Quick Trip to IL

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We traveled from Portland, OR to Chicago, IL for my cousin's wedding. We had decided to make it a quick trip (4 days/3 nights) as we didn't know which projects my husband's new business would be doing. Of course, we packed those 4 days full of visiting Family & Friends. After living outside of IL for the last 11 years, I have come to realize no matter how long the visit is, it is never long enough.

That being said we learned from our trip to IL in May with a baby in tow, we would prefer nonstop flights over stopovers and layovers. Our flight left PDX at 6:30am and that meant we were up around 4:30am hoping our son would stay asleep. We made it successfully to the airport without any surprises, checked in and were ushered to the First Class Security Line (a perk of traveling with an infant).

Upon walking to the gate, we found that we were on an Honor Flight. I had never heard of Honor Flights but after experiencing one it was very moving emotionally and amazing for the Veterans aboard. There was a celebration along with Red, White & Blue decorations in the gate area (never seen so many wheelchairs in one location at an airport), upon boarding the plane and entering the plane there were streamers in the first half of the plane where the Veterans sat. Our flight had 50 Veterans from WWII and a companion for each. There was a retired Dr that traveled with them in case of any medical emergencies and a few travel coordinators. The Pilots and Flight Attendants honored them multiple times on the flight and explained they were survivors of Normandy, Pearl Harbor, Battle of the Bulge and many more famous WWII battles. It felt as though we were sitting in a live American History Class. As we traveled the 4 hours by air lets say that they 80+ year old Veterans LOVED our 5 1/2 month old son is an understatement. They all had numerous grandkids and probably great grandkids and thought he was the best.

Upon arriving at Midway Airport (MDW) we hopped on the rental car shuttle bus to get a car from Alamo. Once in the vehicle we headed downtown to meet my Brother in Law for lunch. It was a short 90 minutes with him but none the less great to see him and we introduced him to Potbelly Sandwiches. We attended our son's first game at Wrigley Field that evening versus the LA Dodgers. This was very special to me as I remember as a kid going to Wrigley for family and school functions. We spent the night at a very good childhood friend of mine home. She had a son in July and we got to meet Giovanni. It was so neat to see the two boys interact and hope they will be lifelong pals.

Friday morning, we were off to DeKalb to see a college friend of mine who we met for lunch. He was meeting our son for the first time and fell in love with Bennett. After lunch, we made the obligatory drive through campus and then headed to my parents home to meet my niece for the first time. (Many firsts on this trip.) It was so much fun to see Bennett and Lakynn interact as they are exactly 11 weeks apart, but live 1,998 miles apart. Even though they are very similar in size the 11 weeks of development was very obvious. Bennett's arms and legs were nonstop while Lakynn looked at him in amazement of his abilities.

We had a very busy time at The Farm including these activities:


• Family photos taken by NicOlinger Photography
• Family Dinner at Forest Inn
• Harvest Hammer 5K & Fun Run that my nephews participated in
• Cousin's wedding & reception at Oak Hill Farm
• Youth & Junior Tackle football games for my nephews


Things that stick out from the trip still 4 weeks later that weren't mentioned earlier: our long "journey" getting to the wedding, CRAZY rain and wind storm we drove home in from the wedding, the 13 mosquito bites on my body in 4 days, didn't get to see everyone that we had planned (next trip, we promise), meeting 2 amazing new babies (Giovanni & Lakynn) and having the Pacific University Football team on our return flight back to PDX.

We have amazing friends and family in IL and always have a great time. We will be traveling back in December/January for 10 days during the holidays. Until next time.

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