Tday in Chicago

LONG overdue post, but I've been a little busy growing a baby :)

It took lots of coordinating between our four families, but we (thanks mostly to my mom!), managed to have a "family reunion" of sorts here in Chicago over Thanksgiving. The idea to all converge here started with Lish having his annual Sociology/Criminology conference here in Chicago. At first, he and Whitney and little Yale were going to come for a long weekend, then they thought maybe they could come longer, and then when they were able to manage staying through Thanksgiving week my mom just couldn't let the opportunity to be with both her kids' families pass her by...she not only arranged for her and Scott to come, but extended the invite to her parents. SO, we ended up spending the weekend before Tday with four generations in Chicago, and also go to spend special time with Lish and little Yale the week before, and with my mom, Scott,and the whole Harris clan (Lish, Whit, and YD) the week of Tday.

Lish came for his conference and brought little Yale with him (my grandpa's name is Yale, so my nephew Yale was calling himself "Little Yale" and then my grandpa "Big Yale" the whole weekend). Whitney is working part-time nannying for a friend's baby, so she came later on for the week of Thanksgiving. The cousins had a ton of fun and did a really good job sharing close quarters in our apartment for several days. Lish was a trooper and slept in our "deluxe" guest room (aka the living room) while Yale attempted to sleep in a pack and play in our hallway/kitchen (he had several rough nights of sleep, but got the hang of the time change and strange sleeping location eventually!). We went on a tour of the Univ of Chicago Sociology department (the nerdy thing my brother requested since it was where Sociology was founded), went out to eat with some of his friends/colleagues he actually met on his mission, and just enjoyed some brother sister bonding time while our kiddos played, Brandon was at school, and Whit was still in Utah. Of course we love the time when we're all together, but I must admit that time just with my little bro is precious...it used to happen all the time and I just took it for granted (or didn't appreciate it at all because he was so "annoying"), but now some of my favorite family time is when I get to hang out with Lish and learn more about him as an adult and his wonderful life with Whit and Yale. He is an amazing person and a fabulous husband and father (from what I've observed!), and I'm seriously getting tears in my eyes while typing this (blame the pregnancy hormones) so I'm going to move on!

Like I mentioned before, we also had a four generation weekend when the rest of my family arrived in Chicago and my grandparents came for the weekend before Tday. We went to a museum, played in the indoor playroom, and enjoyed lots of meals and hangout time together. It was a special treat to "host" everyone, and although it might sound morbid I definitely thought "I'm not sure I'll see my grandparents again". Not that either of them are sick-- they are vibrant, healthy, and active people, especially for being in their late 80's-- but I don't know when I'll make it to visit them again, or them to visit me, and it just helped me appreciate the visit all the more since there's not another trip planned right around the corner.

After my grandparents left, we visited the Shedd Acquarium one day, went on a double date with Lish and Whit while my mom and Scott babysat (went to The India House downtown-- SO good-- and walked around Millenium Park, etc.), enjoyed a fabulous Tday dinner in large part thanks to my mom, and had some nice downtown to play and visit and just be together. My mom and Scott are pretty amazing grandparents, always willing to give and serve and help out us and our kids, and still able/willing to get down on the floor and play with the little ones.

It was a wonderful two weeks with all these different family members coming and going to our neck of the woods. SO glad to have been able to host them and SO grateful they traveled to see us in Chicago! Thanks, fam!