Chicago Trip

Geez, it's hard to believe it's already the middle of January! We have been to Chicago and back for the Holidays, and are currently enjoying the warm spell in Denver of 60 degree plus days.

Our trip back to the midwest was stressful, nerve-racking, fun and wonderful all at the same time. We always enjoy seeing our families so very much and it was extra special to be able to introduce Lily to everyone. We had lots of comments that she is cuter than in her pictures and smaller then they imagined she would be. :) For the most part, we had decent driving weather. On the way to Chicago, we made it to Des Moines, IA on our first day only to wake up to snow the next morning. We patiently waited to leave until around 10:45am, as my Dad, Ron, was tracking the storm for us as it moved northeast and out of our way (Thanks, Dad!). We were happy we waited as the roads were clear and dry, for the most part, in Iowa on I-80. When we entered I-88 in IL, the road was a little hairy for about 30 miles with snow on it but once it became the toll-road it was perfectly dry and clear again. We were so really grateful for that! Lily did very well in the car and really slept the whole time she was in her kennel. We are lucky she does so well in the car. Caesar did great, though traveling is always somewhat stressful for him.

Once there, we spent Christmas Eve with Ryan's family and then headed to Carmel, IN on Christmas morning (a northern suburb of Indianapolis) to stay with my sister, Kim, her husband, Joe, and my four-year-old niece, Lauren, and two-year-old nephew, Matthew. My Mom, Dee, my Dad, and my oldest sister Kristy were already there. (Kristy's husband, John had to work that night, we were sorry he couldn't make the trip!) We had a great time spending time with everyone and we also got to meet Gnocchi, the newest feline addition to the Kenney family. Unfortunately, my Dad went out for breakfast with a friend the morning after Christmas and was in a fender bender. It had been warmer on Christmas Day with a bit of rain and then cooled down at night so there was black ice on the road, which is impossible to see. He slid into a car and someone came up behind him and slid into him. Luckily, he was ok but sadly his car was not. My parents and sister ended up riding back to Chicago with Ryan, Lily and I (Caesar stayed with Ryan's parents as he isn't good with children, thank you Mike & Rita, Theresa, Rob & Payton, also!). Friday afternoon we were going to leave but heavy fog came in and we got reports that not only was there fog on I-65 but ice as well. We didn't want to chance the drive, especially after my Dad's unfortunate accident, so we waited to head back to Chicago until Saturday morning.

Saturday night we went out with Ryan's parents, brother, Rob, sister-in-law, Theresa, and other family and friends (including Ryan's cousin, Brad, and Uncle Jim) to the Willow Crossing bar in Willow Springs. A fun time was had by all!

Sunday we spent most of the day visiting with Ryan's Granny and his parents. We went to a late lunch with Mike & Rita and also saw the movie Seven Pounds which was very good. We didn't have nearly enough time in Chicago and regretted that we had to leave to drive back to Denver on Monday morning. Unfortunately, due to our troubled economy, job security is not as great as it once was so we both wanted to get back to work as soon as we could. The only bad weather we hit on our way back was some pretty strong wind in Nebraska. Lucky for me, that was the four hours (out of thirty) that Ryan drove during our trip, due to back issues, so I was grateful. :)

For both Ryan and I, one of the hardest parts of the trip was having to keep a constant eye on Lily. It meant that even when we had down time, of which there was very little, we didn't have the opportunity to relax because we had to watch her. Only three accidents happened during the trip, one in Kim's house (sorry, Kim!!) and one in each of the hotels, which we cleaned up to hide the evidence. All in all, for a 3 1/2 month old puppy she did awesome!!! Even though we were staying with family, we still didn't want her to have accidents. The other part that was hard was seeing Caesar so stressed out. He appeared to age before our very eyes, but once we were back home he went back to his old self again. He turns thirteen in three days and he's still going strong!!!

We hope that your Holidays were magical and that you were able to enjoy the company of family and good friends too.