Dean's Chicagoland Vacation has come and gone. The trip went something like this:

Sat: Arrival. Lunch at Superdawg, which he seemed to enjoy, although what's the point of a Chicago-style dog when you're at the age where you only like ketchup. Bought some groceries. Hit the beach. Play some PS2.

Sun: more PS2. Back to the beach. Party at the Haus house. Copious amounts of food consumption.

Mon: Six Flags with Scott & JC. This turned out to be a perfect day to go, despite (or perhaps because of) the ominous weather forecasts. Lines were short all day. Dean was just tall enough to go on everything, and he did. When the sky did open up for a few hours, we went to S&J's place nearby, got some dry clothes, and went out to lunch. When we returned, the rain had finished and our clothes were dry, so we went back to the park. S&J bailed around 8, but we closed the park. Near the end of the night Kirsti and I watched the park's (quite good) fireworks while Dean went on Batman again. Eventually there was no one else in line, so he got to jump to the front of the ride and go about 4 times that way. He ended up riding it about 8-9 times all day. I ended up on it twice, Superman and the giant-drop thing twice, and the other coasters once each.

Tue: Museum of Science and Industry. We finally got to do the coalmine, and also took in Game On (videogames, a nobrainer for the three of us), U505 sans guided tour, and BodyWorlds, which was interesting but creepy. I think Dean liked it the least of the three of us. In retrospect, we should have skipped BW in favor of the sub tour.

Wed: Lunch at Ed DeBevics (look, he's 10, okay?), then Shedd Aquarium, where we leeched off the generosity of Alexis and her membership.

Throughout the week was much Playstation. The little monkey beat me at whatever NFL and MLB games I have, but I won the home run derby and consistently thumped him at Katamari. So there. I should have hidden my GTA games, because about Tuesday he started begging to play them. He called his mom, and she caved, much to my surprise -- he could play it for a half hour. He had said something about how he was allowed to play if "he was good": no jaywalking, no instigating violence, only jacking parked cars. This of course went right out the window once he started playing. I tried to guide him to the innocuous taxi and pizza missions, but he wanted no part of them. Once he started chainsawing passersby, he was done. No more Rockstar Games until he's at least 11, I say.

Overall he's a pretty good kid, and I suppose he was easy to host. I was surprised how good he was with his spending money; some snacks here, souvenirs there, but frivolous stuff held no interest. I was worried about the games at Six Flags, but he didn't even look twice at them.

Thu: Drive to MN.

Fri: Hang out with my dad & stepmom. Attend a bookfair where we're surprised to run into a coworker.

Sat: Family reunion. It was okay. Grandma wants us there, and she's the last grandparent I have left. Plus you don't mess with grandma -- she killed a rattlesnake when she was a girl just to get the rattles. But the pattern is pretty evident that as members of her generation have passed away, the descendents in the given wings have stoppped coming. So under those circumstances, I hope to go to many more.

Sun: drive home, play with cats. sleep the glorious sleep of the childfree.