Trip to Chicago. Also: Why even babies hate American Airlines

So, like I said in the last post, I've been pretty lax in updating my blog lately because we went on a trip. We went to Chicago for my uh...second cousin's wedding? Mommy's cousin Tina. We worked this all out while we were there and now I can't remember, but I think that makes Tina my second cousin. Whatev. Anyhow, we took another big airplane to get there. This time we flew on American Airlines, which Mommy and Daddy do NOT recommend. First of all, checking in for the flight was absolute chaos. We had to check our bags and get my special boarding pass, so we couldn't do it online like normal people. There was a line for American that was for International departures only and everyone else had to check in at the electronic kiosks. The problem was that:
a) there was no discernable line for the kiosks
b) there was no American Airlines employee there to help if you had questions

Daddy ended up having to help THREE other people check in because they did not understand or could not work the electronic kiosk (because they were old and not tech-savvy like I am). It was insane.

When we got to our gate, Daddy asked whether they did pre-boarding for families with small children. They said that they did not normally but that we were welcome to, so we did. It was good because we had a bunch of crap to deal with and we would have held up the line and then everyone behind us would have gotten all annoyed.

Here's a picture of me on the airplane:


When we got there, G-G and Sky King met us at the airport. They had also flown to Chicago for the wedding and had gotten in right before us on another, less crappy airline. We rented a big SUV to fit all of us and all of our suitcases and strollers, etc. and drove to G-G and Sky King's friends' house in Long Grove, where we were staying. Here's a picture of me, Daddy and Mr. R on his cool deck:


I decided not to put up the picture of me and Mrs. R because she hated having her picture taken! I don't understand why, I'm such a total camera hog now. Whenever you come near me with the camera I just start smiling. I'm going to be a model when I grow up.

Anyhow, we played a lot at their house with some cool toys from the kitchen.


I had some tupperware, measuring cups and measuring spoons and a wooden spoon. It was awesome.

I didn't get to go to the wedding or anything, but I heard my first cousin once removed Caleb (Mommy's cousin Eric's baby, who is a few months older than me) was there. He was even wearing a little baby tux! I hear he looked super cute, but I never actually got to meet him myself. While Mommy and Daddy were at the wedding, I stayed at home with Mr. and Mrs. R. They even put me to bed. Before I went to sleep, Mr. R read me a book that Mommy had brought along. See, Mr. R is a Badger, so he really liked the book and sang me all the songs at the end.

I did get to go the wedding brunch on Sunday where I got to meet my various relatives (except Caleb! I guess I'm a morning person and he's a night person). Mommy didn't get any good pictures though, so nothing to show. Then we drove back to Arlington Heights and stopped off to see another friend of G-G and Sky King's, Curt and Bonnie and their daughter Heather, and HER daughter Madeline.



That was fun. They had lent me a bunch of baby stuff to use, like a Pack-and-Play, an Exersaucer, and a high chair.

When we were there, I sat in Sky King's lap for a little while. Here's a picture of that:


You can see that he does not look like he thinks that I am an atomic bomb that might explode at any moment. Maybe just more like a small kind of bomb.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the next morning and fly back to Durham. We had ANOTHER bad experience with American Airlines. First, Mommy got yelled at when she was checking in for daring to walk up to the ticket counter herself to talk to the agent and get her boarding pass. At this airport, there was one agent at the kiosks who was helping to check baggage, and she started to help Mommy get her new boarding pass but then left and didn't tell Mommy what to do. But when she went up to the desk, the lady yelled at her. That was nice. Then we went to the gate and asked again about preboarding. This time, the agent was NOT very nice. She said "Now, forgive me if I'm being rude, but why do people traveling with children always think that they're entitled to board the aircraft before everyone else?" You know when someone starts out by saying "Forgive me if I'm being rude" that they KNOW they're being rude and they just don't care. I know I'm just a baby, but even I know that you shouldn't treat people like that when they just asked you an innocent question AND it is your JOB to help them. So Mommy and Daddy did not preboard this time. It was fine, we didn't have quite as much stuff as we had on the way out so it wasn't a big deal. But Mommy and Daddy are NEVER flying on American Airlines again, and they hope that you won't either. Even though Mommy usually hates the 'cattle call' mentality of Southwest Airlines, they were really nice and helpful to us when we flew back to New Hampshire last month, so we think you should fly Southwest instead of American.

Anyhow, that was our trip! I better get back to trying to catch the cat and pulling myself up on Mommy's leg. Talk to you soon!