Extended Chicago Stay

By Monday evening, prior to our scheduled flight the next morning, we had observed several clues that staying a little longer would be beneficial so we changed flight plans to fly back to Utah on Saturday, February 27th. This left us here with Lindsy and Ben and kids for the remainder of Ben's Mom's stay and another week beyond. We sincerely hope this did not infringe on her ability to enjoy her stay. We tried to be out and about as much as possible, visiting the nearby Brookfield Zoo, The Chicago Auto Show and the Chicago Art Institute. We also made a second trip to the Field Museum and spent an enjoyable evening on Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theater for the stage play "101 Dalmatians" over the remainder of our stay. We are becoming pros at riding the CTA and have done a lot of walking as well to get to and from train stations and to and from destinations.

The weather has remained quite cold with considerable snow but nothing like the Northeast U.S. has seen. We have continued to help out with Carter, the twins and with several new miscellaneous and home repair and cleaning projects.

On Sunday, February 14th the twins were blessed here at home while Ben's Mom was here. Carter was ill for a couple of days this week since Ben's Mom left but he seems to be feeling better. We will really miss holding, loving, playing with and caring for the kids. Dad has probably held and fed babies more and changed more diapers in the last month than he did for all of his own kids combined but he begs to differ. This Grand parenting is like starting all over again except we get to spoil kids and let parents deal with the consequences this time around.

On our last evening here we went to a fine steakhouse near Lindsy and Ben's called the Golden Steer for dinner. We had Tenderloin en Brochette followed by a slice of cheesecake. The service was friendly and efficient and the atmosphere was pleasant. Every serving, but especially the meat, was exceptionally delicious.

And now the time has come to go back to our own home. We miss all the families back there, especially baby Taylor. It has been nice to keep in touch on Skype from time to time. Our prayers go with Lindsy and Ben to be equal to the task they will face in the coming weeks and months.

The Big Move

Jan 8 through Feb 13, 2010
We packed for the duration and drove to Utah, stopping in Salt Lake to see if we could help Duane and Julie with a dead television receiver (no luck). For three days after the first weekend we helped pack all Lindsy and Ben's household belongings from their third-floor apartment into three freight pods on the curb at their apartment in Provo. We then spent another couple of days cleaning the apartment. During this week we occupied Brendyn O'Donnal's bedroom (thanks Brendyn). On Saturday morning, Jan 16th, we took off in Lindsy and Ben's Toyota Sienna for Chicago, leaving our car in Laurie and Evan's back yard. Nearly three days later we arrived at the Hartsock's new home in Forest Park, a suburb west of Chicago. The drive was long and largely uneventful except for dense fog that last 500+ miles. For two days we shopped and prepared for the family's arrival on Jan 20th by air at Chicago's Midway Airport. At the same time we arrived back at the house from the airport the moving pods were being delivered and we, along with help that Ben had been hired, carried all contents into the house within the next two hours. From there it was a couple of weeks of setting up shop in a new home, unpacking, hanging pictures and etc. Within a couple of days after arrival Ben rented a U-Haul truck and he and Dad went to Ben's recently deceased grandmothers house in nearby Elmhurst and brought home a number of pieces of furniture. But additional furniture, a 46" TV, baby accessories and lighting was purchased and assembled to furnish the house since not a lot of furniture was brought from Provo and now the family had nearly doubled in size within the last month and they had considerably more space. Then there were a number of additions and fixes that the house required that occupied a lot of time, particularly without the usual complement of tools. How the landlord had lived here for 29 years with some of these problems is amazing. I guess they just needed a McGiver. After confirming local electrical codes an unswitched electrical outlet had to be added to the living room (there was no unswitched power anywhere in that room), a defective light switch had to be replaced, a dead electrical outlet had to be wired, a problem that intermittently set off false alarms, occasionally in the middle of the night, from the smoke detector had to be corrected, the newly installed DSL internet was configured, a water leak in the humidifier on the furnace in the basement had to be fixed, the front storm door was fixed so that it would latch when closed, a tub drain was fixed, a clogged sink drain was fixed and a "taller" shower head was installed in the master bathroom.

And then there was the fun part. We love holding, feeding, changing, bathing and generally caring for two beautiful little girls, Emilia and Avery. There is also playing with, changing, dressing and caring for a very cute and intelligent little two-year old boy, Carter. He knows the entire alphabet, can count to ten, has an amazing vocabulary and is full of energy. He says the most endearing little prayers all by himself, is courteous and is very loving toward his new sisters. But don't get me wrong, this little angel is still a 2-year old some of the time!

Besides a lot of strolls around the neighborhood and to and from shopping for exercise we have had a good foot of snow to shovel. For entertainment we went the see the Blue Man Group at the Briar Street Theater in Chicago. That was the most different and amazing show we have ever seen. We also spent quite a bit of time viewing around the area from the Skydeck on the 130th floor of the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago. On the Skydeck there are clear plexiglass cubicles extending at least 4 feet from one side of the building where one can step out and look straight down to the street below if you aren't "chicken" (many people were). In the process we have learned how to get around on the public transportation system. The "blue line" CTA train comes within a few blocks of Lindsy and Ben's home and goes to downtown where one can transfer to a number of other lines or buses. We have also gone with the family to the Shedd Aquarium, The Museum of Science and Industry and the Field Museum, each of which one could spend literally days exploring.

The first weekend here we also visited Bonnie's first cousin, Steven Carson and his wife in Bloomingdale, a high-end suburb another 20 miles northwest of Forest Park. They had a beautiful home with a back yard on a golf course and treated us to dinner and an episode of the Glenn Beck Show that they had TiVo'd once we discovered we had common political and patriotic beliefs.

Ben began work the first week of February and just got his first paycheck yesterday. He has a reasonable commute on the "blue line" CTA train and has been getting home before 7PM. Ben's mother arrived today from Oklahoma to help out for a week and we will be flying back to Utah next Tuesday. From there we will likely head for home within a couple of days. It has been quite an experience and we sincerely hope that our efforts have helped with the relocation and caring for little ones. It will be a great challenge for Lindsy and Ben and especially Lindsy after all the family help has gone home. It is our prayer that they will learn to manage on their own and that some help can be arranged locally.