Story of Chicago

Well, the post you've all been waiting for...
This is the premise behind the trip to Chicago. My good friend Katherine is an Australian citizen. Her mom is an Aussie and her dad is from Lawrence. Katherine spent her time growing up between Australia and Lawrence, KS. Because she is an Australian citizen, her daughter, Anna, qualifies for citizenship as well. So, Dylan and Katherine started the long process of citizenship for Anna after she was born 4 months ago. The Krugers are traveling to Australia in December and started the Australian passport process for Anna. They obtained her American one and have been perservering to get the Australian one. Long, long, long story short, to complete the process Katherine needed to travel with Anna to the Australian consulate in Chicago for a face-to-face interview. I had mentioned months earlier that I would like to go...a road trip sounded like fun. So, on Tuesday morning, we set off.
Let me first say that it is amazing how much stuff needs to be packed for two children for three nights and four days away from home. Let me just run down the list.
1. 2 pack 'n plays
2. 2 strollers
3. 2 baby bjorns
3. 1 portable high chair
4. 4 diaper bags (one that stays in the car and one that can be toted around)
5. 2 bags (one for Katherine and I)
6. road snacks
7. two small lunch bags to store all the food for Allison (Katherine is lucky that all she needed was herself!)
8. 2 bags from Katherine's mom to be given to her sister Suzy at Wheaton
All of this was shoved into the trunk, floor and back seat of Katherine's Camry. I am absolutely amazed that it all fit. I must say that I am a world class packer!! We left Tuesday morning at the time of Allison's first nap. We made it an our outside KC before Anna announced that she had not had enough to eat. So, we took a quick break on a side road off of I-70, got Anna fed, and headed on to St. Louis.

We arrived late afternoon and met up with Sarah, a friend of ours from KC who just moved outside St. Louis. We spent an hour or so walking around the St. Louis zoo where the onlything still open was the penguin exhibit. Definitely worth it. It was great to see them swimming around. Sarah's son Jonathon is just weeks older than Allison. They both loved it!
We then were told by a portly man on a golf cart that the zoo closed 1/2 an hour ago and that we needed to leave.




We spent the night at Jason's mom and dad's and took off the next morning about 9:00. I had developed a nasty head cold, and I have to tell you, Wednesday morning was not the best for me. I knew that once the cold medicine kicked in I would be ok, but I definitely was not feeling 100%. We stopped only once on the way to Wheaton, and were able to hang out with Katherine's sister for a few hours and have some great Chicago deep dish pizza. Allison ate like it was going out of style. I have never seen so much food go down that small of a child!!

We continued on to Aurora, which is about 45 minutes from Wheaton where we stayed with Katherine's friend Jen and her husband. The next morning we decided to let Allison take her first nap there and catch the 12:20 train into Chicago for the 2:00 appointment. Well, Jen underestimated the time that it took to get the the train station, and after 3o minutes of driving and we still weren't there, we resigned ourself to the fact that we would have to drive in downtown Chicago. We pulled over and mapped out a course and took off. I must say that this was a tense moment, but we handled it very well. We knew that God was in control and that He had a plan for our trip. We told ourselves all the reasons why maybe this was a good thing. We even drew out a plan that involved me dropping Katherine off to let her make a run for it while I circled the block.
We did great until we hit the city limits. This is where hwy 290 splits into three different names, none of which were on the map we had. Turns out we should have taken the Loop route. After backtracking we were headed in the right direction looking for Wacker drive. What kind of a name is Wacker anyway. Well, before we knew it, the signs say "Upper Wacker" and "Lower Wacker." All we knew is that we needed North Wacker. We picked the right one and found ourselves bumper to bumper with crabby cabbies and impatient Chicagoans who have little patience for beat up Toyotas covered in bird poop with Kansas plates (hey Katherine...at least it's paid for!). We somehow found a parking garage that cost $20 an hour and parked. Now it was time to make a run for it. We were parked at 111 S. Wacker and were looking for 123 N. Wacker, so we headed the direction of the numbers getting bigger, except, after a few turn arounds and bad directions from a man with a funny accent, we landed at 125 Wacker...where was 123? We asked inside and were told to keep walking "at least 15 minutes on foot" North until S. Wacker turned into N. Wacker. So we head back. We hit 111, then 23, then 1...then all of a sudden the numbers start getting bigger again. Who designed this city??? We find 123 N. Wacker in only 5 minutes (the man who gave us directions clearly didn't know how fast two mom's on a mission can be). The only problem was, once we got there I couldn't operate the handicapped door and I couldn't fit my stroller in the revolving doors. But, I had to get in, so I jammed Allison and I into the revolving door to which the security woman was not pleased. Katherine is trying desperately to get the elevator, only to find out it was the wrong one, so in our haste to get to the correct one, the security lady tells us we need to sign in. After finally getting up to the 13th floor and ringing the bell at the Australian consulate, the nice cheery Aussie tells us..."No Worries!" We sat down and looked at our watches. We were there 15 minutes early!!! Katherine likens it to Jesus multiplying the fish...I'm not sure how we ended up with all that time!!
The man who helped us was very nice and laid back. He took all four of us back to a room where there were actually toys for Allison. He briefly interviewed Katherine and I (since I was the guarantor) and called Dylan. It was over in 20 minutes. The only word for the whole experience was ANTICLIMACTIC!! I guess that's what we needed after all we went through to get there.
After moving the car to another parking garage even more outrageous than the last, Katherine and I enjoyed a nice dinner with our girls at the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant on Navy Pier. We even treated ourselves to a baked chocolate chip cookie sundae!! We left Chicago about 6:00 that evening and after facing a little bit of traffic, we made it an hour outside the city.We stopped, fed the girls and changed them into PJs. Our pit stop took an hour, but once we were in the car, the girls were asleep in less than 2 minutes and slept the entire 4 hours to St. Louis. We arrived at midnight, put the girls down and passed out. The next morning we headed out again and made it home around 3:00pm.



I truly did enjoy my time with Katherine. It was fun to learn more about each other and hear stories about family and our times growing up. We spent time talking about or faith and what motivates us in life. All-in-all I would say that it was a fun trip. Anna did cry occasionally in her car seat, but truly, it wasn't as bad as Katherine makes out. Allison did awesome I must say. We put these girls through so much, but Allison showed a very laid back side of herself and pretty much rolled with whatever. That was such a relief to me. But, we're home and we're safe and we're trying to get caught up on sleep. It was a success!!If you want another perspective on our trip, go to Katherine's blog, www.katherinekruger.blogspot.com