Family Fun--Part One

I took the kids back to the Midwest to visit family and friends on a fun trip. We covered a lot of miles in a relatively short time, and I'm so glad that we have some photos to help remember what we did.

There are so many contrasts between our desert home and the area where I grew up. Going from the wide open vistas where you can see a car ten miles away to crowded interstates and lots of stop lights is one big difference. Another is going from our scant six inches of precipitation to a year to 35 inches a year--folks don't have to water their gardens, things just grow. To think how many years I took water for granted.

One of the highlights of the trip was introducing Emma to her cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relatives and friends. She had a little cold at the beginning of the trip and also had two teeth emerge, so she wasn't exactly the fun-loving kid she usually is. Nevertheless, she had some good moments where she showed off her happy spirit.
Desert Boy enjoyed all sorts of attention, even when he was being squashed.

After a delicious dinner and catching up a bit with wonderful relatives, we headed to bed on our first night relatively early.

The next day Uncle Phil and Aunt Roberta helped us schlep all our stuff to downtown Chicago. We went on the "el," the elevated train. As soon as we had paid and were on the platform, Desert Boy declared he had to pee.

Of course there was no bathroom in sight, and I knew he wouldn't be able to survive the 30 minute ride downtown.

So he got to pee on the tracks.

Apparently Mythbusters has done a segment that shows that peeing on the third track, the electrified one, will not kill you. Good thing.

We were able to make it to our next train, the South Shore Line, with no problems. Thanks so much, Uncle Phil and Aunt Roberta, for all your help!

Desert Boy was having a great day--two trains!!

He and Emma enjoyed looking out the window on the 2 and 1/2 hour trip to South Bend. Fortunately we weren't on a rush hour train, so we had extra space to move around.

We saw lots of things we're not used to, like the big smokestacks at U.S. Steel.

And a nuclear power plant.

The fall colors were great, with lots of red leaves, and provided a nice interlude along the industrial corridor.

The ride was smooth, and soon we were meeting up with our friends.

We had fun eating out and trying some different food.

Then we went for a lovely walk along the river. The scenery was beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been better.

Desert Boy had to pee, of course.

And there was no bathroom around.

It's a good thing he's not worried about modesty.

My friend Kristen brought her daughters, and Desert Boy had so much fun playing and going off with his new friends.

Ruther and Amanda helped get Emma and her stroller up and down the stairs.

We found a playground and the kids played until it was dark. We did some group shots and then decided we better head back, since it was a school night.

Desert Boy didn't have to go to bed early, so he played a raucous game of hide'n seek with Caesar, the dog. I'm not sure which had a better time!

To be continued...