Aaahhhhh! It’s so nice to be in a home rather than a
hotel. And to be with family. We totally sprawled out. I had piles of clean clothes here and piles
of dirty clothes there and oh the joys of a washing machine! And a place to leave the dogs where we didn’t
have to worry too much about strangers and escapes. It took the dogs a little while to sort things
out with Cousin L’s sweet pup Cora, but they all tolerated one another fairly
well after the first day or so. Ruger
and Cora actually became fast friends.
Charger is more of a snob and was stuck in the dog house, so to speak.
As day ten
fell on a Sunday, we drove into the city to go visit Grandma and Opa and
accompany them to our old ward for church.
It was so nice to see old friends and take a trip down memory lane. Every few blocks we were exclaiming to the
kids about our favorite restaurants and where we used to take them. And we drove by our good old house in Chicago’s
south side neighborhood where every other door houses a cop or a firefighter. Needless to say, crime is not too much of a
problem around there. Our old neighbors
were outside and spotted us driving slowly around so we stopped to chat. It was fun catching up and realizing how much
is different but yet completely unchanged.
At Grandma’s
house we enjoyed one of her famous smorgasbord dinners and some delicious,
ginormous cupcakes with homemade frosting from a new recipe.
Then the kids went off to explore the magical
nature of Grandma’s attic. It’s so full
of old toys and various other amazing discoveries. The youngest three had a delightful time up
there with Opa before they wandered downstairs to be mesmerized by Grandma’s
shell collection.
J was over the moon
about the fact that she let him keep some shells and a “real live” (as in dead
and dried) seahorse. S got lost in an
art project.
K tie-dyed some
t-shirts. There was pez for all. And this is why I love Grandma’s house. And why I truly miss being able to take the
kids over there on any random day. J
said to me, “She IS really nice. She’s
the nicest person in the world!”
And that’s
why we stayed much, much later than we were planning. Because how can sleep and schedules compete
with such positive, worthwhile experiences?
Especially when those experiences are shared with family that is seen so
infrequently? I think everybody was out
cold by the time we got back to Uncle J’s.
During the
planning stages of this road trip, we meant to do some sightseeing while we
were in Chicago. We had ambitious plans
to go downtown and visit a favorite museum and the American Girl store. But we’ve been feeling so tired and all of
our other sightseeing has us stretched so thin that we decided to bail on all
our plans. And. Just.
Relax.
So when day 11 rolled around, I did a lot
of laundry. And organized a lot of
stuff. And baked a cake for little miss
almost two-year-old’s birthday party. And went grocery shopping. And forgot my wallet and made my SIL pay for
all my things. And found some shoes for
K. And frosted the cake in such a hurry
that I didn’t bother to trim it or even add frosting in between the layers
(ironically, I didn’t even realize that I had skipped that step until we cut
into it). And sat down to start adding
M&Ms as decorations while asking Shaggy for some artistic advice. Advice which was rather good, so I pawned the
cake decorating off on him. And then I
went off to finish cleaning and organizing and dressing and combing.
Aunt R was busy making the table beautiful for the party. J and cousin L were in charge of the flowers. They did a pretty great job, I must say.
And while we waited for Grandma and Opa to
arrive, I got to be a happy little shutterbug.
This was an
entirely low key affair. Which was just
right.
Balloons, painting, presents, and
the very best part—DEEP DISH PIZZA! I
will never stop missing deep dish pizza.
Or the highly entertaining conversations with family that go along with
gathering for deep dish pizza. During
this particular conversation, we all came to realize just how crafty Aunt R
truly is. Crafty, like a fox.
It may not
sound like a very relaxing day. And
while I have certainly had many a day that was more relaxing than this one, the
thing that makes this day stand out is how comparatively novel it was to just
be ‘home’ doing regular things. It was a
respite from the frantic travel/sightseeing pace that we’ve been keeping. And it wasn’t a chore cleaning up the mess
with Aunt R and my two best helpers. It
was nice. And relaxing. And normal.
Which is
probably why Aunt R and I stayed up into the wee hours of the night chatting
and laughing and reconnecting. I am
excited at the prospect of living closer to Chicago and I hope that we will
have many, many such chances in the future.
I think I am so lucky to be able to call this lady my sister-in-law. She gets me.
We can finish each other’s sentences.
Things that the rest of the room doesn’t find all that funny, we both
find hilarious. And yes, she is
crafty. Oh, so crafty.
Day twelve
rolled around and everybody went their separate ways. Uncle J and Aunt R whisked K & S off to
the waterpark with cousin L. Shaggy took
J & R back for another dose of the magical nature of Grandma’s house. I stayed home with little B and did yet more
laundry, and repacked our bulging suitcases.
That was depressing.
But the
exciting part came when I gave B a real, honest to goodness, full length
nap. And I got to be alone. And collapse on the sofa. And do nothing. It was beautiful.
When B woke
up, I got her all fancified so I could take advantage of the amazing backdrops
Uncle J’s house had to offer. I love
doing portraits when there’s not only good lighting, but good scenery as
well. Aunt R was a little puzzled at who
could be creeping around in her bushes when they came back from the waterpark,
but it was just me. I sometimes find
myself in some humorous situations when I’m taking pictures. You have to have a certain disregard for how
you look when you’re trying to catch the right shot. Either that, or make sure no one is watching
you.
We spent the
rest of the day exploring the property and having burgers fresh from the grill
and s’mores as big as J’s head. The kids
had so much fun with cousin L.
And then
the rest of the evening was hijacked by a missing item. Not your average, run of the mill item. A very important, you’re possibly going to
get fired if you lose it, sort of an item.
Not to alarm you or anything . . .
After we
searched high and low, near and far, in the trash and under beds, all while
maligning poor little B with accusations, we finally gave up and got the little
kids tucked into bed so we could play a board game. I’m not sure how long it actually took J and
cousin L to fall asleep because they were telling each other silly stories and
reading books. Cousins are amazing
things. They don’t miss a beat, no
matter how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other.
At some
point during a very restless night, Shaggy was struck with inspiration. The missing item was tucked safely away in
the most responsible place it could possibly be. No wonder we couldn’t find it.
I am
partially dreading what tomorrow will bring.
I am ready to be done with this road trip. But the only way out is through, and we’re certainly not
there yet.
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