Decisions, Decisions

We are having a hard time deciding our Halloween costumes this year. Do we do a couple one? We have some ideas (pictured below), but we aren't overly inspired this year.

Calvin and Hobbes

Witch doctor and voodoo doll

Miracle Max and Valerie (this one would be awesome, but we are trying to decide if we want to deal with the makeup/face prosthetics for multiple uses)

We are also considering characters from Inside Out, but Nathan hasn't seen the movie yet, or Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction. 

We just got back from our first family vacation. We spent 10 wonderful days in Hawaii (Kaua'i)! We did a lot of relaxing and soaking in the warm weather. While we are still adjusting to the "normal" schedule and time difference, it was so very much worth it! The kids were great on the flights (both directions) - we couldn't have asked for better. Aloha!

Costume Winner

So... the ladybug won with 3 votes. We ended up getting a ladybug costume from Pete and Michelle so that worked out well. However, we think that is what she is going to be next year when it will fit a little better (hopefully!). So we are deciding between the pirate and the poodle (unless we end up seeing something between now and then that strikes our fancy). Thanks for the votes!

I made a poll of Halloween costumes that we are looking at getting for Ailie. Please vote and let us know what one you like best!

The summer has flown by so far. I know it is only August, but it already kind of feels like the summer is already over. I am already talking of how "I would like to do ____ at least one more time before the summer is over." We have been busy as usual around here, though our summer plans didn't end up being quite what we expected them to be. We had plans of a 2 week West Coast trip planned involving stops in Seattle, Portland, Ashland, OR, Tracy, CA, Morro Bay, Ventura, and finally San Diego. However, not long before we were to go Nathan was in an accident. He was riding his bike home from work and someone opened their car door, not seeing him. He slowed down and swerved as much as he could (didn't want to go in front of moving traffic) but his handlebars still clipped the door of the parked car. His handlebars spun around and he went flying over them. He rolled as much as he could, but landed on his shoulder. He broke his collarbone in two places, it was displaced 300%, and had two broken fragments as well. He ended up having surgery to repair it, he now has plates, screws, and wire holding it in place. Because of the surgery Nathan was not allowed to fly for 2 weeks - for a fear of blood clots. And that is why our trip was cancelled. So instead of friends and family - mountains and oceans - we spent time at home and went to the Garfield Park Conservatory here in Chicago. It is really beautiful there, but not quite an even trade for our trip ;-)

While this was a great disappointment, in some ways it worked out for the better. The morning we would have left, Nathan's grandma passed away. She had Alzheimer's for almost 20 years. The funeral was just over a week later in Stoughton.

Coming up this weekend we are looking forward to having Nathan's sister Ellie here with her boyfriend John and the kids. Ellie is participating in the 3-day walk (60 miles in 3 days) for Susan G. Komen 3-day for the cure. Nathan's parents are also coming to support her in this walk. It will be great to see them again - and have them visit Chicago in the summer! Also the same weekend our friends Maria and Andy are coming to visit and we are all going to go to Lollapalooza. It should be a fun and crazy weekend!

Catch-Up Time!

So... it has been awhile since anything has been posted here. I was going to still go through each event and get this caught up-to-date but have decided instead to do one post summarizing July 2009-present.

July - We went to MN for our friend's wedding and for Gillian and Ian's baby shower. Later in the month, Debbie, Doug, and Paul came to visit us.

August - Our friends Heather and Josh threw us a Chi-town baby shower.

September - Ailie Grace was born 09/18/2009. 7 lbs 11 oz, 21 inches long. Grandma and Grandpa Ingersoll came to visit.

October - We had some more visitors: Carey and Nakyla, Debbie and Doug, Pete, Michelle, Mathew, and Emma.

Went to Chicago Botanic Gardens for the first time on a nice Fall day. It was beautiful.

Ailie went to her first Halloween party.

November - Took our first road trip with Ailie back to MN. Met the twins who are just a month older than Ailie.

Ailie's First Thanksgiving.

December - Decorated for Ailie's first Christmas. Went back to Chicago Botanic Garden for Wonderland Express.

