Yeah, It's Still Like That

This past weekend we loaded up the car and drove into Chicago for a little lookie loo at the Science and Industry Museum.  They had a special exhibit of Walt Disney artifacts and Disney memorabilia.  Disney has always been something pretty magical to us, as it has been to most everyone I know, and having the opportunity to see Mary Poppin's carpet bag seemed like too good of an opportunity to miss.  So after much exasperation, we found a weekend that would work for all of us and made it happen.
There are five of us and we no longer have the mini van.  There are no drop down screens in the back seat, no spread out kids.  Nope, there were three adults cramped in the backseat for five or so hours.  Danny and I lucked out as he was the driver and I am his wife, we got front seats. 
We had to pick Hayley up in Cedar Falls so the first couple of hours were a little more comfortable plus Jacob was asleep 35 minutes into the drive.  Ashlyn was pretty riled up and she kept herself busy figuring out ways to bug her dad.  I tried to read a book but the light faded and the happenings in the car became more interesting once we got Hayley on board.
It is a blessing that our kids love the same music as we do.  We sang a lot of 80s hits.  Not well, mind you, but we were loud and proud.  I still don't know what happened to all the words of Shout, but we nailed the chorus.  Hungry Like the Wolf required a lyrics search, much discussion and then the decision that we would continue to sing it like we always have. 
Straddle the line
Disco and rhyme
And I'm hungry like the wolf
We took the northern route in from Cedar Falls and it was pretty hilly.  I am guessing it is very pretty during the day, but at night, with nothing to see we busied ourselves with watching for snowmobilers, giants on tractors and falling tetris as there were warning signs for all of these.  I also suggested watching the tree line for Bigfoot because it also seemed reasonable.  We arrived in Chicago safely and sleepily.  It was a great ride in.
We weren't really thinking when we got to the museum and didn't play in the farm land at all.  It was probably just as well as the place was jumping and we wouldn't have been able to get a new kids on the cow photo.  We did play in the weather/natural phenomena area and I looked at the jar babies.  We watched the miniature trains (thank God) and the little chicks.
But it was Disney that we were there to see.  Reading this man's story is something else.  His and Roy's impact on this country and much of the world is undeniable.  I think I have known his handwriting longer than anyone else's as it was scrawled across the records I listened to as a child.  It was on the VHS tapes my children had.  It is on half of the DVD collection I ow have.  It is on Hayley's arm.  Jacob's first movie was a Disney movie, he was just a peanut of a boy going to A Goofy Movie.  Hayley's first and second impressions were of Disney characters- Snow White and the Evil Queen.  Ashlyn went to Lion King with her Big Buddy shortly before we moved to Germany, her last adventure with him for quite some time.  Because of Disney it was cute that I married Danny.  Because of Disney I believe in happily ever afters.
You know the opening scene of Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty when the gilded storybook is opened?  Those books were there.  Those books opened countless times at my house as the movie started on snow days and sick days and down in the dump days.  We turned a corner and there was Paul's bedknob.  A little later was Mary Poppins carpet bag and Mr. Banks smoking jacket.  But it was in reading the Disney story that the magic unfolded.  I know he was not the most politically correct man, but he made amazing movies and created wonderful worlds.  He stood on the edge of wonder and then just jumped in!  And we shared that wonder as a family.  Thanks Walt.
We left the museum for some Pot Belly's.  We went back to the hotel and napped.  We then went out for some Giordano's.  Then back to the hotel to pack Hayley up and put her in her first ever taxi ride.  She was headed to a different hotel as she had a bridal event on Sunday.
Jacob, Ashlyn, Danny and I met up with a couple of Ashlyn's college friends for mass at the cathedral and brunch.  Other than the parking that sucks in Chicago, Sunday morning was wonderful.  It was the pomp of Catholic that I love with a choir singing in English, but singing so well that we couldn't tell.  It was organ and candles and intricate ceilings.  Brunch was rich and delicious and quaint.  One of those Sunday mornings that gives hope to all the other Sunday mornings. 
And then the long drive home.  Jacob slept and Danny drove.  Ashlyn played on her phone and I read my book.  Sometimes I would make an exasperated sound and Danny would ask and I would explain the part I was at in the book and then a lively conversation would ensue.
And on an entirely different subject, a friend told me to not get caught up in the small stuff, and when I read that I realized that all of this weekend was small stuff.  It was singing and laughing and doing Jacob's hair.  It was discussing how Hayley's shoes DO look like Snow White's shoes.  It was small moment after small moment stacked and squeezed and pushed into this wonderful weekend.  It was remembering the trip we took to Chicago in 2001 and again in 2010. 
I leave with this - I remember previous car trips with kinder in the back seat, singing, laughing, being in cahoots.  My hand resting on the center console.  A squeeze and Danny's warm smile in the light of the instrument panel.  All being right in my small world.  Yeah, it's still like that.