Today is our big boy’s 6th birthday.  All week we have been teasing Elijah that we worked it out with the “big guy above” to keep him 5 forever.  To which Elijah replies, “NO, I want to be 6, sorry I can’t help getting big!” —- I don’t know if I am READY for him to be 6.  Time flies by too fast.  It felt like just the other day we were holding him in the hospital as he looked up at us with his big eyes, scared of his new surroundings – but feeling comforted and safe in our arms.

Now I am off to make a big BIRTHDAY breakfast and then on to preparing the cake, food, and set up the party…

Just a side note…the other day a big box arrived from FedEx for Elijah.  He was so excited to get mail addressed to him only.  When he opened the box he realized it was filled with a bunch of individually wrapped birthday presents (in Spiderman wrapping paper)  His excitement could not be contained as he jumped up and down and all around the room.  Initially we told him to wait until his birthday to open them…but that didn’t last.  So over the last few days we have allowed him to open one present per day (which somehow he ends up opening more).  Today he has a few more left to open and he can’t wait!  Thank you Aunt Darcie and Uncle Brian for making our 6 year old smile from ear to ear over and over again!!!

Elijah has been enjoying his time off from school this week.  Today marks the last day of his spring break…tomorrow we are back to early rising, 8 pm bedtime, and working on homework. On Thursday and Friday I took time off from work and planned some “getting out of the house” fun.

Thursday afternoon Jill, Caleb, My parents, Ben, Elijah, Jonah, and I all went to the Indianapolis Zoo.  We arrived at the Zoo around 2:15 pm which gave us about 2 hours to walk around and take in the Zoo sights before it closed and before Ben had to leave to get to work on time.  I think I was more excited than the kids!

This Zoo visit was special for many reasons:  1. It was one of the first nice days this year (70 degrees and sunny).  2.  I am normally working and Elijah is normally in school, so we cannot go during the week.  3.  My Dad had never been to the Indianapolis Zoo, this was his first time experience.  4. We usually don’t have this large of a group going to and enjoying the zoo together.

When we pulled into the parking lot we were amazed at how many cars were there.  True to Indiana life, the first nice days draws the Indiana residents out in droves. From the looks of how full the parking lot was, we thought the Zoo would be crammed full of people.  Much to our surprise it was not bad at all.  There is a lot of spread-out space once you get in there.  There were a few occasions when we had to squeeze by people to see an animal or two, but for the most part we did not have trouble viewing and enjoying the animals and beautiful surroundings.

We walked our normal route. First seeing the sea lions, seals, penguins, and petting the sharks.

Next we checked out the polar bear and walruses.  Then, we went into the “Desert Pavilion” to look at the lizards, meerkats, turtles, and snakes.

We took a small break at the playground area so the boys could run off some energy and enjoy a snack. After which we entered the “Plains” exhibits to see the giraffes, lions, rhinoceroses, baboons (with a cute little baby baboon showing off for the crowd), and elephants.

As always the visit felt rushed. Every time we go to the Zoo we wish we had more time to check out all the exhibits.  There is always next TIME!  We had a very enjoyable time.  Good exercise, great sights, and GREAT company!

Later on that evening Elijah, Jonah, My parents and I enjoyed a delectable pizza/pasta/salad bar/desert buffet at Cici’s Pizza. I was surprised at how good the food was and how reasonably priced it is. The Manager was very nice and said he would make any pizza upon request. We will definitely go back and enjoy some family outings there in the near future. Next time I am going to think up a crazy concoction for the pizza chef to make!

Friday Elijah and I met up with Taryn (my neighbor and good friend) and her 3 year old daughter Kendyl to go see “Monsters vs. Aliens”. Before heading to the theater we stopped at Walmart to pick up some candy to sneak into the theater. I can’t bare to pay $4-plus at the movie theater for the same box of candy you can get at Walmart for $1-$2. Taryn and I spent about $20 dollars between the two of us in candy, gum, wheat/cheese crackers, and bottled water. We stashed all our goodies in Taryn’s tote and laughed at how heavy it was. We arrived in time to see the 2 pm showing, but due to distractions from our children we both mistakenly purchased tickets for the 2:30 pm showing. I guess we were too busy enjoying a good conversation and shoving candy and popcorn into our mouths to notice we purchased the wrong tickets only right when the previews/trailers started.

