Beautiful Babies

Sorry, I have no idea what gets into me these days. Sitting down at a computer for longer than 1 hour really burns me out. Not to mention it's been about 100 degrees every day this week so when Scout and I go on our daily walks I know I've burnt about a million calories so I'm a little sleepy and distracted.

But where were we?

Ah yes, Wednesday: The mother of all days in Chicago. We did so much stuff this day I thought my body was actually just going to stop moving. We woke up, got our fuel on with some breakfast and headed out to the aquarium. Now, I heart aquariums. I think that marine life is so beautiful and I'm glad that I'm joined by two little children that feel the same way. However, I would like to write a note to the people in charge of museums in Chicago. Please stop sending us to shows within 45 minutes of our arrival. We all know what happened in the field museum when you did that. How is one able to enjoy the sights when you have to constantly look at your watch? But I digress. I'm sure there is a reason that this is done, I just can't seem to figure out why you can't pick your own times. We were able to spend a good time at this location, but not enough that the girls weren't bored by 3 o'clock. So, we headed back to the hotel all the while thinking of our next move. My thought was a quick nap, time to recharge, they could watch a movie or something. But I was quickly over ruled and told we were going to head back to the hotel, grab the American Girl dolls and then we were going to head out again. Seriously? I've just spend 4 hours in an aquarium and now I have to head downtown to get a dolls hair fixed? (Stomp feet and pout) FINE. So, with dolls in hands and explanations given that when they get tired of holding the dolls that I will not be the one to hold them, we head out. Stupidly, I decided to take the girls on the train, downtown, at what could be the start of rush hour. Luckily we have some city girls with us, so it's not too scary. As we walk into this doll museum I can't help but notice how clean this place is. How expensive it must be to own or lease a two story building on Michigan Ave that sells nothing but dolls and doll accessories. There are about 10 sales people on the floor all doing close to nothing. We ask one where the doll salon is and we head upstairs. Allow me a few moments to describe what exactly I walked into. Imagine if you will your local Hair Cuttery/Great Clips/pick your poison local $20 salon. There are red velvet ropes that lead you to a line of small chairs in which your dolls are placed TO GET THEIR HAIR DONE! You are allowed to flip through a book to see which hair style you would like done and located next to each style is a price. I thought I was looking at the wrong thing. $20! $20 for you to sit this small ass doll in a chair and braid its hair? This has to be a joke, right? Well, considering that we came all the way down here for this specific reason, I leave the 13YO in line while I have to take the 10YO to the doll hospital. Again, you are reading this all correctly, THE DOLL HOSPITAL! Apparently when the little one was 6 she decided that she didn't like the dolls hair, so she cut it. The $150 dolls hair, she just didn't like, so she cut it. As we placed the hot mess on the counter, the "Doctor on duty" arrives. The first thing out of her mouth is "Oh wow". I look over at Emma and say, "just a piece of advice kid, when a doctor says oh, wow, it's not going to be good news". Apparently when you cut the dolls hair, they have to send it back and get an entirely new head. This entire process not only takes 3 weeks, but costs $40! I couldn't actually believe what I was hearing. You mean, you can't just take a head from another one of your thousands of dolls that haven't been sold for the day and slap that on? Oh no, there is an actual process. Note to self, invest in American Girl store! Armed with the terrible news, we head back into the hair line with sister seeing that she hasn't moved an inch. About 15 minutes later, one of the hair techs finally calls us up to see what we would like done. Apparently we would like Molly to look like Molly again. No problem. She looks down at her book and tells me that she has an opening at 5. I honestly didn't have words at the moment. We've been standing in line for 30 minutes and now I have to wait another hour in order to get the dolls hair braided. Now, if these were my kids, their doll would have to keep their nappy heads and just deal with all the crap that they brought on themselves, but unfortunately that's not what we're here for. So, we leave the doll with the "beautician" and we are afforded an hour to look through this store once again. OH HOORAY, dreams really do come true! We ascend back down the escalator, b/c I refused to allow these hens to hear what I was about to say. Plus, we needed some sort of system as to how we were going to get back upstairs. About half way down, I notice a familiar figure to my left. No way, it couldn't be. It couldn't possibly be. Here?!?!?! In this store? Yup, it sure looks like it. Vince Vaughn was in line at the doll portrait studio. Grey sweatpants, Chicago Bears t-shirt, looking like a creepy pedophile in line at the doll portrait studio. On any normal day, I would think this is acceptable. However, Vince Vaughn does not have children. Vince Vaughn oozes cool. Vince Vaughn was in Wedding