It was not cold outside this day, but this is what the monkey wanted to wear. Even Max thinks it's funny.

Dave and Izzi went into the city one day by themselves. Dave taught Izzi how to hail a cab, ride the L and the subway. They went to Gino's for pizza, and to H&M for a sweater. They had a pretty fun day.

Annie and Izzi in Libertyville.

We are so glad the Slabaugh's are out here with us. It has made the transition rather nice. The kids have so much fun together as do Jenny and I.

I am sure all of you with kids can relate to this. I was on the phone for literally 10 minutes, watching him the whole time destroy our kitchen.

Pops and Izzi at a cemetery by our house.

Labor Day parade. I love the picture of Max it looks like he was at the parade when JFK was assassinated. Maybe I shouldn't love it for that reason. Well regardless it still makes me laugh a little.

Over Labor Day weekend Naperville puts on the Last Fling. It is a huge carnival with games and races, concerts and contests. It is a ton of fun. Actual carney's run the whole thing. I don't think I thought that they really existed, but they do. They are um... just a little different. This is were I had my first funnel cake. If you have never had one I highly recommend it. They are very delicious. They had cute little rides for kids and games you couldn't lose at. Who wouldn't have fun?

Izzi on the train into the city

After the Jazz festival we went to get some of Chicago's famous deep dish pizza at Gino's East. This is Izzi signing her name on the wall. Deep dish pizza is not my favorite. It is very ooey, gooey, and the crust is not all that great. The sickest part about it, if you order a sausage pizza it is a disk of sausage. I mean it is coast to coast sausage on your pizza. No bite is sausageless. Dave on the other hand loves the disk of sausage. I prefer thin crust, though deep dish is growing on me.

One of the great things about living so close to a big city is you get to experience all the great things it has to offer. We were lucky enough to be able to go to Chicago's world famous Jazz Festival. It was so neat to just sit on the lawn of Millennium park and listen to the music of famous Jazz artists from around the country.
Jazz fesitval
Walking through Chicago to get to the Jazz festival.

Max's first train ride.
This water slide is so much fun. Izzi couldn't get enough of it. It is so nice to have a place to be able to do things like this.Ann is truly one the of best bread makers I know, so she was helping the pirate make her own little loaf of bread.

From the Beginning

Well I guess we will start this adventure from the beginning. There were are a lot of tears leaving my family and a lot of fears flying with my 2 kids by myself. In the end it all ended up being ok.
The pictures start from the time we landed. Izzi was walking down the long hallway in the airport dancing to jazz music and skipping. She was soooo excited to see Dave. If you don't know what the picture is of the dog wearing the hat, then you need to come visit us. It is Portillo's, home of the best and I do mean best Chicago dog ever. It was our first stop in Naperville. We went straight from the airport. That is how good it is.

Chicago

One day I will get all my pictures organized and onto the blog, but until then here are some pictures of the kids and Dave.