Monkey House Meltdowns - Vacation Days 3.5-4

After church we enjoyed Sunday dinner. Josh especially enjoyed dessert - Drumsticks. Yum! (Kudos to Spencer for giving him his leftovers.)

That evening everyone loaded into my dad's rented mini van. Well, everyone except poor Lance. Hey, someone has to work in order to support my extravagant lifestyle! We trekked up to Chicago with only one stop for an emergency diaper change. (I had forgotten to change Josh's diaper before we left and realized that it hadn't been changed since right before church. Gross.)

That night we pulled into the Best Western hotel in Evanston. This hotel was only about a million times nicer than the one in Sandusky, and considerably cheaper, too.

I was sharing a room with the boys and was a bit worried about getting them to sleep. It was quite late and they were both cranky. Things actually went quite well. There was a niche in the wall that Josh's baby cage (i.e. Port-a-Crib) fit into perfectly, and Spencer was really excited to sleep in his own big bed. I went to sleep that night feeling a little smug about what a good mom I was.

Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. No, really. I was quite rudely awakened.

Picture this: it's 5:30am. The room is perfectly dark and we're all sleeping peacefully. La la la la. I love sleeping in hotel rooms with the air conditioning on high, snuggled beneath the blankets! Suddenly, a three year old, in what could only be a deranged stupor, turns on the very bright bedside lamp and starts yelling at the top of his lungs "I can't see! Too bright! I can't see!", while stumbling around the room as if drunk. I turned off the light and tried to calm Spencer down, but the damage was already done: Josh was wide awake and there was no way anyone was going back to sleep any time soon.

I took a lot of time bathing the boys and getting ready, but by 7am I was calling the family to let them know that we had to go get breakfast - and soon. We walked a few blocks to a cute cafe called LePeep Pancake House. Spencer was trouble the whole way, but I figured that was because he was hungry. Breakfast was alright, but not nearly as good as it looked. (Side note: Isn't that so disappointing? When food doesn't taste nearly as good as it looks? This food wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either. It was... meh.)

Anywho, Spencer's obnoxiousness only got worse throughout the day. We decided to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo, which meant riding on the L. Spencer was pretty excited about riding on a train, and only had to be reminded about 38 times to sit in his seat or face the consequences. :) After walking about a mile from the train to the zoo, we passed a park full of playground equipment and Spencer had his first fit of the day about not playing on it. At that second I got a chill, a sort of mommy premonition that something wicked that way comes. (Came, whatever. You know the song. And, if you're a mom, the feeling.) In other words, my Mommy-senses were tingling, and they sensed danger.

I was right. We saw maybe 1/4 of the zoo. Spencer behaved only for the reptile house, where he got to pet a turtle and a snake. The rest of the time was spent whining, crying, yelling, and just being... a jerk. Yep, I went there. I said it. He was acting like a 3 year old jerk. In his defense, he had only gotten about half the amount of sleep he was used to, it was hot and humid, and he hadn't really seen his daddy in nearly 3 days. But it was really hard to keep my cool while he was acting... like such a jerk! The pictures are quite deceptive of his attitude that day!

The zoo excursion ended early. Spencer was so awful that I wanted to leave him with the gorillas. I'm sure he could have held his own in the clan; or maybe they could have taught him some manners. At any rate, I was at my wits end with him. Kyle and Kevin wisely escaped south to the Museum of Science and Technology while Dad, Susie, the boys and I headed back to the hotel. Both of the boys fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the train and slept the entire train ride.

(Side note again(!): my stroller totally paid for itself during this trip. LOVE IT. I can honestly say that not all of us would have survived the trip without it.)

Once we got back to the hotel the plan was for Dad and Susie to (graciously) take Spencer swimming in the pool while I stayed in the room so Josh could nap. Neither worked. The pool was closed and Josh refused to sleep after such as long and restful 45 minute nap in the stroller and on the train! So the swimmers went to a beach on the lake while I tried to keep Josh from hurting himself in the not-so-baby-proof hotel room. I remember thinking, as I distracted Josh from the standing lamp for the 76th time, that I most certainly did not come to Chicago to spend all my time yelling at Spencer and being stuck in a hotel room.

That night we ate at Giordanos for some world famous stuffed pizza. Yummy. Really yummy. It was fun to be with my family, except for the three year old fit-throwing time bomb who had to go to the bathroom three times during the meal. (And each time we walked back I had to remind him that it was most certainly not polite to touch everyone's tables as we passed!)

That night the boys were both asleep, at my insistence, by 8pm. I threatened Spencer with an eternal cartoon ban that he was not, under any circumstances, to turn on the light when he woke up the next morning. The next day had to be better, right?

Current song in my head: The Final Countdown by Europe
(For Kyle & Kevin: No Tron Dragon, your Kung Fu is not my Kung Fu!)