Where Did You Go?

CHICAGO!
Here I am sitting in a hotel room on the Magnificent Mile! Byran is presenting a paper at a conference here, and he invited me to go along for the trip. Wasn't that nice?

I apologize for not posting anything since Halloween, but it has been crazy busy getting ready for this trip. The kids are being well taken care of by good friends and family, so I can relax and sew that button on my coat that came off a year ago. How crazy is that? I'm excited to have a chance to sew a button on.

Getting here was an adventure though. On our way to the airport, the truck started freaking out on us and we had to get off the interstate twice. There just happened to be a Ford Dealership right there the second time, and they graciously took the truck right in and took us to the airport in their courtesy shuttle. Our plane was delayed due to wind in Chicago (imagine that), so we finally arrived about 1.5 hours late. Then to figure out how to get downtown. I had the great idea to try the train as I was up for an adventure and wanting to experience that. That took a LONG while, and when we got to the Loop, found that the line we needed to go on was being worked on. Luckily, a nice Chicago lady noticed 2 confused tourists (did we stick out that much?) and directed us where to get off. We got off at the right stop, but were so turned around that we finally decided to take a taxi the rest of the way. That was good, because we found out that we had been heading in the opposite direction from the hotel!

But how exciting and fun to be here! It brought back a lot of fun memories from when we were here before. Byran and I were talking on the plane about our first flight to Chicago 4 years ago when we came here to get Karissa. I remember being so nervous, anxious, in tears wondering what we were in for once we got to the hospital, and if we would have to go home without a baby again. We both laughed thinking about how different our life would be if we hadn't taken that leap of faith. Karissa brings so much life to our family! We are so blessed to have her!

For a little walk down memory lane, we went to dinner at Giodani's and had stuffed pizza, like we had our very first night in Chicago after we got to the hotel from the hospital with our new daughter. YUMM! It was just as good as we remembered it being.

So, today, Byran is off to present his paper and be at the Conference today, and I'm sewing a button and shopping!