Life in the fast lane

Well, the last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. Last Thursday was the kids' last day of school & my last day of babysitting. We loaded up the van, left Enid around 8pm, & headed to my parents' home in Peoria, IL. We got here in time for breakfast & a quick shower, then hopped back in the van & drove to Chicago. We got into the city in time for a picnic lunch at Belmont Park near the Lake. Abbie & Grace each managed to drop one shoe in the water & we were thankful for a fisherman nearby who had a net that came in very handy. Later that afternoon, our family drove around the city & we had fun walking around Grant Park. We spent the night in Bolingbrook with Phil's aunt & uncle. Saturday we witnessed two "miracles" - Aaron's graduation from college (I still remember when he learned how to write "I hate school."), and a girl that is interested in spending time with him. ;) We ate a yummy lunch at Giordano's...nothing quite compares to Chicago style pizza! Afterward, we took the kids for a ride on the subway. We did our best to "blend in" when we lived in Chicago, but walking around with four wide-eyed kids who were peppering us with questions, made it a little obvious that we were tourists and not experienced city folk! While we were riding the train, Phil took another walk down memory lane, "Remember the time we went with our bro/sis & I took us the wrong way & it was freezing &...???" Oh, deja vu is not a good thing! We took the orange line to Clark & Lake, then switched to the blue line & got off on Chicago. "Oh, yeah!" We were supposed to get off on Chicago on either the red or brown line. In an effort to be optimistic, Phil said, "It's not too far, I can see the John Hancock from here!" If you have lived in a big city, you know that just because you can see the 125 story building, doesn't mean that the distance to GET there is all that close! So we had a great family hike & I was reminded why I got the job as navigator. Sunday we spent in Racine, WI with a friend from college. We had reminisced all weekend & arrived at church Sunday morning only to declare to our children, "This is where we got married!" Abbie quickly piped up, "I've had enough of all this love stuff!!" After seeing where we met, the park where we first kissed, the restaurant where we got engaged, the corner where we went roller-blading, and the church where we were married, our kids had exceeded their quota of "gooshy" memories. We're back at my parents' today & planning to head home on Wednesday. All in all, it's been a fun week, and I have realized that though the past was memorable, the present is much more of an adventure!