z's summer tour - leg 2: Illinois
After breakfast on Sunday (6 August...was it really 12 days ago?), we left Milwaukee for White Sox country (the south side of Chicago) to stay with J's parents. Monday, while J was in the recording studio, granny took Z and I shopping. Tuesday, we all headed to Champaign to meet up with grandmomma, great-grams, and Aunt M (great-grams older sister). We shopped for some books at Barnes and Noble, ate lunch at the Olive Garden, then headed to a park to swing and relax for a bit, i.e. tire out Z so he would sleep the 2 hours back to Chicago. It worked.
Wednesday night we drove to Cubs country to stay with B&LU. Z discovered a cat toy that made bird sounds when hit against something - of course the cat thought this was fabulous - so they played together for a while - which Z thought was fabulous.
Before breakfast on Thursday, we started back to the south side - stopping at one of our favorite bagel places on the way. The bagels were as wonderful as we remember (you just can't find a bagel like that out here), but the place didn't have a clue about espresso. Someday we will find a place that does both well...and then we will never leave. heh.
"Heading back to the south side" meant traveling the toll road - AGAIN. It seems that the toll roads were meant to deter tourists from driving - perhaps a good thing - although in our case, very frustrating and expensive. At each toll area if you have IPASS you have access to "open road tolling" which means you don't stop. If you are a tourist, you can not get an IPASS (that we could discover). Instead, at each toll booth you take a one lane "exit" to the booths off to the side of the road. It takes longer and costs more - we paid 80 cents at each toll while the IPASSers were only paying 40 cents. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
Thursday night J went out with high school friends. Friday we went out to dinner with J's parents. Saturday we drove to Oak Brook to meet up with J&J&S who had driven from Minneapolis to introduce us to their daughter and to meet Z. We had a fun lunch - with the kiddies holding hands between their high chairs. :)
That afternoon we all went to Erika and family's. When she found out we were coming to town she offered to host a BBQ and we could invite whoever we wanted. For real. It was awesome. Some of the folks who showed up we hadn't seen in 6 years or so. It was good to see some of our favorite people all in one place - and with kids! We're hoping it won't be so long before we see everyone again - matter of fact, there seems to be consensus to do this again each year. I'm all for it. It was great to see everyone. I miss ya! I love ya! Please keep in touch.
Sunday, granny (J's mother) arranged a family brunch at a local golf club so we could meet the newest cousin - born a month before Z. Again, it was great to see everyone. Z loves hanging out with kids his age. We're already looking forward to doing it again during a return trip at Christmas.
Well...this doesn't do it justice...we had a great trip and I can't thank everyone enough for their hospitality - especially J's parents. We took over their home for over a week! With coaxing from granny, by the end of the week Z was able to pull himself to standing at the coffee table. It was hard to leave. Christmas won't come soon enough.
Not only was it hard to leave, after we were home it was difficult for both Z and I to adjust to our "new" surroundings. He was suddenly able to explore new aspects of our home. As for me, after reading my mom's "invitation" I realized that I was lonely. I went from hundreds of work emails and several phone calls a day to about 5 emails per day and a few calls a week. The face-to-face time that we were getting at home was mostly with people without children and on vacation there were always *lots* of kids.
I've spent the 2 weeks since we've been home filling in those holes. This week we have appointments with other kids and moms almost every day! He has new toys. I finally feel like "mom" is my full-time job. I think it took a while to transition from working, to being on vacation, to being home and being creative about being home - having goals other than "make it through the day." Last week I realized that there are hundreds of islands in the San Juans that I've never been to, that there are garden nurseries *all over* the area - from the Olympic Peninsula to the islands to the mountains and everywhere in between. There are several museums I've never been to and there are lots of moms and kids for us to meet. i.e., lots of new places and things to introduce to Z.
Plus, Saturday I cut off all my hair and spent 3 hours under the needle - a new piece of art slowly emerging on my right leg from my ankle to my knee. More on that next time.
Peace!
