April 6 - 16: Shaw invasion!

Sunday, April 5, 2009
Mad cleaning spree. Lots of dusting, scrubbing, mopping, etc to prepare for Jake and Maddy Shaw's arrival tomorrow from Duesseldorf. For some unknown reason, Jake and Maddy have decided that it would be a good use of their time and money to come spend 10 days with Art and I, and our crazy two boys. Jake and Maddy are Brits living in Duesseldorf. We met them at IBCD when we lived there, though the friendship really started through Jake and Art playing soccer together.

Monday, April 6, 2009
Art comes home at lunch to help finish getting the house ready and to stay with the boys while I went to meet their plane. I had never been to the int'l terminal at O'hare, and was afraid I had missed their flight. No problems though, I made it and only had to wait 15 minutes or so. Sadly for them, two of their bags did not arrive, but would come the next day. Poor Jake and Maddy...it was warmer in Duesseldorf than in Chicago! In fact, it was snowing when they arrived.

Off we go to home. The boys were sleeping when we arrived home, but they got the tour anyway. We relaxed and chatted until Z & W woke up. Headed downtown Evanston (Art rode his bike) to walk around a bit until dinner at Zoba's...yum! They are so good to us! They gave us free appetizers. Back home, boys to bed, Shaw's to bed.

Tuesday April 7th
Relax day for J/M. Art off to work. The boys and I off to the library for storytime. Art meets us all back at the house for lunch. Naptime for the little boys while the big boys (and Maddy) go watch soccer at Zoba's. They get back just as the boys and I are off for swimming. We get home minutes b/f the babysitter comes. Fix the boys (and Elizabeth) some dinner, and off the 4 of us adults go to Pinstripes. Very swanky bowling and bocce place. Robin Christian had told us that Tuesday night their burgers (normally $10) were only $2 if you are playing a game. Very cool place. No plastic chairs here people, but nice leather couches while you wait your turn to attempt a strike. I won of course, but what can you expect from someone who brings their own ball?? Pile into the car and head back home to relieve the babysitter. J/M's bags had been delivered while we were gone. Yea! Can't remember what after that - chatting, movie, shows??

Wednesday, April 8
Off to downtown CHI! We needed to make sure we left fairly early so we could catch the "express train",which isn't so express in that it moves any faster, but it does skip a bunch of stops (10-12 maybe) which cuts the travel time to downtown down from about 45 min to 25 min.
Here we are waiting for the El.


Lots of pictures for what we did. We walked around for about 2+ hours seeing lots of things: CHI river, magnificent mile, corncob bldg & pking deck, Sears Tower (did not go up though since it was $15/pp), triangle prison (so ODD, right there in the city)
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Then we headed to Millennium Park to have lunch that we brought w/ us. The main attraction at the Park is "the bean", or Cloudgate. A giant reflecting curving statue. Very cool, but interesting fact about human nature that we are intrigued by things that show our own reflections.
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After lunch and playing and browsing around the park, we took the 3:15 express train back home - both boys sacked out in the strollers. Art had a meeting at work I think. I think I cooked for dinner last night, but can't remember what - maybe Frito Pie? Who knows.

Thurs April 9th
Ok, so here is where I freaked out a bit, and do regret my decision. Wed night was very bad for Wyatt - he awoke many times, and I finally brought him into our bed (the pull-out couch). Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep either. Around 4am or so, Art got up to use the bathroom and I informed him that the boys and I were going to stay home on Thursday and not go to the zoo as originally planned. My reasoning was that Wyatt needed a regular nap schedule on Thursday so he would be rested and ready for our overnight trip on Friday. Art and Jake left to go get the rental van (Dodge minivan) to return around 10am and leave for the zoo. Maddy and I made lunches for everyone (minus the boys and I) to take with. For some reason I was still determined that the boys and I should not go to the zoo...until after the minivan left. Then I regretted my decision. :( I'm sure it would have been a lot of fun. After the three of them got back from the zoo, relaxed a bit, we went our separate ways. Art, the boys and I took the minivan to the playground by the lighthouse, while J/M walked to downtown Evanston to do some shopping. We coincidentally met up at Jewel where they were buying drinks and DONUTS! So we all rode home in the minivan and I made something for dinner.

Friday, April 10th
Prepare for our overnight trip. We got out of the house pretty early so that Wyatt could nap in his carseat for the trip. We stopped for lunch at Burger King - one of the only fast food places that has something for our vegetarian son (Zach) to eat - mac & cheese kids meal.
Here is Jake enjoying all the FREE condiments. He got about 6 of them - just b/c he could- and tried them all! I had forgotten how irritated we were when we got to Duesseldorf and the ketchup packets were 25 cents each.


We were not going directly to Springfield, but stopping in New Salem to see a "historically authentic" town where Abraham Lincoln lived b/f he moved to Springfield and got married. He owned property and 1/2 of a store there. Part of the charm of this place, according to the internet, was that there would be people dressed in period pieces explaining stuff. Once we got there however, we found that all fun happens in the summer. Not the chilly spring. It was like a ghost town. Still, it was quite fun to see all the period-accurate buildings and such. Each place had a placard with load of information on it. It was so interesting to see how they all lived. Jake was consumed with the topic of "If we came to this time period with the knowledge we have now, what could we change for the better?" Lots of discussion ensued about what inventions we could do, and how to make life easier. The final agreed-upon outcome was doctor. Just our basic knowledge of germs, first aid, etc would be so much more than they knew at the time.

