MAY FAMILY FUN IN CHICAGO...

On a weekend close to May 11th each year we always plan to be in Chicago for our granddaughter, Sage's, birthday; but this year was different. Judy's sister, Jan, and her husband, Dick, who live in Tempe, Arizona, were planning to fly to Chicago to be with her daughter, Kristi, and her family at the beginning of May. On that same weekend, Dick's twin sister, Ruth, was planning to drive down to Chicago from the Upper Peninsula in Michigan to be with her daughter, Freya, and her family. We had to find a way on the first weekend in May to be with Bonnie, Dug, Dugan and Sage, both of our sisters, Dick's brother and his wife, and as many family members as possible in a very short window of time. WE DID IT!

On Thursday, April 30th, we drove to northern Indiana, met Dick's brother, Cliff, and his wife, Nancy, for dinner and spent the night in Merrillville. We drove into Chicago on Friday to spend time with Bonnie and her family. On Saturday morning, a bright, sunny day, we drove with Bonnie's family to the lakefront where there was a marvelous kite flying event taking place. Every kind and size of kite that one could imagine was in the air, and Bonnie, Dug and the children had great fun flying their own kites and enjoying watching all of the unique kites in the sky.

From there we drove to Elmhurst, Illinois, where Kristi and Eric Tolman had planned an early season picnic in their lovely yard. What a fun time Dugan and Sage had with the Tolman's twin daughters, Kenna and Michal, now 5 1/2 years old, It was a great time for a reunion with Judy's sister and her husband and for all of the children to be together with their grandparents and great aunts and uncles. We all celebrated Sage's sixth birthday together with a very lovely cake as well as cupcakes, brownies and special cookies!

Then on Sunday, we all met with Dick's brother, Cliff, and Nancy, his twin sister, Ruth, her daughter, Freya, her husband, Ric, and their sons, Colin and Grant, in La Grange. We had to fit our times together in between the children's schedules of sports and birthday parties, but we succeeded! Sometimes we have to look back at all of the photos to realize that all of this happened in one weekend! We celebrated Sage's birthday at home and Mother's Day as well during our time in Chicago. If we had planned for months, we couldn't have worked out a better plan! Being with family is always a treasured time!