Nathan had his work holiday party at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Ailie ended up getting a staph infection in her lower abdomen/groin area. She ended up having an abscess and needing to have that drained. We were in the hospital with her for 2 1/2 days.

Got out of the hospital just in time to go to MN for Christmas.

January - Our friend Maria moved to Seattle. We had a going-away party for her.

February - Our oldest niece Jenny flew the coop - she moved to Fort Collins, CO.

Not too much has happened since then. We are gearing up for another year of travels - at least one of us has some sort of travel planned starting in April - July.

Unexpectedly, we're expecting!

We found out in January that we are having a baby. The due date is Sept 13. Last Wed. we had the 20-wk ultrasound. Based on that we are having a girl! Now to think of name ... (we had a boy's name decided on but not a girl name yet).

Time To Move Again

In April we moved to a different apartment in Chicago. It is only about 4 1/2 miles from our old place. It is in a neighborhood called Roscoe Village. We are right across the street from a nice-sized park. Quite different from being downtown!

Can't Complain too much about a work trip when it is in Florida!

We went to Tampa, FL at the end of March for Missy's work. We didn't get too much time to explore, but we were able to take in some sights. It was a nice change of pace (and weather!). Hopefully next time will be for a "real" vacation!

Nathan turned 30!

Nathan celebrated his 30th birthday this January. We went back to MN to see family and friends. It was a pretty low-key time, and was nice to see everyone.

Christmas in Nevada

We went to see Missy's parents in Nevada for Christmas this year. It was a nice, relaxing time. It snowed on Christmas Day so we even had a white Christmas! We also did some video chatting with some of the rest of the family.

In Retrospect ...

We have now been in Chicago for about a year. We are settling in, getting familiar with the lay of the land, and getting overall acclimated to our new home. We both feel that it wasn't as hard as we expected getting used to such a larger city than we were accustomed to. And while there are a lot of things we miss about Minnesota (mostly people), we do like Chicago. As has been our tradition the last couple years, we thought we would take you all through the past year in pictures. This year will be via blog posts as Nathan's former website is currently down. We do like the other format better, as it was easier to customize to our liking, but this will do. In each post, click on the photo to see more from that event.

Zoo Lights 2008

We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights this year. We happened to go on a very wet and rainy night. We got so soaked that we had to buy ponchos at the gift shop! We did get to see a few animals but mostly lights. Even with the rain it was still a good time (how can you beat being able to wear such high fashion such as yellow ponchos?!).

Mustache Monday

With November gone so went the facial hair ... into mutton chops that is! It was quite the sight to see that many mustaches all in one place at one time!

No-Shave November

Nathan participated in "No-Shave November" at work this year. Those that signed up weren't allowed to shave for the month of November. Here is a slideshow of the progress:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we went to a friend of a friend's house. We had a very nice and relaxing time visiting, not to mention delicious food! Saturday we went to Stoughton to visit with some relatives. It was good to see everyone!

Holiday Window Displays

We went to see the window displays at Macy's on State St again this year. This has become one of Missy's new favorite holiday traditions! This year's theme was hope and "A Million Reasons To Believe..." On our way there, we also saw another building with interesting lighting. While we were looking at the displays it started to lightly snow. That added to the atmosphere of the evening. 

The Smashing Pumpkins

We went to one night of the two-night "Black & White" concert of The Smashing Pumpkins. They put on an entertaining show. It was a really fun night, and the only thing that could have made it better is if the crazy lady behind us would have passed out sooner! ;-)

City Hall and Union Station

We decided to take part of a day to go see the banners at City Hall and check out Union Station. It was fun to see the inside of Union Station, particularly the warped stairs. The albums these pictures are in also have other pictures of sights around Chicago since we have been here. 

History In the Making

We knew that moving to Chicago would open up many more opportunities to us, but we never dreamt that we would be able to be a part of such an important, historical event. We were privileged to be able to attend the Election NIght Obama Rally at Grant Park. It was an absolute amazing experience. So many emotions ran through us, and the whole event seemed so surreal. Being there brought us a great sense of connection to our country. In addition to the pictures posted at Picasa (click on above picture to see the others), there are also some videos posted at youtube. Please check those out as well!