Tomorrow Susan, Morgan and I hit the road for Chicago in our minivan, while Mason and Dad will embark upon their 30-hour train ride to the Windy City. Morgan, Susan and I should arrive in Chi-town late Saturday night, with Dad and Mase arriving around 2pm on Sunday.

Both Susan and I have spent the majority of our evening preparing for the trip, albiet in different ways. While Susan scurries about packing things like clothes and and snacks for the children (myself included), my goal is to make sure we have enough DVDs, Gameboy games, audio CDs and electronic equipment to ensure that all parties will not have to suffer a moment of boredom along our respective journeys.

Don Piano, along with our neices, will be housesitting for us once again. It always makes it easier to go away on vacation knowing someone will still hanging around the house; we just hope the written instructions for our alarm will be simple enough to follow ...

So, as Susan finishes marking things off her checklist (Mason's ID? Check. Morgan's medicine? Check.) and I finish mine (Windows updates applied? Check. GPS firmware updated? Check.), we work on into the night, preparing for tomorrow's adventures to begin.