Trip to Chicago for Easter 2015 (with Butler family)

Dave's Uncle Tim (lives in Ohio) posted a message to all members of the Butler family a few months ago announcing that he'd made plans to visit Chicago for Easter.  He and his wife Deb stay with his brother Roger and Mary Butler.  Some committed to going and some didn't.  When Dave's brother Sean announced he would be going, and family members coaxed Jeff Winters and family to go (after all nobody had seen any of his 4 kids!), we decided to toss in the towel as well and schedule the trip.  We all booked rooms at the same hotel in the Naperville/Lisle, IL area.  Normally we'd stay with Josh and Carrie but their house was a bit too far out west for it to be convenient.

Many facebook messages occurred among those committed to going making plans.  Many suggested things but when the dust settled, we agreed on an activity plan and meal plan for dinners.

Those who commited to going were:
Dave and I and 4 kids
Josh and Carrie and 3 kids
Sean and April and 7 kids
Jeff and Denise and 4 kids
Adam and Kala Barcus (and unborn baby Ruthie, due in May)
Tim and Deb Butler
Roger and Mary
Brad Ducommun
Martha LaMarche

We took off for the Chicago area Thurs afternoon after picking up V and C from school.  I packed all day and we left at 3.  We arrived at the hotel around 8:45.  Greeted Sean and April and family and since it was so late we got kids to bed, then hung out in a nearby hospitality room we also rented as our hang-out spot on the 14th floor.  Our room had a king sized bed and a pull-out couch.  We requested a cot and got a nice twin to add to our room and take up floor space.  Violet and Eli shared the twin and Vanessa and Calvin shared the pull out couch.

Friday morning we'd scheduled a family baby shower for Kala.  Guys stayed at hotel and kept track of kids.  Mary Butler hosted at her house for all the women and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and gave Kala some gifts.  She was 34 weeks pregnant at the shower.  She loved having us bless her, she was glowing.  I love seeing her.  I wanted to give her a "Baby Ruth" candy bar but will probably mail one. She's planning to name her baby Ruthie.  Moms around the room shared some wisdom.  Good encouraging times.

Carrie, Kala and I stopped at Chick-Fil-A and brought home lunch for the boys and kids.  We had plans to go to Josh and Carrie's house (J&C hosted the whole family for dinner) and have a pizza competition.  We gathered pizzas from three local places and all decided which was their favorite.  Giordanos won!

Martha's birthday was April 3.  Carrie had gotten a big cake for her and a huge apple pie with cheddar cheese (apparently that's one of Martha's favorites).  She doesn't like all the attention on her but it was still fun to celebrate.

The overall "flavor" if I can call it that...of the whole weekend...well, the words "hustle and bustle" comes to my mind.  Kids outnumbered the adults, and it was a bit of an effort to keep them all in order!  Almost no silence.

The drive to J&C's was an hour so when we got back from J&Cs it was kids to bed time.  I'm pretty sure there was hang-out time with everyone who could that evening after kids were all in bed.

Saturday morning we had brought cereal/milk and ate breakfast in the hospitality room next to our rooms.  It had a tables and a fridge/microwave for us to use.  Saturday was the "go-downtown-Chicago" day.  We got to the train station via hotel transport bus to catch a train down to Union Station about 10:30 am.  That whole train experience was really fun for everyone.  Seeing the downtown skyline was exciting.  Getting everywhere was an adventure.  Cold windy morning, but was sunny but the time we got closer to the lake.  J&D had strollers.  We stopped at a Starbucks.  Delicious espresso and steamed milk was enjoyed.  Hot chocolate was spilled.  Plan was to visit the shiny "bean" in Millenium Park and then find somewhere for lunch.  Some stopped for bathroom visits.  Others caught later trains downtown and met us for lunch.  After busy lunch at Shake Shack or something like that, we headed towards Navy Pier.  Beautiful sunshine.  Got tickets for ferris wheel.  All 6 of us in one cart - fun and nervously exciting!  Windy and sunny.  Hung out at Navy Pier until it was time to make it to train station to catch train back to hotel.  Caught a cab to train station.  Eli promptly fell asleep when we were driving in cab.  Slept whole way back on train in my lap.  Plan was to get dinner at a reserved room in Portillo's in St. Charles.  Regrouped in hotel room.  Back in van to drive to Portillos.  Tim and reserved a room for the whole family and there was sausages, italian beefs, chopped salad, french fries, and brownies on buffet.  All delicious food!  Took family photo.  Thank you to portillos employee for snapping those photos.

Sunday morning decided to join Roger/Mary at Wheaton College Church.  We have lots of information about Christ rising from the grave, but we can use the information to transform us.  Sang hallelujah chorus from the Messiah as a congregation!

We had some time to wait until our reserved room for lunch at Macaroni Grill was ready, so our group went to Starbucks to relax in the sun.  A lady who was walking by came over to us and handed the kids each a bottle of bubbles to play with.  She said she was done teaching Sunday School and had some extra.  They all were thankful and played with the bubbles while we all got our coffee fixes.  Lunch at Mac Grill was across the street and we used a reserved room towards the back for a family meal together.  Menu was shorter so we all chose from a special menu.  Chicken Parm had never tasted so good!  Had a really great conversation with Martha.

Tim/Deb and Adam/Kala said goodbyes and headed back to Ohio then.  Rest of crew went back to hotel to swim.  I felt a little tired so I didn't swim.  Kids all swam for hours.  There was so much leftover pizza from Friday night that we chose to warm that up for dinner.  Everyone took turns warming up pizza in microwave of hospitality room.  Emily stayed up late with some adults and we chatted/enjoyed chips/salsa/cheese.

Monday morning was a "pack up and leave when we are packed up" kind of a morning.  Dave had a meeting he had to go to at 4:30 in Cedar Falls so getting out of the hotel by noon was a goal.  We grabbed breakfast sandwiches at noon on our way out of town at Starbucks (with coffee, of course!) and made a slick drive home, stopping once, I think.  Don't really remember.

Details are foggy at this point because I'm a few days past it, but pictures always tell more than what I can describe sometimes.  Here are some highlights:

Calvin lost a front tooth on Easter