Chicago Trip Day 1, Getting there

We left around 9:30am, that went pretty smoothly. We had the car packed all except the DVD player and other more expensive or perishable items. Dawson was excited to get going, as always. I held off with the toys and movies for a while and let them sleep. I think they lasted all the way to WI before needing entertainment. They pretty much slept for the first bit. We went to Madison last year, which is the same route, unfortunately. We found ourselves stopping at the same rest stops, not that there's many to choose from. The MN portion of the drive was the most interesting actually. There's more towns and things to look at, even though I'm very used to driving it, being it's the same route to the hospital. It was nice to be heading in that direction for something more exciting this time. Wisconsin was where things got very boring. We got out the portable DVD player and a couple toys, that kept them entertained for a while.

Most of our drive through WI looked like this

Occasionally we'd see a billboard for cheese. They sure are proud of their cheese!

They even have restaurants specializing in cheese. I'll have some fries with my cheddar, please! ;)  I have no idea what they serve at these places, we didn't stop at any. It was funny to think about though.

Occasionally we'd see some rock formations, they were neat to look at

It was Tyler's turn with the DVD player. Dawson was snacking on some crackers

After a long 11 hour drive, including many stops to nurse Tyler, use the restroom, let the boys play on a playground, eat, etc, we finally arrived around 8:30pm to meet my friend Jennie at the hotel in Northbrook, IL. We got a discount, her playpen and some diapers that her son wasn't needing anymore, since our kids are both the same size. It was a nicer hotel, we saw many higher end cars there and everyone was wearing a suit! We felt rather out of place with our noisy kids and shorts! We were put on the 6th floor. They have 7 floors for guests and 2 more for the higher end club suits. I noticed later that there were a couple other moms with kids in our hallway. Maybe they put all the people with kids in one area? It would make sense, though we didn't hear a peep from anyone outside our room. The kids did great. I got everything hauled into the hotel in 1 load, kids and all. I loaded up the luggage cart, carried Tyler and Dawson walked until we got to our floor, then I had him ride the cart so he didn't run off to explore.

Once we got settled into the hotel, Dawson was eager to get going again. He's so used to hotels and staying at the Ronald McDonald house. That was our routine, we'd drop stuff off, then head out to find some food or look around and play in the play areas. Unfortunately he didn't find any play areas, but we did go out for some food before settling in for the night. :)  I guess the size of footwear didn't matter, he just wanted out!

They did great that night, Dawson went to sleep easily and so did Tyler. Last year it was hard to get them to bed in a strange place but they're used to that now. I guess that's one good thing about all this, it's made them 

very versatile! Tyler fell asleep on the bed after nursing and was transferred to his playpen.

Dawson got out of bed while I was nursing and this is where I found him once I was able to get up. At the foot of his bed on the boppy. He can fall asleep in the strangest places. The other day I found him on his floor on a pile of stuffed animals. He looked so comfy I just left him there! This time I did put him back in bed, boppy and all to make sure he didn't wake up.