The Windy City

Twice last week I traveled to Chicago. The first time was with my mom and her small group for a fun birthday celebration for her. It was fun to meet more of her friends and hear some of their stories. I don't have any pictures since I didn't have my camera with me. You'll just have to imagine pictures of mom and her friends laughing with their hair blowing perfectly in the wind.

Later in the week Kerwyn and I spent a day in Chicago wandering around. We had lunch at Harry Carey's (great restaurant), wandered around, saw a couple of wedding parties taking pictures, and took in Navy Pier. We even had a very enjoyable, although short, ride on the ferris wheel. I do have pictures from that trip because Kerwyn is very good about taking pictures.

Neither trip had a very smooth train experience. The first trip was marred by a train sliding door smashing my face in. That might be a bit dramatic but it hit my temple hard enough to leave me pretty dazed for a day or so and with a nice swollen and tender area around my right eye. On the second trip Kerwyn and I were enjoying a peaceful trip when they made us get off the train in Gary, Indiana of all places to get onto a bus for a few minutes and then reload onto a different train a few miles down the track that apparently was undergoing repairs. You can imagine it wasn't a quick process to unload what ended up being 4 very full busloads of people off of and back onto a train (hence the picture of Kerwyn with the thumbs-up in the very classicly decorated bus). Either way it was a fun couple of days in Chicago.

Canoe Trip

Kerwyn and I spent a wonderful afternoon in prime fall weather canoeing. It was beautiful. To call the canoeing company sketchy would be an understatement but they didn't harm us as we feared they might. We decided that next year we need to do one of their longer trips.

Turkey Run

This has become one of my favorite parks for several reasons.
1. It's beautiful.
2. I forget I'm in Indiana.
3. It's where our engagement pictures were taken.
4. We've shared some great times hiking around together here.

October is probably the best time of year to go so we spent an afternoon wandering the trails. Weather permitting, I'm hoping to go canoeing here next week.

Julie and Julia

The first movie Kerwyn and I ever saw together was Julie and Julia. I did not enjoy it. He did. I think I just wasn't interested in cooking so I felt like I was watching a cooking show for two hours. However, thanks to the generosity of many people who have blessed us with a well-stocked kitchen I am thoroughly enjoying cooking. Plus, I miss operating like crazy and so cooking is the only opportunity I've found to cut stuff. Kerwyn and I are enjoying trying new meals together. This was my first time making steaks (thank you mom and dad for giving us Omaha's finest). Kerwyn mastered the side dishes.

Go Irish

Kerwyn and I were given tickets to last week's ND vs Pitt game for our wedding. It was Kerwyn's first college football experience and we had a great time cheering our (I use that word loosely although I think he's becoming a fan) Irish on. We even went to the pep rally Friday night with my parents. It was quite the scene. I could have done without the cheerleaders but that's pretty typical for me I guess.