Chicago II: The Revenge – Day Zero

An article by Don Quixote    No Comments

Every good trip begins with good planning (or at least that is my firm belief).

I know many of you think what a wonderful person I must have been to give my wife the gift of non-planning (and it’s true, I am a wonderful person, humble too) but secretly I used that trip as a covert way to plan for the family version.

I know, sorry to ruin your pedestal opinion of me.

However, with that little confession out of the way, I began with vigor to plan Chicago II: The Revenge. To have a successful journey one must be well equipped. Saturday began that equipping with the boys. We took a trip to Wal*Mart (bastion of evil that it is) and bought Dafyd and Jace some new backpacks, some hip pouches (Jace hates the name “fanny packs” and the British just laugh when they hear that – Thank you Kevin Smith for ruining that for me), disposable cameras (so the boys can take pictures themselves of their journey), extra underwear (as a 9 & 11 year you can never have too many clean pairs), sun glasses (because hey you might as well look cool while doing whatever it is you do) and a few other odds and ends.

Step two to a successful journey is the planning. A well thought out plan allows for better and more efficient packing, the ability of anticipate for the unexpected, better manage your budget, and to make sure you have the .60 cents exact change you need on hand to get off the toll road. Thanks to my detailed planning, I have maps printed off to our every destination, I’ve grouped events by proximity, and I know how much we are going to have to pay in parking at the Museum of Science and Industry. In addition, when it came time for packing we could plan outfits (I know, I am teaching my sons about color matching and outfits – the really scary part is that if you’ve ever seen me dress, I’m certainly not the person to be showing them that kind of stuff).

Every great journey should also be one that educates the journeyman. We taught the boys how to match clothes, how to pack, and they are getting an opportunity to express their inner artist as they are using the cameras to capture things they feel is important or cool. I cannot wait to get back to develop them to see the world through their eyes. Me? I am learning patience (I don’t think we ever get done learning that), how to find moments of instruction, and most importantly, when to keep my mouth shut and let them discover on their own in a deeper fashion than I can ever vocalize.

Step three is execution. As in try not to kill each other . Just kidding. We have the suit cases and back packs loaded (yes, I said suit cases, but it’s not because my wife over packs, because of my excellent planning we were able to divide our stuff into days so we are able to drag less crap around as we move from Buffalo to Schamburg to Chicago.

All in all I am super excited about this trip (and I know the boys are too – when I found Jace sitting down stairs in his undies, back pack and sun glasses, I knew he was ready to go).

I will keep you posted as our days progress.