The thermal heat display provided an interesting picture of mommy and J. As Keith says...who wants pictures to remember this trip?? LOL - Managed a few - mostly on the train home :)

This is what the post-Christmas trip to Chicago for two days looked like in our heads:

Tuesday take train in morning into city. Shop and eat at Marshall Field's, check into Palmer House and drop off luggage, shop Michigan Avenue some more with specific stops to Apple and American Girl, out to dinner somewhere fun, spend evening in room playing cards while kids sleep.

Wednesday spend fun day in Museum of Science & Technology, making special efforts to tour the coal mine, take 6:30 train home.

And this is how the actual trip transpired...

Tuesday took the 8:50 a.m. train into Chicago. Dragged luggage and stroller, plus two kids up very unfriendly and crowded staircase to train platform. Got into Chicago and decided to try an early check-in at hotel - didn't happen. Went over to Marshall Fields and was unable to get a good view of windows due to large crowd so ventured in and tried to find a place to eat. The Walnut Room was probably a good two hour wait - ate at cafe area instead, which was good, especially the Rick Bayless Tamales (thanks, Jen). Marhsall Fields was so unbelievably crowded that we left to trek over to Michigan Avenue without even bothering to shop. Apple was also too crowded and Jackson was completely done with shopping by noon. So on to American Girl to brave the crowds, where Nina bought L's American Girl bed (which was metal, by the way, and very heavy to carry). J was still done and melting down all over the place. A quick exit and desperate attempt to change mood, we went for ice cream at Ghiradelli's - worked great for the five minutes the ice cream was on the table. Other than that, complete nightmare. Lina, thank goodness, slept through it all. Exhausted and beaten down, we broke from the group and decided to camp out at the hotel until the room is ready. After a few more meltdowns, J was "quietly" playing with the Leapster in the lobby for a bit until we could access the room. Dinner was pending on whatever restaurant happened to be in a block radius, and I can't even remember the name of it, but it turned out to be enjoyable for all. After dinner, the kids were sent to bed with Keith in the room, while I stayed in my parents room to ensure that the whole family didn't pass out at 8:00 p.m. And we all did anyway, I just did it in their room. Jen left to meet up with Randy and game night turned into all asleep and brain dead by 9 p.m.

The next day we went to the museum where the rest of Chicago was also trying to get into. Jackson was a complete mess and nothing was going to snap him back from whatever crazy plane he was now existing on so we packed up the kids, left Jen, Mom and Dad in Chicago and took the earliest train we could find back to Racine. And as soon as we left Chicago J became normal....again.

Maybe there is something in the air in Chi-town.