The week before Thanksgiving, we piled in our jam packed car and headed out Chicago-bound. We left after Ella’s school day and stopped in Tomah for a good old Wisconsin fish fry dinner at Ed Thompson’s Tee Pee Supper Club. It was perfectly busy and loud for two little girls who were ready for a stretch break. And, a buffet. Bonus! Despite the somewhat awkward name, the food was delicious and the people were so friendly. As someone who doesn’t really like fish, I really liked my first fish fry buffet! To add to the fun, there was a Neil Diamond impersonator performing, apparently in from Las Vegas. We passed the show as we were leaving. If I had to guess, I would say he may be visiting from Las Vegas, New Mexico…because he didn’t seem to be Sin City material.
We spent the night in Madison. Our room was perfect as the bed was separated by a wall from the sitting area where Ella slept on the pull-out couch and Lillian in her pack and play right next to Ella. Ella thought her bed was amazing. Quieting the two little travelers wasn’t easy. There was a lot of giggling and goofing off, you’d think they’d never been roommates before. As it was nearing the late hour of 11:00pm, Loran and I were in bed reading and I could tell Ella was out of her bed, but smart enough to stay near her bed where we wouldn’t have a visual on her. I asked her to get back into bed and I could hear her hustle back into bed. Her roommate wasn’t quite as sneaky. Lillian suddenly comes strutting into our part of the room, like it was totally no big deal that she was up, out of her crib. Her little chest was puffed out, she was pretty proud of herself. We were in shock and awe. After a couple of escapes, I laid in bed with Ella while she fell asleep and Lillian stayed in bed as long as I was there, not daring to climb out, eventually falling asleep. We were awoken to the sound of vitamin/ibuprofen bottles being shaken in the morning. We jumped out of bed to find the “girl’s room” empty to find two footie jammied girls playing jam band in the bathroom. Could this have been the start of a thrilling family vacation full of escapes in hotel rooms?
On our way towards Chicago, we stopped at a Children’s Museum in Rockford. The girls had a great time playing, Ella may have found a calling as a pizza delivery girl or cow milker.
We checked into our hotel in Glen Ellyn mid-afternoon and our room had a floor to ceiling window overlooking the main road. The girls found this to be amazing. Some people love to overlook mountains or the ocean, but small children are easily amused by overlooking the city bus route. They also were busy watching cars trying to find Aunt Chelsey. Ella narrated the search, “Is that Chelsey? Nope, that’s a red truck. Is that Chelsey? No, that’s a black car.” But Chelsey was not to be found in the form of a car, or even transformer. We stopped to pick up a giant pizza and salad and made our way to Chelsey’s house for dinner. It was great. Ella stood on the top step into the apartment like she had before on our first visit, took in the view and once again exclaimed, “It’s beautiful!” Then the two quickly remembered where the exercise balls were, the wooden giraffe and elephant and they were in heaven playing at Aunt Chelsey’s and eating pizza with the family.
Later than night, there was some trouble settling down. However, because Lily’s bed was not directly next to Ella’s bed, Lily lacked a landing pad, and she’s no dummy. She stayed in her bed, not risking life and limb for the freedom of a hotel room.
So you’re saying that gold Honda Civic isn’t Aunt Chelsey?
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