The movie was really cute. Elijah enjoyed it a lot. Kendyl seemed to like the movie up to about 15 minutes before it ended, to which she loudly yells, “Mom, is the movie over yet? Can we go home?” Perhaps the movie was a little too long for a 3 year old.

I am very grateful to have this special time with Elijah and enjoy the special time on Thursday at the Zoo with all the family!!!

In an effort to rule out food and environmental allergies as possible triggers for Jonah’s seizures, his Doctor ordered allergy testing via blood tests.

Last Monday I took Jonah to a nearby lab to get his blood drawn. The lab techs were very kind and gentle. They tried their hardest to find a vein on Jonah’s arms and hands to draw blood from. After one unsuccessful try his vein rolled. The ladies asked me to bring him back the next day.

On Tuesday, soon after finishing work, I brought Jonah back to the lab and let the ladies try again. This time they searched and searched for a vein, all the while Jonah was helping them by squeezing his fists and poking his arm (the inside bends) with his index fingers extended; mimicking what the lab techs were doing. The ladies were smitten by him and did not want to poke him with the needle unless they were absolutely sure they would be successful. After 20 minutes or so, they apologized profusely and told me they could not find a good enough vein. They suggested I take him over to a sister lab at the Community South hospital where they were equipped with smaller needles, and if necessary a Pediatric nurse could help draw his blood.

Later on that evening I headed over to the hospital lab with Jonah, Elijah, and my mother in tow. We got called back and two older women (their name tags read Beth and Shirley) surrounded Jonah and I, and they started surveying his arms and hands. After finding a slight indication of a vein, they too pricked him with a needle and again his vein moved. DANG!

The lab tech said she did not want to try anymore and told me to come back on Wednesday. After a quick call, the Pediatrics department said they were too busy to help and she was giving up. Though I did not want my baby to have to endure any more of this, I explained to her my insurance coverage dictations, and asked that they try again. Reluctantly Beth left the room and after 5 minutes time she returned with a not so happy Shirley.

Beth held Jonah’s arm and Shirley poked around until she found a semi-suitable vein. With one fell swoop she DID IT, she found the vein and started to draw blood. The relief I felt was quickly squashed when Beth and Shirley start tsking. The blood flow had slowed to a drip and they were making comments quietly to each other that this vial would not be enough. As Shirley removed the needle she directs her comment to me. In a pessimistic inflection she said, “Well, I guess we will submit this and see if this will be enough”. The skepticism in her voice said otherwise.

While I was consoling my sobbing baby, I was taken aback by her tone and disgruntled look on her face. All I could muster was a thank you to the women for trying. Sympathetically Beth replies by saying something like “You’re welcome” and “I hope it will be enough”. Bluntly Shirley replies, “Mom – I am not going to poke him again, you really need to let him have a break”. WOW! I really did not know what to make of her comments. She was NOT treating me with the kindness and understanding normally shown by medical professionals.

My mind was screaming out, “I REALLY do not want my baby to go through this. REALLY! I was shocked, and instead I could not mutter anything in my defense. I just stood up, grabbed my things and ushered my crew out the door.

My mother wouldn’t let it go and immediately started asking me over and over again, “Do you think it will be enough?” Almost in tears, I replied with frustration, “I don’t know”. I was not going to have them try again and would rather scrap having the allergy tests done than make Jonah go through this all over again. As we headed out the door, my mother went back to confirm if they got a successful draw. In a far off voice I hear Beth say in a reassuring tone that they did get enough, not to worry.

As I breathe out I feel relief and I released my hurt caused just moments before from the unkind technician. She may have had a bad day and didn’t realize she was being uncaring. Or she wanted the last draw for the day to be simple, not for an unsuspecting, smiling, 2 year old boy with elusive veins.

I hope these tests do what they are intended for and rule out more things that would and could cause Jonah’s seizures.

