Chicago Trip - Day 1

So we had our first family vacation this past week. (We are not counting our trips to Kansas City as vacation, although they are fun.) We headed to Chicago to meet up with Aunt Kelly, Pappy and Grandma (Kevin and Louise).

We left St. Louis on an Amtrak train around 5:30 Friday evening. We had dinner on the train, and the boys were very excited. They spent time watching movies and playing. I think Colin's favorite part was looking out the windows to count motorcycles with me. Kevin and I were amazed at how well they did. Crying only happened once, which was when I stepped on his fingers accidentally. Kevin never reached his breaking point, and Colin lasted until we arrived at Chicago's station. We were very proud. I think the passengers around us were also relieved.



We met Aunt Kelly and Pappy at Chicago's Union Station, where they dropped off all four of us, along with 9 separate pieces of luggage, at the Embassy Suites located at 600 State Street. We arrived around 11:30 pm with two very tired boys. When we got to the front desk we were told that they were sold out and did not have a room for us. We had called earlier that day to let them know we would be arriving very late, close to midnight. Apparently that did not stop them from giving our room away. They did offer us a room at the O'Hare location. That was out of the question. They also found a room in a different hotel with one queen bed, which was also out of the question. So we spent about 20 minutes arguing with the front desk before they gave us cash for a taxi.

Thankfully, Pappy, Grandma, and Kelly were staying at another, nearby Embassy Suites. Since they had two rooms which included two double beds and a fold-out couch, we all crashed there. We had someone sleeping on the floor, but at least we were all downtown. What a great way to start the trip!