Left Chicago just after 5am on Saturday and rolled into Oklahoma City Saturday evening around 7pm … it’s easy to forget just how small kids’ bladders are. Susan split the driving 50/50 (maybe more) with me, which made for a more enjoyable trip. Last month for Susan’s birthday I got her a new GPS for the van. The GPS worked awesome in Chi-town, and the 6.5 million points of interest it comes pre-programmed with are pretty thorough — it even had the Oasis Beef Hut.

Susan attended some work-related class Tue-Thurs from roughly 6am-6pm, including train time. The federal building she was in had daycare slots available, so on Wednesday and Thursday Morgan rode the train downtown with Mommy and hung out in the daycare, which was more fun for both her and Mason and I.

Mason and I spent a day downtown at the Field Museum looking at the mummies and dinosaur bones; cool place, lots of good photos from there in the gallery. Got to spend lots of time with the family which is always good, and that usually leads to lots of good food which is even better. We were able to squeeze in some Andy’s Hot Dogs, Aurelio’s Pizza, and of course White Castles (3 times, in fact). Mason hated the regular sliders but liked the chicken patty burgers quite a bit.

Even at 120k, the van did just fine on the trip sans the funky smell it developed throughout the week. Originally attributed to Mason’s shoes, we later discovered the ice chest had sprung a leak which had, in turn, caused part of the carpet to mildew. The offending rug has since been removed and things are better.

On the ride home we stopped at one of the Missouri tourist traps, the Anquque Toy and Truck Museum ($6 for adults, $2 for kids.) You’ll see pictures of it in the gallery as well, down near the bottom. If you’re into old trucks, you’ll love the place. Mason was able to identify almost all the Star Wars figures they had on display and Morgan spotted the Pee-Wee Herman doll from two rows away. Them’s muh kids …

Click here to see the Chicago Vacation 2008 Photo Gallery