Day 7 - Redux

Sorry for the delay. Crazy week and weekend. The family took the good ole' Taurus on a road trip to Chicago on Thursday. We stayed at chez' Graines in Bucktown, which is extremely kid-friendly. The only negative was their house is for sale and keeping everything clean for showings while you have three kids under three running around the house was no easy feat.

Lets back it up to Thursday. Andrew was money in the car. Barely made a peep and we only had to stop once. We made it in five and a half hours, essentially listening to Hi-5 and Music Together CD's for four and a half hours. We met Jaimo, Steve, and Ella at a park, Sara and Dave and Sara's sister Lindsay came as well. AD needed to run off some energy after a full day in the car. (SIDE NOTE - I am starting to reach my breaking point with kids music. I know I'm nowhere near close to getting off it either.) Our goal this weekend was to hit as many favorites food spots and see as many people as we could.

Thursday night we went early to The Athenian Room, the most solid Greek food you will ever eat. Leah and I were both jonesing their Kalamata Chicken. It was a beautiful night outside and we went with Jamie and Mira. Mira, who is 3, was an angel during dinner. Andrew on the other hand, was a terror. Didn't want to eat anything, didn't want to sit in his high chair. Leah and I took turns eating while the other walked AD around the block and watched him point out trees. Leah always says she just wished she could enjoy a meal again. This one, as good as the food was, was tough.

Getting Andrew to sleep this weekend was also a chore. The little man was out of his element, sleeping in a pack and play in the basement bedroom of Gregg's house. We tried him in the hallway outside of our room, but that wasn't going to work. We knew we'd probably be in for little sleep, but we didn't know just how little it would be. All three nights, he was exhausted, yet wouldn't go to sleep unless we held him in bed, and then transferred him to the pack and play. Thursday night - 2 AM, he stood up and cried until we'd pick him up. That turned into three nights of him sleeping in bed with us.

Friday I worked and Leah and AD were hanging with friends all day. He only slept 20 minutes in the car and wouldn't nap. Long day for Leah to say the least. Friday night we had a solid crew in place and went out in Wicker Park to The Boundary. For those of you who know the city, the Division/Damen area has really taken off with bars and restaurants. It was always good, now its even more legit. Anyways, for the first time ever, Dave was actually on time and I was late. Andrew flat out did not want to go to sleep. Clearly, his mother had to take control and got him asleep. Had good food, good food, solid conversation, and even better people watching. I sound like a broken record, but you really realize just how ugly the city of Cleveland is after you spend 10 minutes in the city of Chicago on a warm summer day. It was one hot girl after another in this place.

But I digress.

Teddy came up with the ultimate way to take shots of Jameson Whiskey. Its all about the diet coke chaser. Once it hits your throat after the whiskey, the burn is killed. Dave got me into Jameson a few years back. No clue why I like it so much, but its better than taking Jaegerbombs, the old go-to. Leah and I haven't gone out drinking in ages and it showed. She got pretty lit and went home about midnight. P, Dave, Gregg, Sara, and the great Sandy (the pride of Orangewood) walked up the street to a Inn Joy and Small Bar. P and I immediately loaded up the jukebox with old school hip hop - this was seriously the best jukebox I've been around since the old days of LS.

Gregg and I ended up walking back to his place and passing out about 2. When I got to my bedroom Leah and Andrew were cuddled in bed. The next thing I knew, I was being popped in the head by someone sitting up saying "da-da, da-da." It was 5:50 am. Andrew was ready to go. My head was pounding and my throat was dry. I turned to Leah and said "now I remember why I don't go out anymore." Thus began a long, drawn out, but extremely fun day.

Gregg and Rebecca had two showings on their house in the morning and we were at Starbucks by 8:30 feeding Andrew his breakfast. I could barely put a sentence together at this point. We all met Jaimo, Steve, and Ella at the park by their house and the kids played for a solid hour and a half. Dave and Sara live right there so they came up as well. Leah left for the afternoon and the boys and the kids headed for my graceland - Hot Doug's.

We figured if we go around 11-11:30, the line wouldn't be that bad. Well, it was. It was at least 100 people deep. If you hit the corner alley in line, its 45 minutes from there. We started just past it. Now we are waiting in line Me, Dave, Gregg, and three kids: Samantha (Gregg's 3 year old), Benjamin (his 15 month old bruiser who buried Andrew all weekend), and Andrew. Surprisingly, they kids were very good. Andrew was exhausted as he needed a nap badly, but his father was forcing him to stay up. By the time we got to the front, AD was in full melt-down mode. Then, he actually fell asleep while I was holding up him. When we go the food, he was out cold. I put him in a high chair and he slept, head conked back, for 30 minutes. Look at that photo! The long awaited fry eating contest between Benjamin and Andrew had to be postponed. (ANOTHER SIDE NOTE - Gregg is an amazing dad. No clue how he handles it all. Two kids running around and he was so calm. Plus he's got a third on the way. Unreal).

After the meal, Dave and I put Andrew in the car where he stayed asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so Dave let me take the car and cruise around with Andrew until he woke up. That was a good hour. So I enjoyed the city some more and tried to visit some more people so they could at least see him asleep in the car. We rolled around for a while, picked up Leah and visited Sheri's new pad, the hit the Lyons' place before coming back to feed and bathe Andrew at 6.

Again, it was tough to get him to sleep, but we had a reservation at Joe's at 9, so it gave us plenty of time. Joe's was amazing as always. It was as good as always. King Crab legs, tomato onion and bleu cheese salad, stone crabs, peanut butter pie. So good.

We were stuffed and tired. 3 AM Andrew wanted in. He rolled around and kicked us the rest of

the night until 6:20 when he woke up. We were lucky enough to have a solid brunch waiting for us at Jamie and Darren's. The whole Rosenstein crew are like family to us. It was great to see everyone and watch Andrew and Mira play together. All weekend, we were surrounded by great friends and great kids. As we drove home, we definitely realized we missed the city, but mostly because of our friends. But what a great city. I've said it before - there is no better place to be in the summer than Chicago. The weather was perfect all weekend, there was so much to do and we had such a full schedule, we didn't even get to see everyone we wanted to or make all of the stops we wanted to.

The good news is, we will for sure be back. Lastly, props to the Graines' for putting us up and Dave for letting me have his care Saturday to drive Andrew around during his nap.

One last piece of news to share - my good friend Jen gave birth to a son, Charlie, on Wednesday in San Francisco. He came out with a full head of dark hair and both Charlie and Jen are doing great. We can't wait to meet the little man!