A boring day in Chicago

A couple weeks after moving in to our new house we were off to France for a family visit and to celebrate the 100th birthday of my Grandmother. We were scheduled to fly from Austin to Chicago, then Chicago to Paris. Our (mis)adventure started in Chicago. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly as far as killing several hours in an airport during a layover can go, and we boarded our flight to Paris in good spirits. We proceeded to sit for over two hours on an unairconditioned plane before they announced that the plane had irreparable mechanical problems and they were canceling the flight. By now it was after 7pm which is Luke's usual bedtime and we are thinking "Oh no, don't mess with the bedtime, this is not going to end well." We packed up our belongings, got off the plane, and waited an hour in line to rebook a flight. It was too late to catch any other flight to Paris and, after much heated conversation with the airline, we accepted the fact that the only other flight we could take would be this same flight the next day. A full 24 hours later. Pissed, hungry, and with a travel weary toddler, we waited for our bags in baggage claim, took a cab to a hotel and checked in for the night. Luke was a trooper and never complained (whew).

We got up to the room and having not had dinner yet, ordered Luke some room service. By 10pm he was saying, "Mommy... Lukey go night night?" and after procuring a hotel portable crib, he fell fast asleep.

Do we get HBO in this room?

Our flight wasn't to leave Chicago until the next evening so we were going to have to spend the day in Chicago. Sweet, right?! Chicago's a big town, there has gotta be lots of fun stuff to do around here! Well, not so much... It takes over an hour each way by train to get from the airport to downtown Chicago. Either that or a $75 cab ride each way. Add in that we'd need to be back for a nap and you buy yourself an exciting 30 minutes in downtown Chicago before you have to turn around and go back to the hotel.

Surely the great Chicago airport metropolitan area has numerous activities for stranded families? Guess again. Our options were a Wizards and Fantasy Convention at the airport convention center or.... anything else. We heard there was a Denny's within walking distance so we had to check that out. It sucked.

After breakfast at Denny's we went back to the hotel for a swim. That was fun but ended after Luke's non-swim diaper exploded cellulose pulp all over the place. We quickly gathered up our things and ran back to our room before anyone could blame the mess on us. Parent lesson # 16,371: Don't let your diaper wearing child in the water more than 15 minutes.

Then came nap time, checkout and finally our flight! The flight went great thanks to a portable DVD player worth its weight in gold and a steady supply of snacks. A short 10 hour flight later and 2 hour car ride we had arrived at our destination in St. Gatien, France.

Yay! We're finally here!