Wednesday night we drove to Cubs country to stay with B&LU. Z discovered a cat toy that made bird sounds when hit against something - of course the cat thought this was fabulous - so they played together for a while - which Z thought was fabulous.
Before breakfast on Thursday, we started back to the south side - stopping at one of our favorite bagel places on the way. The bagels were as wonderful as we remember (you just can't find a bagel like that out here), but the place didn't have a clue about espresso. Someday we will find a place that does both well...and then we will never leave. heh.
"Heading back to the south side" meant traveling the toll road - AGAIN. It seems that the toll roads were meant to deter tourists from driving - perhaps a good thing - although in our case, very frustrating and expensive. At each toll area if you have IPASS you have access to "open road tolling" which means you don't stop. If you are a tourist, you can not get an IPASS (that we could discover). Instead, at each toll booth you take a one lane "exit" to the booths off to the side of the road. It takes longer and costs more - we paid 80 cents at each toll while the IPASSers were only paying 40 cents. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
Thursday night J went out with high school friends. Friday we went out to dinner with J's parents. Saturday we drove to Oak Brook to meet up with J&J&S who had driven from Minneapolis to introduce us to their daughter and to meet Z. We had a fun lunch - with the kiddies holding hands between their high chairs. :)
That afternoon we all went to Erika and family's. When she found out we were coming to town she offered to host a BBQ and we could invite whoever we wanted. For real. It was awesome. Some of the folks who showed up we hadn't seen in 6 years or so. It was good to see some of our favorite people all in one place - and with kids! We're hoping it won't be so long before we see everyone again - matter of fact, there seems to be consensus to do this again each year. I'm all for it. It was great to see everyone. I miss ya! I love ya! Please keep in touch.
Sunday, granny (J's mother) arranged a family brunch at a local golf club so we could meet the newest cousin - born a month before Z. Again, it was great to see everyone. Z loves hanging out with kids his age. We're already looking forward to doing it again during a return trip at Christmas.
Well...this doesn't do it justice...we had a great trip and I can't thank everyone enough for their hospitality - especially J's parents. We took over their home for over a week! With coaxing from granny, by the end of the week Z was able to pull himself to standing at the coffee table. It was hard to leave. Christmas won't come soon enough.
Not only was it hard to leave, after we were home it was difficult for both Z and I to adjust to our "new" surroundings. He was suddenly able to explore new aspects of our home. As for me, after reading my mom's "invitation" I realized that I was lonely. I went from hundreds of work emails and several phone calls a day to about 5 emails per day and a few calls a week. The face-to-face time that we were getting at home was mostly with people without children and on vacation there were always *lots* of kids.
I've spent the 2 weeks since we've been home filling in those holes. This week we have appointments with other kids and moms almost every day! He has new toys. I finally feel like "mom" is my full-time job. I think it took a while to transition from working, to being on vacation, to being home and being creative about being home - having goals other than "make it through the day." Last week I realized that there are hundreds of islands in the San Juans that I've never been to, that there are garden nurseries *all over* the area - from the Olympic Peninsula to the islands to the mountains and everywhere in between. There are several museums I've never been to and there are lots of moms and kids for us to meet. i.e., lots of new places and things to introduce to Z.
Plus, Saturday I cut off all my hair and spent 3 hours under the needle - a new piece of art slowly emerging on my right leg from my ankle to my knee. More on that next time.
Peace!
posted by sp1ral at 1:59 PM
4 Comments:
You really had a full trip! Thanks for letting us be a part of it, it was so nice to see you. Oh! and post a pic of the new 'do!
dreads aren't in my immediate future - although I still see them on the horizon...I needed to minimize the number of handholds Z was using to pull up to standing.
I cut my hair short when Nick was about the same age Z is now, so I totally hear 'ya!
I'm trying to grow it out again... fun fun fun.
I thought I'd share this little gem with fellow enthusiasts... Once you dig in a little there are many oustanding articles. Check it out when you feel like reading - golf school
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