Today we were supposed to be enjoying our vacation in Madison, Wisconsin. Instead, we slept on an off and hung out at home.

We left for Madison yesterday around 12:30 pm and drove through the five toll ways from Chicago to the Illinois-Wisconsin border ($0.80, $0.80, $0.80, $1.00, $1.60). Just over the border is Beloit wherein resides Beloit College, Matthew's Alma Mater. So we stopped and ran around the lovely old buildings, climbed some climbable art and offered to get some cheese for the "mouse" eating nuts on the grass (the mouse Simon saw was actually several different squirrels). We piled back in the car to finish our three hour drive north and arrived in Madison around 5 pm. After checking into our hotel we took a walk down to the capitol building a few blocks away and mingled with the thousands upon thousands of Wisconsonites at the Taste of Madison. Simon had only slept an hour of the drive so he was very tired and hungry. We saw a noodle shop offering "Real Wisconsin Cheese Macaroni and Cheese" and stopped in.

The fatigue was becoming too much for Simon so after just a couple hours out on the town, we called it a night. We three Kagles brushed our teeth, put on our pajamas and climbed into the very comfortable bed at the Doubletree Inn. And then we waited. For FOUR hours we waited for Simon to fall asleep. At times we read to him, we sang to him, we turned on late-night PBS, we rocked him and held him, and we let him run around the room. After four hours of frustration we were very very tired and becoming quite angry. It was at the height of this frustration and anger that Simon did something heartbreaking. He sat up and in his most sincere voice said "I'm sorry. I can't do it. I can't sleep in this room." Then he climbed off the bed and said "Open door. Want to get my room." The vessels of our tired hearts squished; not only had he conveyed that he had tried and this was just not working for him, he had spoken three sentences together using correct grammar.

So we decided to drive. By the time we reached the first highway exit he was out. We drove back to the hotel around midnight, placed sleeping Simon in the bed, and then collapsed. Four hours later Simon awoke to find himself in what Simon now refers to as "the room." He cried and he cried and we couldn't get him to stop. We turned on the Eggs and he settled down but the moment the laptop went away the crying started again. "Open door! Open door!" yelled Simon as he tried in vain to escape. After nearly an hour of this we decided to give up. We were going to be zombies even if we managed to get him back to sleep and if he was this scared of the room he wasn't going to get any better on the second prepaid non-refundable night of our stay. When we asked Simon if he wanted to go home and see Winslow (who was actually at the bird sitter) his demeanor immediately changed. At that moment Simon would have done anything we asked and thanked us for the opportunity. "Thank you, Daddy, for providing me with this uncooked broccoli wrapped in cooked spinach with a slab of ham and a layer of Tabasco to eat. Can we go now?" Simon thanked Daddy for pushing the button in the elevator. He thanked Mommy for putting the coin in the machine to open the gate in the parking garage. WE WERE GOING HOME!

Simon slept through the trip back but woke up at the fourth Illinois toll ($0.80) in Elgin. We stopped to get gas and then stopped to get pancakes and even though he was having a good time, Simon couldn't wait to get back into the car. We and the happy to go home boy got back on the highway ($0.30 into a basket just in case we had skirted the toll booths) and had him home by 8 am. He has been talking about "the room" today and now says it was "too dark" (in our desperation we actually adjusted the lights to various levels and it didn't help) -- we're not sure we're ready to believe him. We're also not sure we want to go to another hotel again unless we're absolutely totally completely positive it won't even be slightly creepy.

We still have "the room" in Madison for the night - any takers?