| Week 19 This is actually much later than it was originally going to be. I had the entire entry all typed out and ready to go when I somehow got to the end of the entry and ran out of room. Apparently when you run out of room on Geocities, everything you've added just disappears. At least with regard to text boxes. This week started out rather uneventful. Still not feeling baby Almond moving around a whole lot. The highlight of this week was our much anticipated trip to Chicago. We were able to share this with a friend I met online, Heidi, and her daughter Anna. Thursday morning we got up early and headed to Chicago. The trip went really smoothly right up until we were about 5 miles from the hotel. It was at this point that the internet directions just sort of fell apart. Here it kept reversing direction and contradicting itself. Anna was a doll through almost the entire drive. Looking back now, I cannot think of anytime that she was difficult or unpleasant on the drive down. Checking into our hotel room was uneventful, until we got to the room and realized that it had not been made up yet. I'm not one to complain too much, but this was ridiculous. They put us in the room next door. Anna slept for an hour or so and then we headed downtown to The Taste of Chicago. After the machine ate our first $12, the agent gave us a $15 pass and we bought the rest at another machine. It took a little bit to figure out what train would take us where and then we were off. After disembarking, the agent told us to just follow the people to The Taste. Um...which people. There were people everywhere, but we managed to locate our destination. Getting in line for food tickets, we realized that they were only selling tickets for another 5 minutes and then only selling food for about 30 minutes after that. The true meaning of eat and run or run and eat as the case might be. After eating, we found a nice place to view the fireworks and rested for a bit. The fireworks were good, although not quite as spectacular as I had expected. When we got back to the room, I called Steph and had a rather interesting conversation. It went something like this: Me: "Hi Steph, it's Kara" Her: "Uh-huh" Me: "I'm calling to find out where we're supposed to go and when we should be there." Her: "I don't know." Me: "Are you tired?" Her: "Uh-huh" Me: "Would it be better to call back later?" Her: "Uh-huh" Me: "When should I call back?" Her: "I don't know." Me: "Is there a time that's too late?" Her: "No." I was begining to think maybe Steph had been drinking. Turns out that when Mindy answered the phone, she thought I had said Sara so she gave the phone to her 15-year-old daughter who had no idea who Kara was. Friday, we got up and took our time getting ready and planning the day. We decided to head downtown to eat at Berghoff's and then go out to where Steph was staying for the Bar-B-Q and fireworks. Berghoff's was good, real German food. They sure did pack people in, though. We made it to Steph's friends house and had a really great visit. The babies were terribly funny together and there were many pictures taken. It was really great to be able to see and talk to Steph again. The fireworks by the house were absolutely wonderful. They completely made up for the ones from the evening before, and then some. Probably the best show I've seen. Leaving was pretty difficult. I could have just stayed and talked forever. There was a little bit of sadness underlying, in that there really should have been three babies there instead of two. In a way there was and that made it easier. I cried most of the way back to the hotel, for me, for Steph, for Matthew, for what is, was and should have been and for what will be. By the time we got into the hotel room, Heidi was crying too and I decided that was enough. Saturday was maybe the most interesting day. We had decided that we would go to The Science Museum and then to Navy Pier. Feeling confident of our train traveling abilities, we got on one train and then transferred to the train that would take us near the Science Museum. Sort of. About five stops from our stop, I noticed that we were the only ones left on the train. Sort of. A lady got on with her 2-year-old grandson and we all chatted for a bit. I asked her which of two stops we should get off at in order to walk to The Science Museum. She said we should get off at Garfield and take the bus. The bus stop was right where she said it would be, but there was no way I was prepared to wait where we were. There was glass on the ground, broken and unbroken, trash, graffiti and people who were loitering in the truest sense of the word. What few businesses that appeared open, had bars on the windows and there was just nothing comforting in the prescence of the El guard. We started walking. There was a nice park area not far. Having gone a ways into the park, we were still not at ease and when we came to a fork in the road and weren't sure which way to go, we crossed the street and headed back. At the edge of the park was a sign indicating that we had just left a "Safe Zone" where there was to be no "Gang recruitment, drug sales,...etc." Um...if they have to tell you it's a safe zone, how safe can it be? Never been so happy to get back on a train in my life. Navy Pier was the highlight of our day. Heidi took Anna to The Children's Museum, Dylan and I rode the ferris wheel, we all had our pictures taken near the huge Radio Flyer and just generally got to relax and enjoy ourselves. That evening we waited the requisite hour and ate at Pizzeria Uno. Fantastic pizza. It was late and time to head home, so we did miss our Death By Chocolate from Bennigans. Sunday we got up and packed. Heidi took Anna to church while Dylan and I loaded up and checked out of the room. Had a little trouble getting to the car museum in Volo. After a few false starts, we finally made our way there and had a nice time browsing the shelves. In Madison, Wi, we met up with Heidila, her husband Bob and their daughter Madison. A truly unique person, Heidila. She is as interesting in person as she is online. She's very animated and fun to listen to and chat with. Madison is an adorable little girl and is turning out to have her mother's good looks. Dylan enjoyed talking with Bob and again it was hard to part. Another few hours and we were home. Almond did finally start kicking over the weekend and this went along way toward helping my nerves. |