Quick Trip

On Monday Josh was leaving for an interview in Aurora, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.  We had done a lot of traveling with the kids and I figured we would stay home for this one and take a little break.  I had asked Shane a few days before if he wanted to go or stay home and he said stay home so it was confirmed.  But on Monday about half an hour before Josh was leaving Shane suddenly said, "I wanna go with Daddy!  I wanna leave Michigan!"  So we hurried and packed up and went with him, and I'm glad we did.  The kids are really pretty good in the car for the most part (here Shane is watching a movie and Marissa is finding other ways to entertain herself;) )

and they love hotels.  Who wouldn't when there are free cookies in the lobby

 and a swimming pool?

 

That night Josh had a dinner with the residents, so we dropped him off then the kids and I went to get dinner of our own- deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati's.  It was in a cute historic district and we had a lot of fun, minus me getting lost on the way there.

 Then we hung out in the mall while we waited for him to be done

Tuesday was his interview so after the continental breakfast we dropped him off, checked out a few stores, had lunch, and went to a little zoo.  They had all regional/ish animals which I guess was why they could stay open, and it was free!  We had a lot of fun, except I kind of got creeped out because the cougar REALLY wanted to eat Marissa.  I was trying to find where he was, and then I saw him and as soon as he noticed her he leaped over and was trying to find a way through the fence.

We walked over to the glass viewing area and he followed us and was pacing back and forth watching her

and there she is, pointing to him and happily saying "kitty!" while her mother nervously eyes the enclosure and tries to reassure herself it's secure!!  He followed us around the whole exhibit.  May we never run into one in the wild!!

 Josh called me and said the directors wanted to meet us so we went to pick him up and stopped in to say hi, then headed on our way home.  Overall it was a really fun time, and I'm glad we ended up going!