To the beach be go?????

This week we went on vacation to Chicago. Manuel is still not wanting to hop on a plane, so we had to pick a location that we had not visited before and was within REASONABLE driving distance so, Chicago was it.

We had an absolute blast. The drive was 12 hrs with a few stops in between. Zion is potty training so he decided he wanted to be really on top of it this particular week. It seemed like we had to stop every hour. It got to the point where we just started pulling over to the shoulder and letting him pee outside. Jayden was a trooper, he had his portable DVD player, a few new PSP games, and a back seat of endless snacks. He was either glued to the TV or trying to get to the next level on the 'Pirates of the Caribbean Game'. He only asked "are we there yet?" 24 times each way (every 30 minutes). They both stayed awake THE ENTIRE TIME and fought endlessly. All and all it wasn't a bad ride, considering the alternatives.

Once we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised. I hotel was impeccable (the Hyatt), and it DID NOT have a pool (god knew exactly what I needed, because that child of mine (Jayden) would have dragged be down there every night after a full day of sight seeing and I would have been worn slick!). Jayden was a bit disappointed, that is until we discovered 'THE BEACH'! It was like angels started to sing "hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, halleeeeluuuujaaaaaah!

We had plans for everyday we were there, but once we laid eyes on the sand and the water and the kids played their hearts out and didn't bother us AT ALL..... the plans went right out the window. Who cares about the Museum of Science and Industry anyways....lol! I much rather had relaxation and peace any day.

We proceeded to visit Lincoln Park, Brookfield Zoo, the aquarium, Navy Pier, and several other places (which were all great!) in the morning and then, "TO THE BEACH" every afternoon. It was wonderful! You have no idea how completely uncharacteristic this is of us. We had kicked around the idea of taking a beach vacation but in the so eloquent words of my husband "black people don't go to the beach, we don't need a tan!" That was sort of our position on it, but since it was a tourist attraction, we decided we'd expose the boys to it. Thank god it was at the top of our list. My boys would have died if we hadn't found it until the last day.

It got to the point that we were having to bribe them to be good at the other places if they wanted to go to the beach in the afternoon. That sweet little Zion woke up EVERY morning saying "ma, let's go to the beeesh..." Even after we got home, it took him a week to realize that the beeeesh is not 15 minutes away were we live. You can rest assured that our next vacation will be a home on the beach! Everybody wins in beach vacations!