CHICAGO!!

Thanks to Gina's job as a flight attendant for Southwest, we were able to fly back to visit Rudy's family and see my brother and sister-in-law. We had been looking forward to introducing Kyle to all the family for a long time and we were so excited to take Kyle on his first ever plane ride!!

We were amazed at how "easy" the trip was with Kyle considering we did quite a bit of traveling and were in either an airplane or a car for hours every day until we got to Rudy's hometown where we stayed for two nights. As I planned and organized for this trip with an infant in mind, I had been prepared for the worst (according to Murphy) and was pleasantly surprised to find that Kyle seemed to tolerate the travel quite well. He only fussed when he was hungry or tired and other than missing our swing at home, he seemed to adapt quite well. Thanks to Aunt Donna, we had some of the comforts of home as well as some warm clothing.

There's quite a bit I could write, but for the sake of brevity I'll try to summarize our trip. We left Orange County early Thursday morning and Kyle did all his bathroom business before we got on the plane (yeah!!) and nursed exactly as we were taking off. Couldn't have timed it better! He played most of the 1.5 hour flight to San Fransisco and sucked on Mr. Binks during the descent. He did so well that when it was announced over the loud speaker that it was Kyle's first flight, the passengers all cheered for him and congratulated us on what a good baby we have. Kyle got his first set of wings and a certificate. It was really cute.

When we landed, we immediately changed planes and were off on a 4hr 10min ride to Chicago. Kyle slept from take off to over 2 hours and was content to "read" his black and white book or stare at his face friend for the remaining time. Those 4 hours did seem a little long, but thankfully Kyle made them more than manageable! Still, it was different to fly without bringing anything to read or do. Both Rudy and I just took care of Kyle and each other and that was more than enough to occupy us.

We were picked up by my brother Mike, and spent the night at his place with his wife, Allison. Then, we drove in to the city to see Rudy's best friend from growing up, Doug and his wife Claudiana. They were so sweet to dote on Kyle and give him lots of love. We had some of the best pizza ever at a local pizza spot and then we were off to Ben and Rachel's house (Rudy's sister and brother-in-law) and spent the night with them.

The following day, after a cold walk to a yummy breakfast spot, we headed out for Rudy's hometown to see more of the family. Shmu was introduced to quite a handful of family members and had plenty to look in his new surroundings. Kyle celebrated his first halloween as a dragon and went trick or treating around G Sal's house. It was pretty cold, but Shmu didn't seem to mind and daddy had fun eating Shmu's candy.

The trip back home was equally pleasant. Kyle slept during the duration of both flights and again, did his bathroom business at the airport in Denver. When we arrived back home, Kyle looked at everything including his beloved room for a long time. He gradually seemed to remember it all and was fascinated by his home.

We want to thank everyone we visited during the trip. We had such a great time and appreciate all the meals, comfy beds, and time together. Rudy and I both agreed that it was a REALLY fun trip and we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Here's an album of our trip.

Chicago '09