We arrived in Illinois on a Saturday and, just a week later, Ryan boarded a plane to Rhode Island where he'd spend the next five weeks at Officer Development School. We'd had almost 5 days with our belongings and unpacked as much as we could before his departure, so Charlotte and I had five weeks to organize, explore, and hopefully make some new friends too. Here's how we kept ourselves busy in the weeks that Daddy was away:
First things first, we found the supermarket. It was a big hit with Charlotte because she got to choose between being a big girl and pushing her own trolley, or riding in a car trolley, complete with steering wheel and all to keep her entertained. Weeks later, the novelty has worn off and I actively avoid this supermarket because it always leads so some kind of drama surrounding trolleys...or peoples ankles being hit by said trolleys.
Charlotte's made some new friends at church. Her class is small, with just one other kid in it, but that other kid is a boy which Charlotte couldn't be happier about. On this particular Sunday morning I asked her to go and pick out a toy to bring with us to church. When she came downstairs she was ladened down with all of this. Apparently, choose a toy means 'bring everything.'
We had some new friends from church stop by, who happen to be our almost neighbors as well. You know your neighbors are cool when they can bring you flower arrangements made of balloons to welcome you to the neighborhood. And swords. Balloon swords, which won them some extra brownie points in Charlotte's eyes too.
We struggled to adjust to the weather. Reasonably hot, but also constantly raining. Heavily. What's a girl to wear? Charlotte solved to problem, sporting shorts and rain boots, but that look would be far less endearing on her mother. I never did figure it out. But I have a feeling I'll have a harder time adjusting to the drastically colder weather that's to come!
Ryan would surprise Charlotte with surprise packages from time to time and this easel was her favorite thing. She spent many an afternoon coloring away. Since he's been home it's gone from constant use to barely being touched, so I think it wasn't necessarily the toy itself that she was excited about, rather the fact that it was from her Daddy.
On the days that it wasn't pouring down we made the most of our new neighborhood, which I love. Tree lined streets, and a park at the top of the road. It's awesome. We are well and truly in the suburbs!
We've been blessed to make some awesome new friends, one of whom kindly adopted us while Ryan was gone and kept us good and busy to help the time go by. She invited us to a little something called 'Touch a Truck'. Charlotte was in heaven. Tractors, Fire Engines, Police Cars, School Buses. You name it, she touched it, she sat in the drivers seat, she honked the horn.
We had play dates:
We visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens, which are incredible. We walked around on a Sunday evening with our friends and had the place all to ourselves. We walked around the world, from the English Rose Garden to the Japanese Garden...
but the best thing about being there on a quiet Sunday night is being able to climb the trees without anyone else around to tell you not to. On a Friday afternoon on the other hand...
Time after time I was told about the 'Jelly Belly Factory' in Wisconsin. Apparently you boarded a motorized train to take a tour of the factory, and when it came to a stop you could get free samples of the jelly beans you'd seen being made- and the whole thing was completely free. It sounded pretty magical and, when I realized that we literally live 12 minutes from the Wisconsin border, I knew it just had to be done.
Reality didn't quite match up with the picture that had been painted. The 'factory' is actually a Jelly Belly Distribution Centre, which means that instead of boarding a train and watching the candy making process first hand, you enter an enormous warehouse. Boxes of Jelly Beans waiting on shelves to be loaded onto trucks. Row upon row of boxes of Jelly Beans. The motorized train really does happen though and it takes you around the perimeter of the warehouse, stopping every few feet to show a video of what would be happening in a Jelly Belly Factory...but it just seemed to rub in the fact that we were stuck in a warehouse. About halfway around Charlotte started whimpering, and whispered 'I wanna go home.' Winner!
Lincoln Park Zoo on the other hand got a definite thumbs up. Big enough not to be depressing, small enough that Charlotte was willing to walk the whole time, and the indoor play area is amazing. Charlotte with some of her new friends- and, more importantly, a lion:
Thanks to new friends looking after us five weeks went by reasonably quickly and it wasn't long before this handsome man was back at home with us to hear all about it:
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