Monday, March 18, 2013

Chicago......


It takes about six hours to get to Chicago from our home in central Iowa.  We made the trip five years ago when our son was married.  We had major flooding issues in Iowa at the time and the interstate was shut down.  We  had to drive almost two hours north of home and then travel across our state ending at Dubuque, Iowa.  Then we had to turn south again to make it to I-80.  It is about four hours from the Mississippi River bridge until we make it to Arlington Heights, Illinois.  No flooding this time so we made good time getting there.



The interstate that heads north of Chicago is lined with many office buildings. They are big but not too beautiful.


At a distance you can see a nicely designed towering building.  It doesn't look tall in the photo but it is. Its structure reminds me of the one tall building we have in Des Moines that it 96 stories tall.  The down town area, which we did not visit, is fill will a lot of big buildings.  My son gets on a train and rides it forty minutes to work each morning to the downtown area.



The real reason we went to Chicago is because of the little guy in the yellow baby sleeper.  A.J. is now three weeks old and we were able to see him for the first time. My tall son Andy is the proudest father with his first child and I am so glad for he and his wife.



My wife and our daughter in law Patricia are seen here with the little bundle.  Needless to say A.J. did have his grandma or grandpa holding him most of time we were there.


The kids live in a 70's split level house which they have fixed up to create a beautiful home. They had finished with all the remodeling about the time the next project of having a baby came into being. I will share some about the house in later blogs and I suppose you might see more pictures of the grandson too.  We only took 84 snaps while we were over there.  Our son Andy is just as camera crazy as his mom and dad, so he sent home a thumb drive of a few hundred more pictures to see.

We had an inch and a half of snow drop during the night.  It was sort of a surprise and yet they hinted of blizzards happening in northern Iowa last night.  We were on the thin tail of that storm so we won't suffer much.  Thanks for stopping by today.


5 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

Great pictures! I am so glad you got to see that baby..I figured you were gone as the weather was half way decent! I hope you properly spoiled that Grand all weekend. Our oldest daughter lived in Lombard a Western suburb..too many people for me...we never did make it downtown..but that was fine with me.
I bet you are getting some snow today! :)

L. D. said...

Yes, Lombard is directly south of Arlington Heights by a thirty minute drive. We passed it on the way up the interstate. Our dil is a Chicago native.

David - Pinewood Cottage said...

glad you got to see the baby! so proud for you.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Nice family shots of everyone, Larry, glad the trip went well with no major delays or bad weather.

Anonymous said...

What precious family photos and A.J. is a blessing. I really enjoyed you sharing these pictures.