The last few days have been a blur. A blur of movers and unpacking and going to the grocery store everyday and building IKEA beds. It’s starting to feel slightly less chaotic around our apartment now. There are always those moments, when I move, when I feel so overwhelmed by the stuff. I just have…

Brian sent these photos – somewhere not too far from our apartment – can’t remember where he told me. My next post will be from our new home!

I’ve had a lump in my throat for about a week now. Saying good-bye to familiar things and people – why is it so hard? The roadside flowers were so colorful, so pretty driving away from Midland. We leave tomorrow. I can’t write anymore because it will just start me crying again and besides I…

We are wrapping up our time in Michigan. We’ll head back to Wilmette soon to finish up a few things and say a last good-bye to our friends and then we finally move to Zurich next week. Here are a some photos from this nice week with Grandma C.:

We found out yesterday that our shipment of stuff won’t arrive until the day the girls and I arrive in Switzerland. The plan was for the stuff to be there before we got there, but I guess things don’t always work out. Poor Brian has been living in a very sparse apartment, he is ready…

We dug out the slide projector and the boxes of slides at mom’s house. The girls were really interested in loading the slides in the projector and pushing the button to advance the picture. Later mom and Jennifer and I kept the girls awake with our roaring laughter. So fun to see those old photos…

Mom planned a wonderful road trip to upper Michigan for us. We saw all the sights and I renewed my appreciation for up North. We headed up on Monday, stopping in Mackinac City and Fort Michilimackinac. Then we drove over the Mackinac Bridge and stayed in St. Ignace. The next day we took a ferry…

The girls and I are enjoying some family time in Michigan before we head to Switzerland. We were lucky to be able to go to grandma’s 94th birthday party and see lots of cousins and aunts and uncles and so many of grandma’s beautiful great-grandchildren.  Here a few of my favorite photos: Everybody line up…

Bea has this sweet little friend and she is a gem of a friend. Her name is Mabel. Claire has friends too and they are special girls, but Mabel is different because Mabel has helped Bea through some incredibly difficult times. When Bea was paralyzed with fear Mabel was the one who could make her…

Paris on the Prairie – that’s what Daniel Burnham, visionary behind Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, nicknamed The Plan of Chicago. We took the girls and Bea’s best friend Mabel down to the city to do the excellent Chicago Architecture Foundation river tour on Thursday. I’ve been on the tour a few time and each…