Roadtrip: Chicagoland and back

You might say these two tickets are what inspired our summer Illinois trip in the first place. Forest purchased them back in January after winning the seats through a lottery on the Ten Club website. As we started planning for the concert, we decided Crissy should be the one to go with Forest if it could be arranged. She is a long-time Pearl Jam fan but has never had a chance to see them live. When we contacted her about it, she was just a *little* bit excited about the idea.

Six months later, the plan unfolded: Ramona, Mika, and Aubrey were dropped off at Grandma's house while Parry, Crissy, Connor, Forest, and I took two separate cars up to Chicago. Forest and I left earlier to pick up tickets and grab lunch with Scott. Also to grab some frozen goodness at Caffe Gelato.

 We checked in at the Ivy Hotel in downtown.

Our room had a very personal feel to it, maybe because all of the toiletries and towels had my name on them.

 

Then it was time to split up Team Forest+Ivy for a bit. I met up with my friend Allie from undergrad, who drove over from DeKalb to meet me. We had dinner at an Indian restaurant while we filled in the blanks on about five years of our lives . . .

 

. . . and next, walked down to Millenium Park to catch the last little bit of an outdoor orchestra concert.

Finally, we wandered back over to the sky terrace of the hotel, ordered sodas, and watched lightning flash between the skyscrapers as a big storm rolled its way toward us.

Meanwhile, Parry and Connor made themselves comfortable at the hotel while Crissy and Forest hopped on the L toward Wrigley Field, tickets in hand.

It was a historic event, made even more memorable by the ominous weather forecast that evening.

 

 

 

They called Parry several times between 10 and midnight while they were stuck in a rain delay. By then Allie had hit the road to try and avoid the worst of the storm, and I was back at the hotel, safe and dry. (Although I did venture out to a Seven Eleven to satisfy a craving for some kind of salad with chicken, and had to camp out in the store for fifteen minutes to wait out one sudden downpour).

 

It sounded like Pearl Jam delivered their performance as promised and came back out to play until 2am once the rain had subsided.

I got a couple of chances to hold Connor that evening while we waited for the concert to complete. As much as I would have liked to enjoy this time, I felt mostly apprehensive and heavyhearted. It was hard to watch his body struggle so much for every breath, and to listen to his little whimpers when he was in pain.

Our beaming punk rock fans returned to the hotel around 3am. After some more re-cap on the exciting concert, Crissy gathered up her sleeping child and buckled him into his car seat. Then she gave me and Forest some grateful hugs, and they were soon back on their way to Argenta with drowsy-eyed Parry at the wheel.

Once reunited, Team Forest+Ivy was able to squeeze a little more fun into our remaining Chicago time. In the morning we went for a walk through Millenium Park . . .

 . . . and around the big fountain.

We chose an Italian place for a peaceful lunch before heading back to the parking garage, then got on the road to meet up with our girls at Grandma's house. It sounded like they had a wonderful time without us, and they were thoroughly worn out. Thank you Carol!

We cooked up the frozen Papa Dels pizza for dinner, then headed back to Parry's for our final night in Illinois.

As their last hoorah, the girls went out to catch some fireflies before bed.

 They are such magical little insects, especially from the eyes of Utah and Colorado kids.

The following day was spent in the minivan. As always, driving across the country can be kind of a grueling process, but here are some pictures documenting the most pleasant parts of our trip home:

 

 

 

It was a successful, fun-filled adventure to Illinois . . . but all of us were weary and happy to be home again. So weary and so happy, in fact, that some of us curled up on the floor and passed out on the floor at about 5pm the next day.

So long, I-80 . . . we'll see you and Illinois again sometime.

Roadtrip: Downstate Illinois

For our one family trip this summer, we road-tripped back to Illinois. Forest and I got up before dawn on a Saturday morning to load children into the van. We found Mika sleeping on her bed in this peculiar position-- head and torso sprawled horizontally across the mattress, legs hanging down and feet flat on the floor:

Ramona was so excited to travel, she chattered away until about 5am. It took a few more hours after that before she finally wound down her motor and got a nap in her car seat.

The remaining hours in the car were long, but we made it in one piece to Jii and Baachan's house before 9pm, Central time.

Sunday: Went for a walk around deserted ISU campus with Baachan. Ramona liked Cook Hall because it looks like a castle.

Mika just liked the picking up sticks.

Once we got back from our walk, we snapped a group photo in the backyard before church.

Mika got an oshizushi cake for dinner that evening as an early birthday surprise. Baachan made a #2 on it with carrots.

 

After dinner, I got to go to a faculty chamber music recital at IWU with my parents. It has been years since I was back in that auditorium, but surprisingly I still found a handful of familiar faces. I guess the classical music community is never that huge these days.

Brahms piano quartet did not disappoint . . . Hooray for an unexpected concert!
Monday: Tried to beat the humidity by splashing in a kiddie pool . . .

 . . . slurping up chilled summer noodles . . .

 

 

 

 . . . and making kakigori (shave ice).

Dinner was one of my favorite meals: Spaghetti with garden pesto and caprese salad. (It's so nice to finally enjoy eating again).

 

 Dessert: Ice cream. Some for the belly and a lot for the face.

 

Mika's little mop of hair was so sweaty from the humidity I had it tied back in 4 different pigtails to get it out of her face. The one on top stuck straight up in the air.

 Below is Mika's sad-face once the ice cream was all gone.

With that, it was time to say sayonara to Jii and Baachan and head to Paca's house. After being reunited with cousin Aubrey and finding every excuse to stay up past bedtime, the girls finally calmed down enough to listen to bedtime stories and go to sleep.

Tuesday:  My high school friend Aubrey drove over from Mahomet with her three boys to visit and take a dip in the pool.

 

They couldn't stay too long because baby Camden badly needed a nap, but it was so good to see my long-time friend and her children.

Paca got back from work in time to play some tennis with Forest that afternoon.

 The girls watched from the sidelines and cheered them on.

Dinner was at Cheryl's house. To keep the girls entertained, Forest and Uncle Gavin pushed them on the old Stoddard swingset . . .

 . . . and I tied fancy napkins on their heads like babushkas, which inspired them to run around the house calling themselves the "Cupster Girls."

 

Wednesday: Our family took a side trip to Champaign-Urbana and reminisced about some old familiar spots. We were just there in December, but couldn't resist driving past our very first apartment again. 600 square feet filled with memories of being newlyweds, finishing grad school, and raising our baby Ramona.

 For lunch we headed over to Za's on Green Street . . . 

 

 . . . then went for a walk around campus to find a new Illini hat for Daddy.

Finally, we swung by Carle Hospital to remind Ramona where she was born before grabbing a frozen deep dish pizza from Papa Del's and returning to Decatur-land.

We spent the afternoon in Grandma's swimming pool that day. Mika was acting particularly timid about the water so she just sat on the steps the entire time.

 

Ramona, on the other hand, was swimming all over the pool as long as she had a couple of trusty flotation aids.

Once the girls had devoured a messy spaghetti dinner, we headed out to visit more friends at the Funk home. There, we got an electric guitar concert from the oldest Funk boy and a comedy act by the second oldest, while Ramona and Mika busily played with youngest Benny and Emmalyn.

Thursday: More pool time, followed by popsicles (provided you finished your lunch).

Movie time . . .

 . . . and more pool time . . .

 

 

 . . . then tennis time.

 

I wonder what Connor thought as he sat in the sun room with Aunt Crissy, sweetly watching all the crazy antics of his sister and cousins that week.