Cross Country Days 1 & 2

We loaded up the truck and trailer and headed west.  Whew what a lot of driving!  I spent a lot of time getting fun things ready for Rhone to try and make the trip a success and enjoyable.  I packed everyones clothes for each day together so we would have less to haul in and outta the hotel.  I packed a snack bag for each day in the truck.  We had a tote in the back with refills (diapers, burp clothes, spare clothes, ect) for Sylvie.  I printed some tickets off for Rhone for each day.  He was able to redeem them for prizes that I had been stowing away for months.  The tickets worked great, I would request a certain # or color and then once he gave it to me he would get a prize.  He could earn an extra ticket if he went potty at a pit stop or loose them if he whined or yelled from the back seat.  I did not want Rhone to just watch movies all day, so I was hoping that my hard work would pay off and it did!  Rhone watched at most 2 movies in the truck in one day.  I am gonna call that a huge success. 

 Our goal for day 1 was Cleveland.  We hit rain and traffic and were pulling the trailer so things moved a little slow, but we made our goal.  We decided it would be better to get to the west side of town to avoid morning traffic.  We found a (sorta sketchy) hotel right near Lake Eerie.  It worked out nice to get out and take a walk before bed.  We walked through some amazingly beautiful neighborhoods and got a view of the lake and the skyline.  We were all set to head out early the next morning, when Sylvie had a MONSTER poop which totally covered my clothes (a new skirt I was wearing for the first time) and the hotel bed.  We already had everything loaded up in the truck so Ben had to head back out and grab the suitcase so I could change clothes.  Traveling with kids is always exciting!

   

All loaded in the truck and ready to leave our house (which by the way, I totally miss)

Cleveland, OH

Lake Eerie is behind us. Rhone is showing off his magnifying glass (one of his prizes).

Sylvie had to spend night 1 in a suitcase (the hotel didn't have any more cribs and ours was packed away in the trailer).  Super classy right.

Our day 2 goal was Chicago.  It was a shorter drive so we would have time to do some sight seeing in Chicago.  We knew our time was limited, so we settled on the Navy Pier for our sight seeing.  It worked out perfect because we drove right through down town and saw lots of fun things anyway.  Rhone was able to run wild in the children's museum.  He was so excited looking at everything it took him a while to just settle down and play.  We grabbed some food at the beer garden and listed to live music before we took a boat cruise out in Lake Michigan.  Ben and Rhone finished the night with a ride on the huge Ferris wheel while Sylvie ate.  Rhone was tired and kept saying he was ready to go back home to Delaware- it only took 2 days for the adventure to loose its fun, poor guy.  We stayed at a really nice hotel and had the most delicious breakfast the next morning.  Oh and big thanks to Chicago, the children's museum was free for military and Ben's boat ride was also free for military, parking was not though.  It was more than I paid anywhere on the East Coast

We only managed to get signs from a few states.

Buckingham Fountain in Chicago.  We also drove right past Soldier Stadium.

Sylvie at the children's museum

Rhone and Ben climbing through the pirate ship

Playing in the architecture corner

Using pvc pipe to move water around

Rhone making a flying machine.  You put them on a pulley and cranked it to the top and then timed how long it flew for.

Whippin' up a meal after a trip to the grocery store.

Mr. Muscles in the circus exhibit

On Lake Michigan

Beautiful view of Chicago

Ferris Wheel riders.  I love Rhone's excitement!

View from the Ferris Wheel

Me and the kids.  The Ferris Wheel is 150 ft high!

Pretending we aren't exhausted from our kids

Sweet little sleeping Sylvie.  Her clothes were soaked from drool and we didn't have any extra jammies (we had already dropped them at the hotel).  I promise she sleeps better the next 2 nights!