On the way home we stopped and picked up four shiny Mylar balloons. (Jonah’s most FAVORITE things.) Balloons and some candy from Grandma returned his smile!

Look I'm Smiling Mom

Quaid, Caleb, Ben, and Elijah are having a Daddies/Sons day at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum today.  Being that they are all big Star Wars fans, they had to go check out the new Star Wars Clone Wars exhibit that just opened up at the museum.  I know they are having so much fun and I cannot wait to hear Elijah tell me all about it and see the pictures I am sure Ben is taking (which I will post later).  This leaves me home enjoying some alone time with Jonah.  Since he is currently taking his afternoon nap, I thought I would take advantage of this quiet time to read my friends’ blogs and update our blog.

This following week Elijah is out of school on Spring break.  We are all looking forward to having some special family time together!   For sure we are going to take the boys to the  Zoo one of the days and maybe a movie outting to see “Monsters vs Aliens” another day.  Future posts with pictures will follow ; )

God has been answering our prayers!  Jonah is back to being a busy 2 year old again!!  He had a follow-up appointment with his Pediatrician last Monday and she said he is looking great.  All of the tests ran during the hospital stay came back good.  And now he is over his cold, cough, and ear infection.  Since he has been on Keppra he has not had another dropping spell or seizure.  Next week we will get him checked for allergies (specifically any food allergies we should be aware of) and in about a month he will have a follow-up appointment with his Neurologist.

We are so happy with how he is doing now and we are very thankful for everyone’s prayers and help during all of this.  With Spring arriving he has been so busy playing outside with his big brother.  As a typical 2 year old, he cannot be contained.  Ben and I are usually exhausted at the end of each day from chasing him and making sure he isn’t climbing things.  Though we would definitely rather have him busy exploring and healthy (and be tired parents), than the alternative!!

Last week at this time Jonah was in the hospital.  It all started last Thursday (03/12/2009) when Jonah began having the dropping spells again.  The best way I can describe it is it is he momentarily loses control of his body.  Ben describes it as if some one turns off and on the lights for him.  I am not sure if he loses consciousness or not, but his body goes limp and he falls forward.  Usually he does not have time to catch himself.  It started in the morning and after several bouts through out the day I called his Pediatrician’s office.  The last time Jonah had these spells his doctor thought it was caused from an ear infection throwing off his equilibrium.  Just a few days prior he finished 10 days of Amoxicillin and during that time the dropping spells stopped.  When I spoke with the Physican’s assistant at Dr. Hodson’s office I explained what was happening and she said Dr. Hodson would call in a prescription for a stronger antibiotic.

Unfortunately, before I could go pick-up the prescription Jonah had a passout spell, fell forward, and hit his forehead on the tile in the kitchen.  I had just filled his sippy with apple juice and turned for a second to put the apple juice away in the refrigerator.  As I was closing the door I heard Jonah hit the floor and I gasped.  Dang, all day I was watching him so closely and in a split second this happened.  He started crying and I rushed over to him to pick him up and check him out.  As I was picking him up his body stiffened and he went into a seizure.  I carried him over to the couch and laid him on his side.  Of course Elijah was frantic asking me if I was going to call the paramedics again.  (As a similar thing happened 21 days prior and I called 911 in a panic, where he was brought to the hospital in an Ambulance).  I asked Elijah to get me the phone as I watched my poor little guy having another seizure.  This is one of the hardest things a parent can see.  I feel so helpless.  In tears I frantically started calling Ben, but he wasn’t answering.  Then I called my in-laws, and my father in-law answered.  While bawling I unsuccessfully tried to compose myself, and said, “Jonah just passed out again, fell and hit his head, and is having another seizure’.  My father in-law told me they would be right over.  Within the next few moments Jonah’s seizure stopped and he fell asleep.  A huge lump was protruding from his forehead.  I put a cold cloth on his forward and tried calling  Ben again.  I finally got a hold of Ben and told him what happened and that his parents were on their way over.

