We’re still in Chicago. Since Rakicy is downstairs finishing up his long run on the treadmill, I thought I’d blog about our trip. We rarely go away for an entire weekend, but thanks to a combination of weather and Priceline we spent the first weekend of the 3rd Trimester relaxing and shopping in the Chicago Suburbs. Normally, when we come up we either just drive up for the day or spend one night at a hotel. This time, however, we had a snow storm threatening to derail our entire trip. We knew that we had to make one last IKEA trip and this was the only weekend we were going to be free for a while until the end of March. Since we’ll probably be sticking fairly close to home in April and May, this was our last chance for a getaway before the baby comes.
We left as soon as I got home from work on Friday night and made it here without seeing any snow. Yesterday, however, was a different story. It basically snowed all day, and if we had been anywhere but Chicago, we probably would have had to limit our driving and shopping. It turned out to be really good weekend to come, however, because not only were the stores fairly deserted and the snow plows on top of the snow removal, our room got upgraded both nights at the hotel. I made our reservations through Priceline for the first night and our room was only $35 instead of $119. When the weather started looking iffy, I got nervous because I was afraid that we were going to be stuck either having to pay full price for the second night or switching hotels. Nope, apparently the economy is so bad right now that although Priceline won’t refund your reservation, they will let you add nights to it at the exact same price. Rakicy even got to practice his snow removal skills.
In retrospect, I’m really glad we opted to stay two nights. Yesterday we were at IKEA as soon as it opened and then went to mall. As much as I love Woodfield Mall, our shopping there basically consisted of walking from one side to the other and then eating at PF Changs before I decided I was ready to go back to the hotel and crash for a while. Since we had a little more time to shop with the extra night, we also used the Garmin to venture a little farther from our normal area. Rakicy got visit a local running shop and we got to go to a full size Babies ‘R Us rather than just the baby section in a regular Toys ‘R Us.
Our only excitement involved a late night run to Walgreens last night. I bought some Coccoa Butter cream because I’d left mine at home. I didn’t think to check the label for ingredients. Yep, it contained carrots. By about 9:30, I was covered in hives, so Rakicy got to make a quick trip for some Benadryl. Besides being a little groggy from Benadryl sedation, by the time I woke up this morning, the hives seem to have disappeared.
We are offiically in the last trimester and on the countdown to May. Next week we start our Baptism classes which marks the beginning of our two month class marathon.