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Finally leaving New Salem and heading to Springfield. We checked into our hotel and headed to dinner...MEXICAN.
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So yummy! Maddy was psyched because she had just done a lesson on the Mayans, and could now experience some of what she taught. Even Zachary and Wyatt were happy b/c the table next to us, who was having a birthday party, gave each boy a balloon. Wyatt into his jammies and off to the DODGE MINIVAN. Next on the clipboard of fun was a trip to a drive-in movie. A first for Jake, Maddy, and Art. We arrived a bit late but were able to catch up on the plot of Aliens vs. Monsters (animated kids movie). We got Z into his jammies and put him in his sleeping bag in the "boot" to go to sleep. That worked for about 30 minutes, then Zach started crying and ended up sitting in the front seat with Art and watching the movie. Wyatt on the other hand was a HANDFUL. I nursed him, thinking he would go to sleep, but he would rather dance and jump all over the back of the minivan. He finally passed out after another 30 minutes. One character in the movie, Insectasaurus, was very similar to Wyatt (eats everything, can't talk, etc), and for the rest of the trip, our little Wybaby was called by his new name. I'll have to get that movie so I can see the first 30 min that I missed! Sadly, with the price of admission, we could have stayed and watched a second movie, but with the kids awake, we really needed to head back to the hotel. Zach ended up in his sleeping bag anyway b/c the crib we got for him was to small and rickety.

Saturday, April 11
Breakfast at the hotel. Then off to the Lincoln Visitor Center. We toured Lincoln's home before he was President. They had the entire neighborhood as historically accurate as could be. Very cool, especially because it was all for free!
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Quick stop at the capitol building.



We're off again. We want to try a famous diner on Route 66, but since it is still early, we head to a Route 66 gas station/museum. Sadly, it was closed. Maddy was desperate to get a picture of a school bus, so here we go.


We make our way to the Cozy Dog Diner. I think we all agreed that it was pretty gross. But, apparently an institution. So we were glad we did it.

Corn dogs for everyone!

Now, for the 4 hour drive home.
But WAIT - not before we make a stop to see the World's Largest Covered Wagon!
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Art and Jake were being very silly - much to Maddy's chagrin - and tweaking each other. Why they needed to protect themselves during the picture, I don't know.

We had to make another stop along the way b/c Wyatt was just inconsolable. I tried everything to entertain him and keep him from screaming, to no avail. So we stopped at a family dollar, and noticed a 50s style diner across the street. Another new experience for Jake and Maddy.

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A tough 30 minutes with Wyatt just screaming until he finally fell asleep, and we made it back home. That darn Dodge Minivan stole so much of our stuff: a sweatshirt, hat, and book of Jake's, and so very sadly, our Ergobaby backpack. I called them for 2 weeks hoping they would locate it, but to no avail.

Sunday, April 12
Happy Easter!! A nice Easter Sunday for all of us. Jake and Maddy got up early and went for a run and saw the tail end of a sunrise service on the beach. The Counts headed to church to participate in the Easter activites b/f church. We should have let Zach go with the 3&4 yr olds for the Easter egg hunt instead of going with the 2 and under. His "hunt" was, as Zach said "this is cleaning". There were eggs all over the floor, and he just put them into his bag. We, as bad parents, had not even thought to bring his Easter basket with us, so he had to use an extra paper grocery bag. Sad. Then I headed home to get J/M and we all went to church. Art rode home "in the boot". Quick lunch and kids into bed. We all worked together on assembling the Easter baskets - Mom had sent enough baskets and goodies for all 6 of us. After naps, Easter baskets were opened and the games began. Jake and Art decided it would be a fun game to throw plastic eggs, filled w/ jellybeans, at each other. Whoever had one break on him was the loser. I was of course not thrilled with this, b/c when an egg broke, jellybeans went everywhere, and they are a sure choking hazard for our little rugrat. We had a nice Easter dinner using the china.

Monday, April 13 - Happy Birthday Staci!

Maddy and Jake went downtown by themselves today. I loaded the boys into the car and dropped J/M off at Millenium Park. It was so cold and miserable that day, that they ended up coming home around 3pm or so, freezing and beat.

Don't remember much more about that day.


Tuesday, April 14th


Not sure (as I'm writing this 3 months after it happened) what we did today. I think that Art went into work for a bit. It was cold and nasty. I think that we met Art for lunch at Wild Dogz to get Chicago style hotdogs. Not sure what else. 3 adults (minus Art) watched Behind Enemy Lines, while I folded laundry...though, characteristically, Maddy fell asleep - after sharing that this movie was their first date.






Wednesday, April 15 - Tax day

2nd home game for the Cubs and we had tickets! Miller came to babysit the boys after lunch and got LUCKY - the kids stayed asleep for over 3 hours, so she didn't have to do much. The 4 adults too the El to Addison for the game.

Art and I goofing off - kid free - on the El

We were a bit late, but didn't miss anything. It was so so cold. We had brought blankets for each couple to share, but Maddy and I ended up stealing them.
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I left early to make sure I was back by 4:30 for the babysitter. The kids were still asleep when I got home. J/M/A arrived not too much later. After some playing with the boys, Jake and I went to go get the famed Carmen's Chicago pizza!!

I think we played some Rummikub that evening after the kids were in bed, and all of us off to bed early. Also, Jake and Maddy gave us a wonderful host gift! They said since our time off from the kids is limited, they gave us a "night in" package with a bottle of wine, a movie, Sunchips, scented candle and some other things. Very nice! We decided to wait until after Art's parents visit - they are coming in 6 days - to use it since we would be done with visitors and feeling blue.

Thursday, April 16

The end of it all. Today Maddy and Jake packed their clothes (once the rest was out of the dryer) and got ready to head back to Duesseldorf. We all said our goodbyes, Art stayed home with the boys, and I took J/M to the airport. I waited while they checked in and saw them off.

What a great visit. I hope they enjoyed being here half as much as we enjoyed having them. We are really hoping that we will be able to use some of our tax refund windfall $ to come visit them this summer.