A Visit to My Hometown

As I mentioned, last week we traveled to Chicago to visit my parents for a 4 day stay. Although my family lives only a few hours away, I do miss them dearly, and cherish the trips I am able to take to their house. I began going solo when Kyra was just 3 weeks old. I would nurse her first thing in the morning, with the car already packed, and head to the big city, hoping that she would make it 3 hours before she would need to be fed again. After a few times there and back, I became quite confident traveling with a child. Soon after, there were two, which was a little more challenging, but still manageable (as long as I had a stash of binki's and snacks in the front seat). Although I enjoy visiting my family with my husband, he is only able to do weekends. Traveling alone allows me to stay for longer periods of time and also an opportunity for my hubs to get projects done at home (in other words time without kids and a wife to distract him from his love of farming!)

As we approach the school age, I am realizing that these cherished trips are going to become few and far between. Life is only going to get busier, so in reality this will probably be my last year to take longer trips to Chicago. So I try and pack it all in with my favorite restaurant, stores, and time chatting with my parents and siblings.

This trip included many of my favorites. We looked through many of my childhood pictures, sat up late watching movies (mom is the late night movie queen, and a shared passion), ate at Sweet Tomatoes (thanks Dad), went garage saling with my sis in-law and mom, shopped at Trader Joe's (LOVE that place), and went to Brookfield Zoo with my parents.

Although the day at the zoo was very cold, the girls still had a great time. There were several new baby animals, and playful ones too. The baby giraffe stayed close to it's mama, the camels were cuddly, the gorilla's were wrestling, and the polar bear tried unsuccessfully several times to get out of the water. Katie was pointing at everything, and is becoming more and more enamored with all of the animals. It is such a joy to watch them get so excited by simple activities. Yes, it was a great trip. Thank you, Mom and Dad for your hospitality.

A Zoo

The polar bears

so white and strong...

The spot neck giraffe

with a stance so long...

Monkey that swing

by their tails in trees...

The big grey elephant

with the wrinkled knees...

Let's take pictures

of one or two,

Oh, please,

let's go to the Zoo

-author unknown