decided to head back to the house. Samantha went to the bathroom right before we left, and we headed out the door. However, as soon as we left the building, she started whining about needing to go to the bathroom again. I was not about to take her back in to go to the bathroom when she just went. Plus, we only had to drive fifteen minutes to be back at the house, and I knew she could hold it until then. I held my ground, but it was difficult because Samantha continued to whine and cry and carry on, all the way down the block and half to the car and most of the way back to the house. It was taking all my energy to keep calm and not get angry. I knew Samantha was tired and was overreacting. I knew she would not pee her pants and could hold it. I tried my best to ignore her, and after awhile of not getting attention from me in the car, she actually stopped whining and just sat calmly. Once we got back to the house, it was nap time for all the kids and this time I didn't stay in the room with Samantha because it didn't seem to help the previous day. All was quiet, and she slept a little over an hour, which is pretty good for her. Aedan slept past 5:00, and I actually had to wake him up. He was definitely a tired little boy.

Thursday evening we had more family coming over. Grandma and Don, Grandpa and Grandma, and Uncle Matt. We decided to just order deep dish pizza that night so Christy wouldn't have to make dinner for everyone. We got Lou Malnati's, which is my favorite kind, and it made me happy to have deep dish pizza again. Samantha and Aedan were in really good moods on Thursday evening, finally acting like themselves after getting caught up on sleep. It was nice for my family to be able to see who they really are, not the tired overly emotional kids they were before. The kids all had a really fun time playing outside in the backyard, climbing on the play set, digging in the sandbox, coloring and playing games with chalk, and enjoying the attention of various family members. It was a really nice evening, and a good way to spend our last night in Chicago.

Samantha really enjoyed Grandpa Don. He is so good with kids, and she just soaked up his one-on-one attention. He actually got down on the ground and colored with chalk with her and also challenged her to a few games of tic-tac-toe.

At one point Samantha pretended to be a kitty and crawled around in the grass. Aedan joined in, as he usually does, and followed her across the grass. Well, Brielle decided she had to get in on the action as well, so she crawled behind Aedan. It was so adorable to watch the younger kids following behind Samantha, copying her every move. You don't realize how much younger siblings look up to older siblings until you observe your own children interacting with each other.

Even though it was getting close to 8:00 and the kids should have been getting ready for bed, everyone was having so much fun that I let it continue for awhile. It was fun to see Samantha and Aedan interacting with and forming bonds with my family. Even though it was a crazy trip coming here by myself and dealing with cranky kids for the first half of it, I'm glad we came and spent this time with everyone.

I tried to be as ready as I could on Friday so we could get on the road, especially with losing an hour, but we didn't head out as early as I would have liked. However, our drive went pretty well. The kids really did great for being stuck in the car most of the day. We stopped once mid-morning for a potty break, stopped at a McDonald's for lunch and time to play, and then stopped at a rest area for another potty break after nap time. We went through some traffic getting around Grand Rapids, so I told the kids to wait until after we got through  the traffic to fall asleep so they wouldn't get woken up by the stop and go of the car. I put a book on CD for Samantha to listen to while in the traffic, but Aedan ended up falling asleep anyways. Unlike on our way down, Samantha actually let herself fall asleep and slept for almost an hour. Then, she just sat quietly while Aedan continued to sleep for another hour. Here are my cute kiddos fast asleep in the back of the car.

The last hour or so everyone was getting antsy to get home and see Daddy. Even though we would get home close to 8:00 Michigan time, I decided it would be better to just push through and eat a late dinner at home all together. Many people thought I was crazy to take a trip like this on by myself, and maybe I was, but I would say it was a successful trip to Chicago and a successful trip as the first time with just the kids and me.

It was so good to be back home with everyone back in their own beds. Ben even let me sleep until after 9:00 on Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend we just spent playing at home and relaxing together. It was nice not to have anything on the agenda. Plus, it was another rainy weekend which gave us another reason to stay inside.

On Sunday night after dinner we decided to take a bike ride to Dairy Queen to get ice cream as an early celebration for Ben's first day of teaching. His new schedule has him teaching an evening class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-8, so we wouldn't be able to go on his real first day of school, as is tradition in his family. Samantha was excited to ride her bike again, especially now that we fixed her handlebars so she wasn't falling off her bike as much. I pulled Aedan in the bike carrier, and Ben helped Samantha by riding behind her. It was a fun little outing, and even though it was a little cooler than the last time we went to get ice cream, we all got very messy eating our melting ice cream cones. But that's half the fun of it!

It still is strange to me that school doesn't start until after Labor Day in Michigan due to tourism, so even though Ben started his semester on Monday, August 29, Samantha doesn't start kindergarten for another week, on Tuesday, September 6. It was nice to have a week to kind of ease back into the routine of school, plus it was nice having another week with my little girl before she goes to school full time. We stayed around the house on Monday because I had to mow the lawn. The kids did a great job playing outside together, looking at slugs in the grass, and moving rocks from one place to another with Ben's play tractor from when he was a kid. It's fun to see what they come up with to play when left to their own devices. They were both getting along really well that morning, and I enjoyed watching them interact. The one thing I know for sure is that there will be two people at home sorely missing Samantha's presence come next Tuesday, but I have a feeling Aedan will be missing his Sissy more that we could ever know. When she is around, he wants to spend every moment with her, copies everything she does, and looks up to her in every way. I'm so glad they've had this summer to spend so much time together.

(Blog about August 23-29, 2016)