Movin' On Up to The West Side

The west side of Lake Michigan, that is!

Well, after talking about moving to Chicago for what seemed like YEARS and was in reality ONLY 6 months, we have finally arrived! We arrived about a week ago but it's taken me this long to feel like I can spend a little "me" time blogging.



We left Broken Arrow, OK on a rainy day and arrived here to sub-zero temps, a not-so-nice shock to our thin-blooded Quinton! The three of us drove the 12+ hours from Tulsa to Chicago over the course of two days. Some highlights of the road trip were going inside the St. Louis arch and taking the egg-ride to the top...boy, what a view! Quinton really enjoyed looking at the cars from that high up! They looked like his Matchbox cars from that high.

Another highlight was finding the famed OscarMeyer weinermobile parked at our hotel in St. Louis! A freak blizzard hit downtown St. Louis just as I took this picture from the hotel room window. I had hoped to snap a family shot next to the weinermobile but the weather was crazy and by the time it had left, so had the weinermobile.

Monday, February 18th, our first night in Chicago, we stayed on the Magnificent Mile aka Michigan Avenue, at the Marriott. Our view was nothing short of amazing! We had this floor to ceiling window above downtown and Quinton loved it! Unfortunately, the introductory temperature outside was 9 degrees, with a wind chill factor of 11 degrees below zero! Sheesh! Every time we went outside, Quinton insisted on being carried and he would bury his face in his coat!

Tuesday, we headed north west around Lake Michigan to the house where we are staying temporarily. Some lovely friends of our from when we lived here before have their house on the market. We have the privilege of house-sitting while it's on the market but when it sells, we'll be looking for some inexpensive cardboard boxes to call home! Kidding, but real estate is crazy compared to living in Tulsa! By the way, we sold our place in Tulsa! We were so sad to leave our little house but hope the new owners enjoy it and the neighborhood as much as we did!

Wednesday, the moving truck showed up and unloaded. I swear I wouldn't have been too sad if the contents of the truck had been lost...I'm a little tired of moving the same stuff over and over. Plus, we're not sure how long we'll be in this house, so we put about 90% of our stuff in storage. Heck, we don't even know how long we'll be in Chicago! It could be 18 months or 5 years, we just never know.

Since Wednesday, we have REALLY enjoyed visiting our old haunts on the North Shore. Walker Brothers, Boris' Cafe in Winnetka and Old Orchard. We have been able to visit with some great friends as well, Erin and Jeff, Erin and Geoff (two different couples), Ryan and Camie, Ben and Sarah and Rebekah and Keenan. It is so great to reconnect with our friends. Quinton has thoroughly enjoyed making new friends but still asks for "Jack's House"...the little boy three houses down in Tulsa and when I tell him we're going to a new friend's house, he's say, "Sarah's House", another friend in Tulsa. One good thing is that he now refers to our current abode as "Cookie's House" so he knows we're not just on a vacation and that he really lives here.

Well, I don't want to bore you too much so I'd better go and get some cleaning done.

If you're ever in Chicago, give us a call, we'd love visitors!