Crashers! WTF was he doing in this money sucker? I felt a little better being there myself, but still. Totally uncool Vince. You should probably leave now. But, unfortunately, he didn't hear the words in my head and ended up staying there as long as I did. I wonder if he had a hair appointment? It would be a great Saturday Night Live skit, that's for sure. I certainly won't bore you with what happened while we waited, so I'll shoot right back to an hour later when we were able to have a turn in the chair. LaShonda was our tech. Normally you would think that I was being racist and you would stop reading, but that was her real name, so read on. LaShonda was irritated that she had more work to do and had to stay until 6:30, you know, since she had been here since 9. Then LaShonda went on to tell the 13YO that she was short. It was at that moment that I had to look around and make sure that we weren't in a normal salon. I'm wondering if LaShonda knew she was talking to a 13YO and even if you use the words no offense, they are going to take offense to it. She's 13. If the wind shifted the wrong way she would get pissed. Okay, yes, she is small, but she's 13. Come on LaShonda. And then she went on. "Yeah, my 14 year old is getting mad at my 11 year old b/c she's getting taller than her. I keep explaining to her that her daddy is only 5'8 while the other ones daddy is 6'3". Insert look of shock and awe here. I'm sorry, come again?! LaShonda, I do not know you, and I certainly don't know your situation, but please, for all that is good and holy, PLEASE stop talking immediately. Thankfully the story stopped there....or did it. She went on to comment that between her and her two girls, they own 10 American Girl dolls and then let us in on the secret exlicar ingredient in what she was doing. WATER! The only thing that girl was doing to Mollys hair was putting water in it and braiding it. Calling all American Girl doll owners. I have more water than I know what to do with. I'll braid your dolls hair for $10! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! People, or particularly my friend spent $20 to get a dolls hair braided, to find out that all they use is water! What a rip off. Of course, your first mistake was buying a doll for $150 that doesn't sit on a shelf, but that's just me. At about the end of my patience and hunger rope, LaShonda finally finished and we were once again on our way to another location. This time by cab b/c I was so exhausted both physically and mentally, I wasn't sure I was able to go on. This time it was the little ones turn to pick dinner so we were off to Hard Rock. It would have been ESPN Zone, but someone had to close and ruin all the fun. Dinner was uneventful so I'll skip right to the good stuff..........I had a made a deal with 10YO that IF we were to go to the pool after dinner, she had to be absolutely quiet while I was in the hot tub. This would be the first time that I put a suit on this entire trip, but I need a good turn in the hot tub so bad. Every part of me was aching. So we headed down to the pool and they did as they were told. About 5 minutes in a handsome stranger came and sat with me. We started talking and just totally hit it off. I don't think he was there longer than 15 minutes before he had said that he had to go, but totally asked me out for that night. Things like that never happen to me and I almost thought it was a joke, but we made plans to meet up later, once momma got home. It has to be the most romantic thing that has ever happened, in my life. The girls were ecstatic. They were in the midst of planning my wedding as we headed upstairs. Now, keep in mind, how absolutely exhausted I was, but since I'm living my life without the what ifs I went. And he actually showed up. His name was Ben, he's my age, living in NYC, on a little bit of a life break since he's going through this terrible divorce. So, he and his buddy decided to do a cross country trip. We sat and talked about EVERYTHING. Everything in his life, everything in my life. What I'm going through, what he's going through. It was almost like this was right out of the movies. We stayed up talking until 3 in the morning. Just talking. It was amazing! As we were heading back to the hotel, I didn't want to night to end, but it needed to, as one of the girls was getting up in an hour to go to work with her mom. So, we parted ways at the elevator where he told me that he was in room....18 blah blah blah, but he would see me at the pool the next day, right? I turn and say that I was in room 2505 and absolutely. So with that, we rode separately into the night, or early morning. However, during this "date" I had received a text from an amazing person that keeps putting forth great efforts and had decided to come to Chicago the next day to visit me and the girls. Unfortunately, I didn't look at this text until 3 am and didn't know that going to the pool was not going to happen. So, as was the most romantic moment of my life, it has now been the most disappointing moment of my life, as I don't know this guys last name or phone number. All I keep thinking of is the movie Serendipity, where if it's supposed to happen again, it will. Now, all that BS being said, if any of you know the married name of Camille Ford from the Travel Channel or know her ex husband Ben and how I can find him, PLEASE let me know! I'll tell you what happens next, tomorrow :)