Spring Break: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and Buses)

To everyone's disappointment, Cheryl's spring break did not line up with S-town's this year. There would be no repeat P&V Wisconsin Dells vacation (rumor has it that we will be back with a vengeance next year). Mike and I decided that we'd still like to do something with the crew. The girls were off of school anyway, and we've all been enjoying the spring break vacation. [Neither Mike nor I went to school in districts that had a true "spring break" when we were growing up. So this is a bit of a new phenomenon for us too.] I am also growing more and more acutely aware of the fact that Bugs is nearing NINE and am feeling the need to show her a bigger world (while ensuring that she loves up north the most).

We talked about it as a family ... and ended up with these parameters. The kids wanted to take a airplane somewhere as Q and D have never been on one and Bugs' one experience barely counts. Mike didn't want to take more than 3 days of vacation. And I didn't want to spend a ton of money. With these (at times, rather conflicting) requirements, I proposed Chicago for our vacation destination. I won't lie to you - it was not met with a lot of enthusiasm. But I'm in marketing ... so I did what I do best and continued chipping away at it until I got everyone bought in to the plan. 

I found us reasonably priced plane tickets (with the caveat that we were not guaranteed to sit next to each other. I put my faith in the fact that no one else wanted to sit by my 4 year old ...) and booked us at a Homewood Suites right downtown Chicago. The suites style hotel sounded best because we could have a kitchen area, a living room, and a separate bedroom. It also had the most important vacation requirement ... a pool! We did not rent a car and planned to take advantage of Chicago public transit. And prayed that we didn't accidentally leave anyone on a bus. 

So last Saturday, we dropped Yogs off for his vacation with the Ps (thank you!!!!) and headed for the airport. We decided to park at the smaller airport and took the light rail train over to the big terminal. Then it was another tram to security. We made sure we got there with plenty of extra time because we knew we would get stopped at security for them to check Fiona's meds. We did not expect that there would be no one in line at security (like ... literally no one. I didn't even have my ID ready and believe me, that never happens) and that we could also get held up because of the fruit snacks in my backpack. Despite the extra time as security triple checked us (as expected. and they were so so nice while doing it!) and with a stop to pet some puppies hanging out in the airport, we were still at our gate almost two hours ahead of time.

Luckily our gate was also right next to the playground in the airport (THANK YOU!), so Mike and the kids headed over there while I waited with all the stuff to look pathetic so the gate agent would seat us all together (our seats had not been assigned yet). The kids were awesome in the airport, had a great time at the playground and just hanging at the gate, and we ended up with seats together AND an upgrade to Delta Comfort. Not too shabby!

Fiona was really nervous, Quinn was slightly nervous, and Declan was living his very best life. Travel Declan is the best Declan, you guys! They charmed the flight attendant and got extra snacks (including ones from the first class basket) and did awesome on the short flight. 

Once we landed, we trekked across Midway to the train station, figured out how to get a transit card, hopped the Orange Line train to the Red Line train, and came out 1 block from our hotel. Not included in that description was Fiona freaking out about how fast the trains were going, Mike and I worrying about how fast we had to get on and off the train with all the people and all the stuff, and the 400 miles of walking to get to all these things. Fiona was a trooper, but it about did her in. Since we had all our gear, we couldn't help her as much as usual, but Mike did, at one point, piggyback her and her backpack plus roll a suitcase because he's pretty much the best. 

We got to our room and we were all DONE. We ordered in Chick-fil-a, hit up the hotel pool (on a Saturday night ... oh, my migraine), showered up, and headed to bed. It was a full travel day, but we were super proud of how well the kids did. And they were thrilled with all the new adventures.