Once John and Teri got to our house, Teri (G’ma) sat with Jonah while John and I rushed to Target to pick up Jonah’s prescription.  When I got back Jonah woke up  enough for me to hold him and give him some medicine.  When Jonah is not feeling well and most of the time he is very much a Momma’s boy and only wanted me to hold him for most of the night.  Grandma Teri did manage to hold her baby grandson a few times and around 9 pm we all settled down in the living room and put on a Barney episode for Jonah to watch.  Barney is one of Jonah’s favorite shows.  When we were a few minutes into the show, I commented on how far the bump on his forehead protruded when G’ma looked down and said, “What is he doing?”.  Jonah went into another seizure.  Worry took over me as I helped G’ma put Jonah on his side.  G’ma started praying over Jonah as I cried and held Jonah’s hand and caressed his arms and back.  After it was over I took his temperature.  This seizure was unprovoked.  He didn’t have a fever, what could be causing this?  The panic and worry started turning my stomach and I immediately called his Pediatrician’s office.  As the office was closed, I eventually received a call back from the on-call Doctor.  Dr. Fledderjohn was very comforting and gave me instructions on what to do through the night.  She told me to wake Jonah up in a little bit to check if he acts normal, if he is alert.  She strongly advised me to call the Neurologist the next day to get Jonah in for evaluation.  She was concerned that Jonah has had so many seizures in the last year and now they don’t seem to be Febrile seizures anymore.  She also said to call their office the next day if the Neurologist couldn’t see Jonah the next day.  Dr. Hodson (Jonah’s Pediatrician) could talk to the Neurologist’s office and hopefully get him in sooner.

I was able to get Friday off and I was so grateful since Friday turned out to be a hard day for all of us.  Thursday night was rough too.  I am a light sleeper and I was so worried for Jonah that I couldn’t sleep.  My stomach was in knots.  Every time Jonah moved, it startled me.  I was sick to my stomach worried that he would have another seizure.  Friday morning we woke early, after Jonah had a couple of bananas (his favorite) around 9 am I gave Jonah another dose of his antibiotics.  Once again we put Barney on for him and within a short time he fell into another seizure again.  This time I looked at him seconds before it started and saw his little body go limp, so I laid him on his side and held him.  Ben and I couldn’t help to think there was a connection between Barney or the antibiotics as possible triggers.  After the seizure passed I immediately called the Neurologist’s office to see if he could be seen that day.  The earliest appointment we could get was for Tuesday, so I then called Dr. Hodson’s office.  As we laid next to our sleeping baby we waited for an answer.  I jumped when the phone rang at 11 am.  I guess I did manage to close my eyes and catch a small nap.  Thankfully Dr. Hodson’s referral assistant managed to get Jonah into see Dr. McGuire (Neurologist) at the Carmel office at 1:40 pm.  I stirred Ben and gave him the news.  I felt so bad for him too.  We were both trying to catch any moments rest since we both did not get much sleep the night before.  After I got ready I called Jill to ask her to come over later to be here when Elijah got home from school.  Since the Neurologist office was 40 minutes away I was unsure if we would be back for when Elijah got home at 3:50 pm.  I am so glad I called Jill.  Our conversation was very comforting to me.  She was glad to hear we were taking Jonah into see the Neurologist and she was so supportive of our decision to get him in for evaluation.  Of course she was worried for our little “neeners”.

On our way to the Neurologist’s office Jonah had another seizure.  We pulled over to unbuckle him and move him to his side and when the seizure stopped we once again started on our way to the Doctor’s office.  We got lost!  After we got turned around and had to back track we finally got to the Doctor’s office 10 minutes late.  As I was filling out the paperwork Ben put Jonah on the floor and was supporting him with is legs as Jonah played with my purse.  Seconds before the Doctor walked in, Jonah had a passout spell again and bump his head on the floor.  He got a carpet burn right next to the bump he got the night before.  Dr. McGuire walked in as Jonah was bawling.  During the first part of our visit with her Jonah soon calmed down and feel asleep.  Dr. McGuire took took down his history and discussed with us her thoughts on what could be happening.  As she examined him she expressed her concern on how his body was not reacting to her poking and prodding.  She strongly felt it would be best to get him into the hospital for tests.  She did not want to send us home on a Friday and it would not be easy for us to get Jonah in to see a Doctor over the weekend if he had more seizures before Monday.  She direct admitted Jonah to St. Vincent’s hospital in Carmel.

