Moms and Their Boys

This weekend Quigs and I took our boys to Schaumburg overnight to see Thomas the Tank Engine Live at the Sears Centre. We've had our tickets since January and have been very curious about how our overnight was going to work out. Since Quigs is a former Schaumburg resident, she offered to drive, which was a great help, because I am an excellent travel attendant to three year olds. 

As it turned out the boys were happy watching Quigs' DVD player on the drive, which was pretty painless and less than 3 hours long. We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn, where we enjoyed free lodging, free water, free apple juice and free breakfast (the good cooked kind that included pancakes and custom omelets versus the continental) thanks to MacTroll's points and status. 

We did lunch and playtime at Woodfield Mall at their WB cartoon character play area. Then we took the boys to the Lego store and the Disney store. Bubba brought home a Nemo fish and a Sarge car. X-man chose a Wall-E phone and a Lightening McQueen car.

After a nap, we headed to see Thomas for the 5:30 show. The show runs around an hour and 15 minutes, but there's a 15-minute intermission for potty breaks. I'm glad we went to the 5:30 p.m. because, as it was, by the time we picked up the pizza and salads that we pre-ordered from the California Pizza Kitchen, it was almost 8 p.m. when we had dinner. (Good thing X-man consumed 1/2 of a giant thing of popcorn by himself during the show.)

The boys were fascinated by the show. X-man loved the dancing. Bubba was singing along. 

After our pizza, it was time for bed. The boys wanted to try to sleep together, but they couldn't stop touching and tickling. Quigs and I were trying not to laugh at them. But it was hard for them to be sleepy in a strange place. Still in the picture below, they seem almost sleepy. :-)

We finished our trip with a stop to Ikea, where we had to miss the free massages for mothers on Mothers' Day, but did find Quigs the table she wanted for her office. 

If the measure of a good time is by how many tears were shed after key moments of the trip, this was a pretty good time. Bubba cried when it was time to leave Thomas. He would have happily sat through the show again and again. X-man cried when it was time to leave the hotel. I think he likes all the crazy exploring he can do in one simple hotel room. Quigs was all verklempt driving around Schaumburg remembering life as a DINK... and I swear she was wiping away tears when we were in Ikea. :-) But she was a great friend to travel with, and she dealt with X-man's bedtime mania with a lot of patience and understanding. It was a great Mother's Day weekend activity, and we got a lot of quality time with the boys.

But we so want to take a Mommy-only daytrip back up to do some shopping sometime in the fall... any other mommies want to come with?

Oooh, and since we got home at 1 p.m. and I took off X-man's wet pull up, he's peed in his Superman potty (I taped pictures of Superman on a red potty) three times and pooped on the potty once today without any rewards... 

Update at 4:36 p.m.: Make that 2 poops (he had LOTS of popcorn last night) and 4 pees.