My 9-year-old nephew, Nick, and I left Saturday afternoon for a long weekend in Springfield, IL, where he connected with The Birthday Boy, our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. We spent Sunday touring Lincoln's home and the Presidential Museum, where was saw Abe's actual stovepipe hat (shown). Then he took advantage of the hotel pool. Today we took the train back to Chicagoland and now I'm home ... alone ... exhausted.Don't get me wrong, we had a good time. It was his first Amtrak ride, his first trip away without his parents, his first stay in a hotel, the first time he slept alone in a double bed. He enjoyed all of it.
He and I covered a lot of ground. We talked about what he's looking forward to this summer, his best friends, what he learned about Lincoln, his favorite foods, his favorite GameBoy games, that I snore ... He's a sweet kid, well-behaved, and a delight to be around. It was fun to see everything through his eyes. (The Lincoln's Springfield home had a three-seat outhouse -- that really fascinated him.)
But I'm not used to being around a kid 24/7. I'm exhausted! I don't know how you parents do it!