We immediately headed over to the hospital and got him admitted around 3 pm.  As we were speaking with various Doctors and Nurses Jonah had another seizure.  Before the night was over he had one more and the nurses gave him a medicine via IV that would stop the seizures.  Between 5:30 pm on Thursday and 5:30 pm on Friday he had 6 seizures.  That night was a blur.  Ben and I were exhausted, emotionally drained, and weak from not eating.  Throughout the afternoon and evening Jonah under went a EEG, EKG, MRI, Spinal Tap, and Urinalysis.  He was sedated for the MRI, Spinal Tap and Urinalysis.  The Neurologist reviewed the EEG and MRI preliminary results and did not see any issues.  However she decided to start him on anti-seizure medication the next day.  By 10 pm Jonah was sleeping soundly and Ben and I tried to settle down and sleep on the hard futon in the hospital room.  At some point in the night I moved to Jonah’s bed to protect him from falling off the bed or pulling out his IV.  As the sedation wore off, Jonah tried to get up, he was very unsteady and unhappy with all of the tubes and cables attached to him.  Ben and I took turns laying with Jonah.   The next day Jonah could not be contained.  The side effects from the sedatives made him hyperactive and unsteady.  He could not walk without holding our hands.  He walked like he was drunk.  From 7:30 am until 10:15 pm we walked around the Children’s hospital and visited the play area many times.  We covered ever inch of the 3rd floor.  The effects of the sedative given the night before made it so he literally could not stay still.    Since he only took a small nap from 3:00 pm – 3:45 pm (interrupted by the nurse taking his vitals and giving him his anti-seizure medicine), we did not get a chance to get much sleep.  Dr Patel (Dr. McGuire’s Neurology partner) met with us Saturday afternoon and cleared Jonah to be released.  He viewed the MRI results and the other preliminary test results and said he did not find anything that they felt would cause the seizures.  He explained the medication Jonah would start taking and evaluated Jonah one more time.  Soon after Dr. Furr came in to evaluate Jonah and she did not see any ear infection or other issues. Though, she decided to keep him one more night.  She said the other Doctor’s concurred with her that Jonah must have a slow metabolism and thus it was taking a long time for his body to get rid of the Pentabar.  Finally around 10:15 pm Jonah settled down and went to sleep for the night.  Ben left to go home to work on his homework, take a shower, and hopefully get a better night sleep.  Saturday night was a better night for both Jonah and I.  At 4:30 am Sunday the nurse woke us up again to take Jonah’s vitals and have me give him is anti-seizure medicine (Keppra).  He got a Popsicle for being such a good boy and letting the nurse do her thing.  So there we were 5 am on Sunday morning watching cartoons as Jonah enjoyed his Popsicle.  At 5:30 am Jonah fell back to sleep and we enjoyed a few more hours rest.  At 7:30 am Jonah was up for the day.  A few more Doctor’s visits and many more trips around the 3rd floor of the hospital and we were set to be released.  Ben arrived around 11:30 am and we were on our way home.

Elijah spent Friday night and Saturday night with G’ma and G’pa.  We are very thankful that G’ma, G’pa, Jill and Quaid helped us out with Elijah while we were at the hospital.  Elijah got to spend Saturday (03/14/2009) with Jill, Quaid, Caleb and had a super fun day.  I know Elijah is very concerned for his brother and that weekend was hard on him, he is a trooper!!!

Jonah has been taking Keppra twice a day since Saturday.  So far he is doing good.  The other test results from Friday (03/13/2009) came back and they have not found anything concerning.  Jonah did have a slight elevation of platlets and white blood cells which the nurse who called with the results said that usually indiciated a slight infection.  Jonah has a follow-up appointment with Dr. Hodson this Monday.  We will talk with her then and see if he should continue with the antibiotics.

Yesterday was the first day of spring.  Finally!  It was a really long winter.  As soon as we are clear of freezing temps we are going to head to the nursery to get trees and plants for our backyard.  I think this year I am going to try square foot gardening.  I am hoping to grow tomatoes, herbs, squash, cucumbers and peppers.  I am really excited!

