Chicago Times

In April 2012, Chris and I took a trip to Chicago to see his brother Keith and his family.  It happened to also be the last time that we saw Keith on this earth and I know chris and I are so thankful that we made this last minute trip.  It has taken me awhile to upload these photos but now that I have, I am realizing how much of a roller coaster this short trip was, and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it.

Kim, Brian, and their kids (Sierra, Cody and Erik) decided to make a trip of it too. A lot of the trip (I felt) was to let Keith have some quality family time before he passed.  In saying that, i felt my main purpose was to help distract the kids with Kim but taking them to do things.

It was a lot of park visits.

Here are some photos of us playing :)

Sierra learned a cool trick!

The boys!

slides

my tush was a little too wide for this slide!

Sierra always lets me take pictures :)

We went to Addy's favorite library that had the "witches hat" at the front... picture to follow

Standing under the witch's hat (an upside down cone that Addy loved)

This was also so cute because Addy grabbed Erik's hand and we all swooned

Next stop was this delicious ice cream shop in Downers Grove.  This little shopping center was where Keith and Addy used to go to watch the trains.

Everyone loved their ice cream!

 

Blue!

Cody... who would have thought to eat ice cream this way?! :)

Sierra :)

Another day Kim and I took the kids into the city to go exploring.  We thought it would be a great idea to go to the top of The Sears Tower (now renamed The Willis Tower).  Wow... warning -this is not a very enjoyable event for kids.  Its like waiting in a line at disneyland to never reach the ride.  It was really cool once we got to the top, but honestly the line took us what seemed like 3 hours (in reality it was probably only 1.5 hours) with another line just as long to go back down to ground level.

Train ride pictures!

Kim trying to figure out where we were going :) 

We did have fun taking pictures at the top

Saw the Chase building - Cupcake!

This was kind of freaky...

Erik has no fears!

Sierra doesn't either!

This is a better portrayal of how it really felt... weird!

Looking down

Cody was really afraid

Cody wanted to be carried onto the platform :)

Note: we did get suckered into buying the super expensive print but we did a jump shot in it... totally worth it!

It may seems weird that I took a picture of these cups... The reason (you will know if you have visited since I have been working at Riverside) is because my work hands these same cups (with the Riverside logo on it) for job fairs and similar events.  

They are hyper colored and they seem to be a hit everywhere else too!  Reminds me of my youth with hyper colored shirts :)

These Mold-A-Rama machines were new to me.  Apparently they are all over Chicago.  You put in quarters and it makes a wax sculpture for you!  This seems amazing to me!  I really wanted one, but I didn't really want one of the Sears Tower.  Bobby (one of the cousin's kids that we stayed with) had a collection that I was very envious of! :)

After the Willis Tower adventure we wandered to Michigan Ave (which is a hopin street with lots of stores, etc.)  They happened to have a Lego store right next to an American Girl doll store.  Pretty smart for business!

I took the boys to the Lego store while Kim stayed in the American Girl doll store with Sierra.

I have never been in a Lego store before and I would have to say that I was very impressed.  It was a mad house filled with people but still enjoyable :) 

self portraits while building space crafts out of legos

His ship!

Sierra and Kim met back up with us and she was very excited to show me her new treasure from the American Girl store.

Of course instead of a doll she gets a horse :)  My little horse loving niece!

We waited outside the Lego store for them to finish up and I made Sierra pose by the window display with the buildings of Chicago made of legos.

Jump shot!

Self portrait

We took a cab to where are she decided to play on my phone with the camera :)

Shirley's youngest brother lives in the outskirts of Chicago so one day we ventured out for a visit,

Uncle Richie and Aunt Marsha had a lovely plot of land with horses, dogs, a little pond... tons of fun!  We spent a whole day there playing, eating local food, taking time riding horses and Addy riding her cousins like horses :)

The horses had a ton of space to roam

The pond

A video view

Pretty close by they even had train tracks.  I used to think living near the train tracks was bad.  Now we live right by them.  I love the sound of the trains (guess I married into the right family!).  On the east coast it seems like there are so many trains/tracks that it is much more common.

We took a walk down the the tracks and the kids had a ball throwing rocks.  The poor pup was trying to fetch them!!!  

Fossils

Trying to take a self portrait

Addy meeting horses with her Uncle Richie

Shirley with Richie and Addy

Addy seems unsure of the horse...

Love my niece Addy!

Free horse brushing!  Sierra is a pro!

More spectators that workers

Addy riding her cousin Bobby (he has the mold-a-rama collection)

Cody and Jane join in on the fun!

Brian and Erik riding!

Up a hill!

Shirley is the professional rider.  I wish that Shirley and Richie would have had time to go on a ride together.  Sibling bonding time is very important

Sierra got Uncle Richie to get another horse ready to ride.  We couldn't keep her away from them! :)

Chris decided to ride too!  What a surprise!

Cutest video ever :)

I rode in the car back with Chris, Shirley and Addy and I got some cute videos of her singing :)

While we were in Chicago we mostly stayed with Chris's cousin Paul, his wife Beth, and kids (Bobby, Jane and Mary)

Paul brought out a bunch of photo albums for us to look through and I spotted this gem of Chris's dad John in his younger years!

