Places to Go (Vacation) - On the Road Again - Spring Break in Chicago, Part III (the LONG drive home) & Cherish This Day

We spent our last morning of vacation walking the shores of the Lake Katherine. T's new best friend is apparently Murphy the dog.





We hit the road in the late afternoon, intending to drive 5.5 hours to Cleveland. The first few hours or so went relatively well (easy drive, no traffic) until F started projectile vomiting in the car.

After cleaning out the minivan to the best of my ability, I stopped at a rest stop to feed the other children dinner and find a closer hotel in Toledo (thank you Homewood Suites, for amazing service and patience). The rest of a night was a blur as F couldn't even hold water down and I had to keep calling the front desk to replenish our towels and take away nasty linens. P alternated between sadness for her sister's distress and elation that they both could watch TV at 3 am. T slept through it all.

Luckily, by 11 am the next morning, F said she felt well enough to travel (though still not exactly "well").







For our last stop on the way home, we spent a few hours in Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Museum of Art & Natural History (I think they're technically two separate museums, but they share a building and the same admission price).

F still didn't feel great, but she REALLY wanted some time outside the car, so the museum was somewhat of a mixed blessing (i.e. enthusiasm was low). Luckily, the combination of art (especially really cool contemporary art), dinosaurs, and mummies kept the (tired, cranky) children enthralled. Plus, it wasn't crowded at all, which seemed incredible as DC museums are always packed. I wish I would have taken more photos, but we were all rather done by this point.



After fighting non-stop for a week, apparently all these two needed to get along was a giant playpit of dinosaur "bones".











One last group picture before the final 4 hour push home.





We arrived in Arlington around 9 pm and headed straight to the Silver Diner as I had no energy left to cook dinner and none of us felt like eating pizza.

So that was our spring break. Fun, but exhausting. Now we're ready for spring and all the fun that comes with it (hopefully).

If you have a chance, don't forget to check out today's collaborative post on Cherish This Day, lots of gorgeous images this week!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!