i had planned to leave plymouth around 8 or 8:15, so when i woke up at 8:05 (with little or nothing packed and the boys undressed and unbreakfasted), i knew we were in trouble. after some frantic activity, we were out the door a little after 9, and as max likes to say, we "floored on the gas"(i suppose that's some combination of "floor it" and "step on the gas"). we made it to mark and katie's in wheaton in record time, and after a brisk walk, mark, linus, liam, max, and i arrived at the train station just as our train pulled in. perfect timing!
liam has been with me on the L in chicago before, but other than that, the boys (liam and max, that is) have never been on a train, so this was an exciting experience for them. the first few minutes were spent yelling in amazement and rubber-necking, then the three youngsters all decided they were hungry. lunchtime. try to guess how many goldfish crackers max has in his mouth.
after arriving at ogilvie station in chicago, we had to hoof it to the L. liam and max and linus played the latest craze, "who can spot the tallest building?" this consisted of pointing at a building and saying, "look how tall that building is!" then another kid (usually liam) would shout, "oh yeah? look how tall THAT building is!" i tried to end the game (argument) by pointing at the sears tower (willis tower, whatever) and saying, "that's the tallest building for 8,000 miles," but it didn't work.
we shortly found an L station and waited for a brown-line train to show up. eventually one did, and liam was fascinated by the train's passage through downtown chicago. after a few minutes, max and linus joined him on a pair of seats, and the three amigos soon had half the car cracking up with their songs and obnoxious antics. so cute.
we disembarked at the fullerton station, and the real trek began. i had forgotten how far the fullerton L stop is from the lake (especially with three little kids and a pair of overloaded backpacks), and we were all dead tired by the time we arrived at lincoln park (the actual park, not the neighborhood). however, thanks to three weeks of yoga, i'm starting to see some definition in my upper arms. only one person in the universe will get that joke. liam still had enough energy to play king of the mountain, and linus and max were quick to follow. despite their faces (max's and linus's, at least), they were all really enjoying themselves.
finally, we made it to a good spot to watch the planes, so we set up camp. grapes and goldfish were distributed, and we all settled in to watch the doings a-transpiring. the lima lima flight team (based in naperville, coincidentally) was just finishing up, followed by the bizarre aerial antics of the oracle stunt plane (go search youtube for some of this madman's maneuvers). the golden knight skydivers jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. then the real excitement began.
first up was the A-10 thunderbolt, aka warthog. liam and max have a huge collection of toy airplanes, and the warthog happens to be liam's favorite, so he was especially interested. he even brought his warthog plane with him to the show. (in an extremely sweet moment later, liam gave his treasured A-10 plane to linus. we're going to need a replacement.)
after the warthog came an F-15 eagle. now, i've been to a lot of airshows, and i've even seen (and heard!) A-10s and A-7s use their enormous rotary cannons to shoot at ground targets. nevertheless, nothing can quite prepare you for how loud these machines can be, and the F-15 must be among the loudest. liam loved the noise, and you can hear his delighted laughter in the first video. eventually the F-15 took its leave by passing by and climbing straight up out of sight and hearing (second video). liam said, "he's flying to outer space!" very cool.
as we waited for the next flying attraction, uncle mark took the boys to get some ice cream. liam got a batman item, max chose a teenage mutant ninja turtle thingy, and linus had some kind of red-white-and-blue selection. we used a lot of our water cleaning them off.
after a little while, the next group of planes arrived. this formation consisted of the A-10, the F-15 (after a major descent), an F-16 (not one of the thunderbirds, who showed up later), and a WWII-era P-51 mustang (you can see it if you look closely). for some reason, they only did two passes, and neither was very picture-friendly, at least from our location.
after that, a big, lumbering plane showed up, then a group of loud prop planes. the boys were getting antsy by then, so we packed up and headed back to the L. liam, big-boy trooper that he is, walked with us the whole way. linus rode shotgun in mark and katie's awesome double stroller, while max promptly conked out in the stroller's reclining section.
we eventually made it back to the L and got on a train headed for the loop. after we got off the train, i took a quick pic of liam (note the blue on his face from the batman ice cream).
we had to wait a while to board our train, then wait a longer while for the train to leave the station. and that sucker was PACKED. before we got on board, liam posed in front of the engine. somehow, max was still asleep in the stroller, and he didn't wake up until 10 minutes before we got back to wheaton. also enjoy linus's awesome "grrrrr" face. the boys were all awake and alert when we got off the train, and they waved a sad yet satisfied goodbye.
of course the boys all were exhausted (even max with his nap), and they quickly went to sleep after dinner. but they were up bright and early the next morning, ready to wolf down katie's yummy french toast.
after a little while, we leashed up the dogs and headed for the park ("it's a field, daddy! a field!" liam shouted at me) to burn off some energy. max and linus were almost unbearably cute as they held hands as they walked. they played t-ball with mark while liam and i played velcro-catch (we even stopped on the way home to buy our own set of paddles or whatever you call them, as our previous set broke long ago).
after a while, our time in wheaton came to an end. liam and max profusely thanked mark and katie and linus and leo for being such gracious and generous hosts (i think that was what they said), and we headed south and east. but we had one more stop: uncle johnny!
aunt erin was unfortunately at a wedding shower (i think), but the boys nevertheless had plenty of fun chasing each other around the house, petting koa the cat, jumping on the new couch, playing on the swingset, not listening to a goddamn word i said, and getting licked by jackie the dog (ok, maybe not that last one). however, they soon came around to jackie, and they spent a happy 10 minutes chasing her around the yard in a game i'm sure jackie calls "tiny two-legged bald dogs can't catch me."
after that, it was time to head back home. liam promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up until we pulled into the garage, but max stayed awake almost the whole way home, and we spent a lot of time talking about race cars and singing phish and primus songs (max LOVES primus). he fell asleep 10 minutes from home, of course, and he celebrated our homecoming by promptly puking on the bathroom floor. a little too much excitement and heat, i think. despite this, we had a great weekend, and a special thanks goes out to mark and katie and linus and leo and ripley and lily for hosting us.
the end.
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