Since we made the move to Indianapolis a little over two years ago, it has always been on our list to make a weekend getaway to Chicago. The drive itself is relatively painless, its just under three hours from where we live. However, our driving experience was a little bit different since for whatever reason, we decided to drive into town on a Friday afternoon.

After almost three hours of driving and almost reaching our destination, we were abruptly greeted with busy city traffic. This traffic was eerily similar to the traffic congestion we used to experience when driving from Phoenix to San Diego and/or Los Angeles. I would say that the traffic was probably worse than that of Phoenix, but probably not as bad as LA’s. Having been living in Indianapolis for the past two years, I almost forgot how fast big city traffic moves. The ‘traffic’ here in Indy moves probably at an average speed of 62-68 mph. Of course, you get the young teenage drivers from time to time that zoom past you in thier ‘souped‘ up Dodge Neon or Pontiac Grand Prix doing a whopping 75-80 — but aside from that, traffic moves fairly slow compared to other major city traffic.

Once we finally hit Chicago I noticed that their freeway signs were very cool… For example, depending upon the amount of traffic at any particular time of date, the digital freeways signs would provide you with an estimated time frame of how long it might take to arrive at any particular destination. (something I had never seen before) As I was monitoring the signs every couple of minutes or so, I noticed that O’Hare (Chicago’s INT Airport) was notated with a 55 minutes. WHAT?!?!?!? I asked to the wife to double-check where our hotel was located, to which she replied, right next to the airport! I quickly responded, O’Hare Airport? She stated, I believe so! **SIGH** At that moment in time, I realized that our drive was no where near done. We still had an hour to go in stop and go traffic until we reached our final destination –> our hotel.

Well, we finally did reach out hotel later that evening… As I recall, it was very hot and humid that day. As much as I was looking forward to walking around downtown Chicago, I was feeling some apprehension in doing so based on feeling completely beat up by the traffic on the way in and the weather. Keep in mind that our hotel was located in a small suburb called Mt. Prospect which is approximately 40 minutes North West of Chicago… (Note: we just drove through downtown Chicago and now we’re turning around and heading right back in that same direction) Whew, okay, we can do this, lets roll!

So after a very bizarre conversation with the front desk clerk (a young man who didn’t move his lips when he spoke) at our hotel it was recommended to drive about a half a mile down the road to where the Metra stop was located. As we made our way towards the Metra stop, we realized after about 15 minutes of aimlessly driving that we were obviously going the wrong way. We were provided with some extremely bogus directions — Very frustrated, we turned around and finally stumbled upon our stop.

We got out of the car and walked to the Metra station, just a short couple minutes from where we parked. We waited about 15 minutes before our train arrived. We loaded up all our belongings and hopped on the Metra system. Despite making several stops in between our stop and downtown Chicago, the trip was relatively quick. It took about 40 minutes between start and stop.

Ding Ding Ding, that’s the sound of our stop, everyone off the train. As we unloaded our stuff from the Metra, we proceeded through the Metra station which was stinky, hot and extremely humid. It was the the type of environment that would inherit whatever weather conditions were present that that moment in time. (e.g. hot in the summer, ice cold during the winter) As we exited through the station, we finally were able to locate an exit that lead us to the downtown area. We were all starving so we began our search by looking for a quick place that we could grab a bite to eat. To our dismay, just about everything that we came across was closed. (keep in mind that was around 7:30pm) We finally came across a very happening pizza place about 30 minutes later. By this time, Jonah was cranky and everyone was starved. We quickly ordered a pizza and some appetizers. The appetizers were pretty good and the pizza was superb.

After we finished eating, we walked around downtown for a short while. I couldn’t help but feel completely overwhelmed by the towering size of all the sky scrapers in this town. Wow, every building seemed to be at least 100+ft tall. We headed back to our hotel shortly thereafter. All of us were completely spent for the day. I was really looking forward to getting some sleep.

