I could've driven to Detroit today

At some point last fall, Peyton did something special enough (how sad am I, I cannot even remember *what*) to earn a major treat - we agreed on a trip to "The Dinosaur Museum" a.k.a. The Field Museum in Chicago. Surgery came and postponed that plan; about two weeks ago, we settled on today, January 31. Part of that choice was that a friend of mine from college who lives in the city could join us and hang out for the day.

Despite a forecast that earlier in the week called for upwards of 12 inches of snow (revised to 4 to 6) and a Winter Storm Warning that was supposed to start at 6PM, this morning at 8:40, my intrepid travelers and I set off for the Big City. We had engaged to meet Shilpa at 10AM. By 9:15, it was clear that wasn't going to happen so I called her and we agreed on 10:30. Traffic into the city was pretty awful because it was *already snowing.* Not a good start to the day.

For those of you who've never been to the Field, the general parking lot is Soldier Field parking which is nice in some ways (indoors), bad in others (a *really* long walk from the museum and an even longer one from the accessible entrance where us stroller-pushers must enter). It's also 15 bucks but so is everything else nearby.

We parked at Soldier Field, bundled up appropriately (it was about 18 degrees downtown at this point) and set off at a jog for the museum. Peyton's face was freezing and he was nearly in tears so I stopped to help him with his coat - I stopped the stroller, turned to Peyton, zipped him up, pulled up his hood, velcroed it around his face, turned back . . . no Nathaniel. Seriously - the stroller was gone. I look up - it's IN THE STREET. He has rolled into the street. Dear Lord in heaven. My child could have been crushed by a car but no other nincompoop is actually out in this awful weather. A few profanities and an adrenaline burst later, we are all safely back on the sidewalk, running for the entrance in the snow and wind. Because the storm that wasn't supposed to hit until 6PM is already here. And it's barely 10:30.

We had a lovely time at the Field, Shilpa's always so much fun to chat with and the boys both loved it, especially the new hands-on kids area. I had originally aimed to hit the road home by 2PM. Not so much to miss rush hour (because there is no rush hour in Chicago anymore; there's just a brief lull in traffic from about 11 - 1) but to try to get home at a reasonable time. At 2:45, we're trying to pack up and by 3, we're actually pulling out of the parking lot. Into the snow.

Now at this point, I informed the boys that it was probably going to be about 2.5 hours until we would get home - the roads in the city were cr*p, the snow was still coming down, it was "rush hour" and all the radio stations were reporting increasingly frightening travel times on the highway I was pointing my car towards. By the time we hit the highway, I admit it will be closer to 3 hours. After averaging about 6MPH (not making this up, I was actually using my GPS for distance and timing myself) on the Ike, we finally got up to about 25 on I-88 but the snow was getting thicker in the sky, deeper on the roads, and actually piling up on my windshield we were moving so slowly. I've never actually seen that before today.

So 3.5 hours later, we are finally home. The boys are running around like they've been freed from shackles (and both were troopers in the car - Peyton was great the whole way and Nathaniel didn't start to freak until about 3 miles / 30 minutes out when he dropped a toy and then it was bursts of yelling at me not screaming or crying). I am a bit wired - I still have to go shovel the driveway, take out the trash, retrieve the newspaper, and move my car so Fiore can get his in the driveway tomorrow when he gets home. Assuming he actually makes it home tomorrow since he's flying back into O'Hare, the worst-equipped-to-handle-bad-weather airport in the country, the morning after a major snowstorm. That was supposed to bring 4 - 6 inches, which I already have in my driveway, and is continuing to snow. Wheee!