A Big, Fat,Juicy Chicago Blog! -- Day 1: Getting There

First, we'd like to introduce you to our sponsor for this episode: The Chicago Dog! Notice: the Vienna Beef or Red Hots 1/4lb. all-beef hot dog, steamed or boiled-- never grilled! Nestled in the steamed poppy-seed bun the dog becomes the perfect foundation for all the things that make a Chicago Dog great-- first, green relish, diced onions and yellow mustard (dress the Dog, not the Bun!) then sliced tomatoes, a pickle spear and sport peppers, topped off with a sprinkling of celery salt! Oh, sweet Chicago Dog! We bow to thy snackworthy supremacy over all other manufactured foods!

We started this trip just like we start all of them-- waiting at the airport. We were a little worried about taking the kids, making it through security with a laptop, a carryon and two monkeys, but as usual, we ended up at the gate with plenty of time to spare. We made ourselves at home and played games and talked until it was time to board. Cooper thought that the new camera was hilarious! Everybody doted on him, but next time we are going to dress him in a less androgynous color. (Seriously, how hard is it to catch the hint! Yes, he is a cutie, isn't he?)
With Cooper teething we tried out some cookies called Biter Biscuits. Turns out they are made from clay, because the moment they get wet, they become extremely slippery and extremely messy. The good news is that it cleans up well when still wet. Cooper got a kick out of it, but we haven't given him another one since because of the mess!
Ian made a friend at the airport. I can't remember his name, but he was cute and he and Ian were really funny telling each other what to do and what all of the people on the ground were doing. Thankfully, Ian wanted to be Lightning McQueen and the other boy wanted to be Spider Man, so we didn't have any disagreements over superhero identities.

My mom gave Ian a bag of goodies for our trip back from Las Vegas. Since Ian and Cooper slept the whole way home (thanks, boys!), we gave him the stuff in the bag a little at a time on our trip. These are some little finger puppets she gave him and he loves them! He was really funny with them on the plane: "No, Giraffe! It's Lion's turn to look out the window!"

The very first thing Ian did when we got to our seats was to put his seatbelt on. Then he checked to see that Jenny, Cooper and I were seated with our safety belts securely fastened and our seatbacks and tray tables in the upright position. We didn't have to teach or coax him at all. Good boy!

Once the safety video came on, Ian started to get really excited about the idea that we were going to fly. What really tickled him, though, was the fact that the screens came right down out of the ceiling and that we were going to get to see Kung Fu Panda!

I had really expected that Ian would get a kick out of flying and that he might want to spend the whole dang trip with his nose pressed against the glass. He was remarkably blasé about the whole thing, and left the shades down on the windows a pretty big chunk of the time. He was a really good boy on the flight and it didn’t seem to worry him at all, but it also didn’t excite him the way we thought that it would.

Jenny was a trouper with Cooper the whole time. He was a very good boy—he slept and ate for most of the flight, but he got a little restless by the last hour of the flight. Jenny was great about keeping him happy and entertained, and we got a lot of comments about how good our kids were as we deplaned.

I don’t know where Cooper got the spoon, but he sure liked it. After three hours in a plane with a baby, Jenny started getting pretty funny, too!

We boarded the CTA Blue Line headed for downtown right out of the airport. Just a tip, no matter what the dude in the CTA hat tells you, CTA transit cards do not work on the METRA. There is no interoperability agreement. Thanks a lot for that one, CTA!

What is it with Ian and sticking his tongue out at people lately? He was a good boy on the train, but certainly didn’t let us forget who he really is. (See below)

It’s possible that I just might have been tickling him in this picture.

Jenny had Cooper in the Moby for a pretty fair stretch of this trip, starting with our train ride into town. Cooper slept in it remarkably well, and it wasn’t uncommon for him to put his mommy to sleep, too!

This is part of why we love Chicago so much! It is just fun to go and see all of the great architecture which is just scattered all over the town. After seeing nothing but Sun City planned developments and Ivory Homes (okay, and casinos, megaresorts and office towers), this sort of stuff is just so refreshing.

Cooper was a delightful kid for most of the trip—he got a tooth while we were in town, but did a great job putting up with the long days and the sleeping arrangements
Some more shots of the neighborhood we were in.



Coming soon: Days 2-5!