As we slowly woke up the following morning, we made our way to the continental breakfast that the hotel provided. (I really wanted to take full advantage of this because everything in downtown Chicago was very spendy, especially the food). I stock-piled my plate full of goodies and headed back to our room. I brought some coffee back and asked Momie if she wanted any? This was her reaction after taking her first sip.

Needless to say, Momie quickly gave the coffee back to me. She settled that morning on a cup of OJ instead.

Once we finished up with eating, we contemplated whether we should take the Metra or whether we should just take the car to go downtown. We ended up just driving simply because we did not want to go through the process of taking the Metra back to our hotel area at the end of the day.

After driving around for sometime attempting to locate a place to park that was reasonably priced, we found one that charged ‘only‘ $14.00 for the day. “Finally!”, cried Elijah -

We made our way downtown and started our official ‘Chicago-experience.’ After only a few minutes of walking around, we found ourselves staring right at the Sears Tower. Man, this building is absolutely behemoth in size. My first thought was, lets go inside and get to the top. HAHAH! Wait a second Mikey, before you can get to the top, you need to find the tourist Skydeck entrance, pay a considerable amount of monies and wait in line for 50 minutes. It was still fairly early in the day so I thought that maybe we could get right in and out. Nope, that was unfortunatley not the case. Here is a picture that illustrates the number of people that were in the same exact boat as we were. Okay I thought to myself, perhaps the line will move quickly so we don’t have to wait in this room for hours on end. Well, the line did move somewhat quickly, however, once we made it through the first security checkpoint, we found ourselves having to wait in another room for about 15-20 minutes prior to our official tour starting.

After a grueling wait and a mob of people to deal with, we finally boarded the elevator. I’m glad the elevators were working, I can’t imagine having to climb the 100+ stories.

As we got out of the elevator, we found ourselves in a room that encompasses windows all around ( The room was basically cirucular in shape and had nice large windows wrapped around the room). I thought to myself, how awesome is this. A birdseye view of all of downtown Chicago and surrounding areas. What a site to behold, completely breathtaking. I couldn’t believe all the buildings in this town.

Regardless of where you were at in the room, tall buildings were peppered throughout this entire city. I honestly never knew that Chicago was this big of a city. The room was pretty full of us trouisty type of people. It was very often difficult to get a decent shot since the area around the windows were completely bombarded with bodies. I managed to get a few more shots of the downtown area after waiting for certain areas of the room to eventually ‘open-up.’

This shot on the left here shows a better view of both the city and Lake Michigan which borders a lot of the downtown area. Unfortunately, we were not able to make it over to the Navy Pier area based on our time constraints. Nevertheless, we had a very good time with what we were able to see.

Here is another pict (and I know its kind of hard to see) but those little tiny white objects in the water are actually sail boats. It was fun to view the city from this angle. The last time that was in a building this tall must have been when we lived in Seattle and I was at the Space Needle. Although, I don’t know how many stories the Space Needle is, I’ll have to google that to find the answer.

ALL in all we had a very good time — We walked around town and found a popular park known as Millennium Park <sp?> We did get to eat a Chicago hot dog, and although it was good, it wasn’t nearly as good as the pizza that we ate the previous night. Perhaps I was expecting a little too much, however, I will say that the dog was purchased from one of those little concession carts nearby.

We headed home later that afternoon and made it back to Indy around 10:00pm that night. The drive took about 3.5 hours.

I am very much looking forward to visiting Chicago again in the not to distant future. It was one helluva town to spend a weekend at, my only regret is that I wish we simply had a little more time to see the area.

Alright, so I know that this post is probably going to come off as sounding like it’s another negative rant against the state of Indiana – If thats the case, I apologize in advance to those of you who might otherwise be offended.

So here goes — I believe it was probably about a year ago that I first was told that Indiana was classified as being the “crossroads” of our country. I wasn’t sure exactly how to interpret that until I started to do a lot of driving here on the freeways. Shortly thereafter, it quickly hit me upside the head.

