Over a year

 It had been a year since I had been back to Chicago. Here are some highlights of the trip.

FAMILY

Visits with Kate and Pat

Cousins Eddie and Henry

Mornings with Oma and Opa and Cousin Henry

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Sporting Aunt Paula's cute PJs

Learning tricks from Cousin Eddie

Finding the sales with Oma

Trips to the Park

Convincing Jack that Madeline
will not poop on him (even though she looks like
she's in the act).

Pajama Day with the cousins

Cousin Bonding Time

Oma's fashion show

Hanging with some girl cousins

FRIENDS

Meeting the neighbors

Meeting Marge, the one who took care of me when I was a baby

Crissie!

JoJo!

The Lewen Family (without David)
Kim, Sandina, Benciana, and Shishi

Here's one with David (and Sandina)

We didn't take pictures of all of our visits - so sad! Next time, we must remember to get them all!

WELCOMING

FIELD TRIPS

Corn Maze

Corn Maze #2

Petting Zoo

Brookfield Zoo

At the Museum of Science and Industry,
the German Christmas Tree from
the Christmas Around the World exhibit

The Swiss Christmas Tree 

Zoo lights at Lincoln Park Zoo

More from Zoo Lights

Yes, we went shopping on Black Friday! :(

The Shedd
(coming soon...)
Garfield Park Conservatory
(coming soon...)

HALLOWEEN

Halloween Outfit #1

Halloween Outfit #2 (Boo from Monsters Inc.)

Sully, Mike Wazowski, and Boo

Trick-or-treating...

Trick-or-treating with the Wiora's

Getting treats from the Witch (aka Patty Hanzie)

EDDIE'S BIRTHDAY

 

THANKSGIVING

Madeline won her first and only game of Left Right Center!

Sad to say good-bye...

     

Journey to the States

Moving away from the town that I fell in love with as I became a mother was challenging. I didn't realize how hard it would be to say goodbye to Tuebingen and my friends there. To add to those emotions, I had to mentally (and physically) prepare for a 6-week trip to Chicago which began with a 9+ hour flight with a colicky 3-month-old baby. I was a mess the last few days in Tuebingen.

Our journey started horribly when we arrived at the train station to find out that the Deutsche Bahn (the German train system) was on strike and we couldn't get to Zurich via the train.

We ended up traveling from Tuebingen, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland in a cab! The staff at the Deutsche Bahn told us we would get reimbursed for the cab fare (460 euros), but we still have yet to receive it. :(

This is Madeline and me with all of our stuff we were taking with us! This was our last time in our apartment in Tuebingen.

Our little trooper actually had a smile on her face when we finally arrived in our hotel room at the Zurich airport...

I have no pictures from Madeline on her first flight as I was in pure survival mode. But, we made it and it was all worth it to get to see family and friends!

My aunt Paula picked us up at the airport.