We all (like 30 of us) met up at a local Polish Restaurant for lunch one day.  We didn't get a whole group picture (which I wish we would have) but I would have to say this place was amazing!!!  I really wish I would have taken picture inside and of my food.  I guess I was too busy eating!

playing on a rock in the parking lot

John and Shirley took Chris and I on a tour of the town the used to live in. 

Elmhurst, IL

This is Chris in front of his childhood home 

We ended up at a park to play softball and the water towel in right in view!  How cool!!!

Mr King (Kim's dad) was swinging me... Frankly, I was a little fearful for my life from this!

Mrs. King and Momma Rafacz

wahoo Shirley!!!

These swings scared me

Sierra jumped off and I don't think Grandma Shirley was done pushing!

Cody climbing a tree

Love this little guy!

What is Beth looking at?

Oh, its just her daughter Jane !

The softball game!

The water tower

It seems like everyone played some.

I tried batting... Mr. King grabbed my camera to document this :)

Kids and trees!  Love them!

Love this Cousin portrait!

Loved Paul's shirt!  Cameras!

Our trip ended right around Easter so Beth boiled some eggs for the kids to decorate.  I think they all had a blast having cousins to play with!

watching tv

They have the sweetest dog named Daisy

Now the next fews pictures I think are from when we came back for the funeral but I'm not sure...  Both trips are kind of blending together...

One night we all ended up coming together at Paul and Beth's house.

Card Games Galore!

Daisy!

Lazy bums not playing cards

I never really had the chance to meet a lot of Chris's extended family and it was really to nice to meet so many Rafacz/Orlovich/Szymanski relatives!

Stitches and staples

Took Georgia back to the vet this morning because it looked like a few of her stitches had come out.

Turns out they had to put 3 staples in! She must be rough on her body! Poor baby girl!

Looking Better!

Surgery was Tuesday. We took the bandage off today (Friday). It is looking so much better!

Stitches and then trying to sniff her foot. :)

Cone of Shame

Georgia was diagnosed with a histocytoma about a month ago. (a benign tumor that was supposed to get worse before it gets better) we googled it and the pictures on the Internet seemed to be pretty close to what Georgia's looked like. Hers started out looking like a bug bite... Got closer and now it about the size of a quarter... We started wrapping it because Georgia couldn't stop licking. With more research these cyst tend to be itchy and bloody. So since this all seemed to be normal we figured that we would wait it out...

So one morning before I left for work I decided to re-wrap her leg like had been doing for the few days before. Wll this was Tuesday morning and it looked horrible ( see picture below of the close up) ew!!! I was very conceded and told Chris I was going to call the vet and see if I could take her in. Of course I called on the day that they were completely booked so they told
Me to bring her in and that they would see her in between patients. I went in to work that morning to let
my coworkers know what my plan was - to go home, get Georgia, drop her off at the vet and then head back to work until they called me back. Everyone understood and I was off to the vet with baby girl.

We get there and it looked dead inside the office... Which was weird to me since they said they were completely booked. I had taken a photo before I rewrapped her leg to show the vet before I left. The receptionist took my phone (with the picture on it) to the back and immediately came back and told me they wanted me to sign a release to let them put her to sleep in order to clean the wound. SCARY!!! So I let her in their hands not knowing what I expect. On my drive back to work the vet called me to let me know they were going to take her into surgery to clean and take the rest of the tumor off. They weren't sure what had happened but they didn't want to risk it getting worse. She also
Recommended that they send the removed tumor off for testing to make sure it wasn't cancerous. Hearing the words cancer is scary... Especially since she isn't even 2!

So I go back to work. They were to call after the surgery was over which would be around noon. This all having happened after my good friend Vickie's dog had passed away 2 days before but being hit by a car while they were away in New Jersey! Lots of sad things happening with the animals we all love.

So after my lunch break the vet called saying she did well in surgery, that they were going to keep her until later on and that I couldn't come get her around 5. Luckily Chris didn't have to head into work until a few hours later do we were able to go get her together. When she came out from the back she seemed just like herself! I was expecting her to see kind of out of it. She had stitches and her leg was wrapped. The vet had given me a heads up so I had gotten a "cone of shame" before coming to get her since we know she is a licker and can't be trusted not to list her wound.

She hates the cone! Right away she was thinking that we were punishing her when she would run into something and starting backing up. She would just stand wherever we put her, afraid to move! Poor baby girl!

It has been a few days and she is now starting to get more used to her "cone head" as Chris likes to call it.

She has been so attached to us since getting the surgery. The first night she literally slept on top of my the whole night.

We got the call tonight that our baby is cancer free which is great news! Since the tumor was on a part of her body that didn't have much extra skin, they were saying we would have had to take her to a board certified surgeon in order to have another surgery if he tests came back with anything else. I thinks that option would have also included skin grafts and chemo. So glad we didn't have to go into any of that.

For now, our biggest concern is that I guess because she is a boxer, these types of tudors are common and can occur again.

Also, I was feeling sentimental
So I got an "I <3 my boxer" car magnet when I got her cone of shame.

I really do love my boxer!

Ladies Night

so some of the girls from my work decided to go to "the melting pot" for a special they were running during the month of June. The special was for cheese fondue, salad, meat entree, chocolate fondue dessert for $28 a person (which is a steal compared to how much it normally costs!) Fun times outside of work!

Also.. I can't believe I am saying this but the steak and chicken were delicious!!!