Truthfully, I can’t believe the sheer number of semi’s on the freeways here in Indiana. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, these diesel trucks are friggin’ everywhere. I feel sorry for the daily commuters who average more than 30-45 minutes a day on the freeways here. Undoubtedly, they would have to share a much greater frustration than I experience anytime I’m on the road for an extended amount of time. The really bad part of having so many truckers on the roads here is getting stuck either behind one, or , getting stuck in between a pair. Alternatively , having debris and other random shit flailing at your vehicle isn’t a big treat either.

I’ve noticed that we have quite a few truckers who reside in our neighborhood as well. I certainly don’t have one thing against people who choose to make a living from driving, although, it does incense me somewhat that several of them feel free to drive their 18 wheelers down my street. Most of them park in their driveways, however, there are a few that simply leave their rig on the side of the curb making it impossible for more than one car to drive by that same spot simultaneously. I know, not necessarily a huge deal, but sometimes an annoyance depending upon who’s driving on the opposite end.

As unrealistic as it may sound, I wish that these types of vehicles were only allowed to drive on the road during certain times of the day/night. While I know that this type of thinking may seem a big illogical, a little wishful thinking never hurts.

/rant

The old Cliché of ‘Time flies when you’re having fun‘ should really be stated as, ‘Time flies regardless of whether your having fun or not…period!

It’s now going on two years since I moved my family from Arizona all the way across the country to Indianapolis. I won’t bore you with my life’s drudgeries but I will say that this chapter in my life has certainly seen its highs and lows.

When I first got here, I was constantly poised with the question, “Why on earth did you move here?” For the sake of brevity, I normally just responded by stating that I just wanted a change in my life. Actually, there were several reasons why my wife and I decided to leave Arizona; I will discuss these reasons in detail a little bit later on in this post.

From a state to state comparison, I wanted to quickly discuss some of the differences that I’ve come across since I’ve been here. The items that I’m about to discuss are simply my own personal observations of what I’ve either witnessed as strange and/or very disparate between Arizona and Indiana.

Firstly, medical establishments - The metropolitan area of Indianapolis is absolutely peppered with these types of facilities. Every corner stands some type of hospital, medical plaza and/or practitioner’s office. I can’t help but lose count on the sheer number of medical associations throughout this area.

Secondly, cigarettes. Holy shit, I am not lying to you when I say this. Everybody including their dog smokes in this city. When I first moved here, I thought perhaps it was just an amazing coincidence that everywhere I went, people were lightning up. I made a comment one night to my sister (who also lives here with her awesome husband and one child) regarding these peculiar observations of mine. I asked the question, “Is it just me or does everyone here smoke?” I was instantly and bounteously supported in my own thoughts of thinking.

Thirdly, the weather. Okay, I understand that the mid-west weather is probably a little harder to predict than the weather we had back in the Southwest, but, c’mon. The weather forecasts we have here are in a nutshell, unbelievably inaccurate. I’m not talking just a little off, I’m spouting dead wrong. (I’m looking straight at you Mr. Weatherman Brian Wilkes!) I will say this however; the summers here in Indiana, albeit a tad on the humid side at times, are much more enjoyable than the ones back in Phoenix. The winters here are the exact opposite, although, I will add that they aren’t ‘that’ bad! I’ll try and talk more in depth about the winters here in a later post.

Fourthly, (Is that even a word?) Chinese Food. Good God, do we really need to have a Chinese Buffet on every corner? No really, I’m being serious. Why is there so many damn Chinese restaurants here? The funny thing about the whole situation is that most of them are always busy. I guess that pretty much answers my own question, however, I will quickly interject my opinion and state that most of them serve up somewhat questionable grub. There are a few that we frequent from time to time that we’ve determined as ‘acceptable,’ however, the vast majority of these places are pretty shitty.

Lastly, and this is certainly not the fault of the state of Indiana but I sure do miss the hell out of good Mexican food. I guess I always took for granted all the superb hole in the wall hot spots that served up mouthwatering chimmy’s. I’ve visited only a handful of Mexican restaurants here (mostly because they’re a real rarity in Indiana) but they all fail miserably in comparison to what we had back ‘home.’ I’ve convinced myself that if I either want good Mexican food (Jack in the Box and/or In and Out) that I’ll have to make a trip back to Arizona cause it just ain’t happening here.
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