B+C+B+C+B+C: Chicago Trip Recap

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Chicago Trip Recap

Well, I say "Chicago" trip - but we actually spent just as much time in Michigan, and a bit in Indiana. So maybe we'll call it.... The Great Lakes trip! Or Lake Michigan Trip!

Or...escaping the children for the weekend!
Really though, I'm not even sure how exactly we decided to do this...

I mean, it was pretty simple I guess... one evening in July-ish, Brian was reading the blog of our friend Jeremy Van Tress, talking about his battle with

ALS.
It was super sad, yet inspiring.

Brian said, "let's go visit him!" and I said, "um. ok...I'll go see how much flights are. Maybe we can use my Southwest reward miles." And I looked it up, found a good deal, and booked it! Well, after checking with Jeremy's wife Courtney. She was all for it.

We decided to keep it a surprise for Jeremy. Here's Jeremy's blog post about our visit: https://jeremyvantress.wordpress.com/2017/10/07/surprise/ It's such an incredible feeling to know I made a difference in someone's life. Someone who likely doesn't have much life left on this earth.
But boy, you wouldn't know it by the way he lives!! He's all positive, humble, grateful, and just - HAPPY! Praying for miracles for that faithful family. It just breaks my heart to know his sweet kids won't get to know him like I did - so physically strong and capable. Life is so unfair and hard sometimes. But I'm glad this poster gave Jeremy the message I wanted him to have from me.

On to the rest of our trip.
Well, starting with Day 1, hanging out in Downtown Chicago! Mostly at Navy Pier. It was SO great! We rented bikes and cruised around Lake Michigan area. Brian loved seeing the sports stadiums. Lots of interesting art and architecture everywhere. TONS of diversity... we'd walk down a street and hear 10 languages going on! We were going to stay downtown but accidentally cancelled our reservation (long funny story on that one...it was Brian's fault!! :) So we ended up staying at a cheap scary place a bit outside of downtown. It was half hilarious, half horrifying.

After our visit with Jeremy we drove through Gary Indiana because I had a weird fascination with and intense desire to check out this place that is supposed to be one of the most dangerous cities in the US and most economically depressed. Well it lived up to my expectations! It was crazy! Boarded and busted up businesses, no signs of a healthy economy, no diversity (100% black - we drove thru several neighborhoods), dogs roaming around, women in super inaprop clothing walking around lotsa smoking and drinking.... wow.
It was like another world.

Made me so grateful for the relative "bubble" I get to live and raise my babies in.
Then ON TO MICHIGAN! (after a bazillion toll booths - what gives?! So glad we don't deal with those on our side of the country!)
I got to cross 3 states off my bucket list! This was the major motivation for us to take the trip to Michigan at first...but man, I had NO idea what we were in for! This little beach town of New Buffalo is just fantastic!! Awesome beaches - totally felt like I was at the ocean. And we had the WHOLE place to ourselves!

Brian made that comment to a hotel staff and she was like, "Um, yeah. Most people are working and in school right now. It's September. Plus it's usually cold by now. You got lucky with this weather."
It was seriously magical. We just roamed the huge beaches, cool wooden walkways, lifeguard tower, lighthouses, and of course I had to journey far out onto the wall of big slippery rocks. To feed my need for rebellion. Going beyond the "stop" sign does that for me too. Well it's not that I need to rebel...I'm just pretty certain that's where all the adventures are to be had!

And I was right! Such a perfect Michigan introduction. Better than visiting Detroit I'm guessing ;)
Our hotel was so great. We could've stayed in a Hampton/Hilton/Best Western for slightly cheaper, but I love NOT staying at chains. They're all the same. Local inns are so much more interesting.
My favorite part was riding our beach cruiser bikes around the town. The hotel provided them, so cool! Loved it. So free-ing. In a perfect world, I'd never drive. I'd get to ride my bike everywhere.
Brian was jazzed to find a super legit little Italian restaurant. And a drink called "DANG!" I picked up a bunch of great take-home gifts for Mom, Mere, Meg, and a little magnet for us :)
Finishing up with some cool panoramic shots from Brian's phone. Still getting the hang of how to do those right.

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Quotes I want to remember

"The Lord knows our bearing capacity, both as to coping and to comprehending, and He will not give us more to bear than we can manage at the moment, though to us it may seem otherwise. Just as no temptations will come to us from which we cannot escape or which we cannot bear, we will not be given more trials than we can sustain."
- Neal A. Maxwell

"It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence."
-Ezra Taft Benson

“Perhaps there has never been a time when we had greater need to pray and to teach our family members to pray. Prayer is a defense against temptation. It is through earnest and heartfelt prayer that we can receive the needed blessings and the support required to make our way in this sometimes difficult and challenging journey we call mortality.”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. And bear your testimony! Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.
-Jeffrey R. Holland

"We hold in our arms the rising generation. They come to this earth with important responsibilities and great spiritual capacities. We cannot be casual in how we prepare them. Our challenge as parents and teachers is not to create a spiritual core in their souls but rather to fan the flame of their spiritual core already aglow with the fire of their premortal faith."
-Neil L. Andersen

"Certainly there are times when getting the family together to read the scriptures does not stack up as a spiritual experience worthy of a journal entry. But we must not be deterred. There are special times when the spirit of a son or daughter is just right and the power of these great scriptures goes down into their heart like fire. As we honor our Heavenly Father in our homes, He will honor our efforts."
-Neil L. Andersen

President Hinckley admonished both men and women to be nurturers. He said, ‘How much more beautiful would be the society in which we live if every father . . . and . . . mother regarded [their] children . . . as gifts from the God of heaven . . . and brought them up with true affection in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord.’ ”
-Susan W. Tanner

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former U.S. president George Bush, spoke wisely: 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "
-Gordon B. Hinckley

“I give counsel to husbands and wives. Pray for the love which allows you to see the good in your companion. Pray for the love that makes weaknesses and mistakes seem small. Pray for the love to make your companion’s joy your own. Pray for the love to want to lessen the load and soften the sorrows of your companion.”
-Henry B. Eyring

“Reverent behavior is not a natural tendency for most children. It is a quality that is taught by parents and leaders through example and training. But remember, if reverence is rooted in love, so is the teaching of it. Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence.”
-Margaret S. Lifferth

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else."
- M. Russell Ballard

“As parents, we should remember that our lives may be the book from the family library which the children most treasure. Are our examples worthy of emulation? Do we live in such a way that a son or a daughter may say, ‘I want to follow my dad,’ or ‘I want to be like my mother’?”
-Thomas S. Monson

“Security for our families comes from learning self-control, avoiding the excesses of this world, and being temperate in all things.”
-Kent D. Watson

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Chicago Trip Recap

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