Well, after a hectic past few weeks, Susan, Andrew, Newbie, and I are starting to get back into the normal swing of things. Mid-November passed with a whimper, but late November more than made up for it. Here is a little run-down of the crazy past two weeks of our lives.
We were all set to leave for Des Moines on November 23rd for T-giving when I got a call on the previous Sunday (the 21st) from my sister who said that my dad was in the hospital because he was having some chest pains. Anyway, turns out his heart was trying to tell him something. By Wednesday (the 24th) he was doing much better, so Susan, Andrew and I got in the car at 4 in the afternoon on Weds to began the nine hour trip to Des Moines, or should I say La Salle, IL.
Our trip began very well. It was very warm in cincy and partly cloudy. I knew that we were in for some rough weather on the road ahead, but I don’t think that I really knew what we were in for. About an hour into our drive, and also into Indiana, we passed some cars and a semi that had all mysteriously left the highway about 50ft from a massive tree that was lying on the ground. Turns out we narrowly missed a tornado sweeping through the area, that was lucky.
Illinois was not lucky. Not long after we passed through Indy I said to Susan, “The rain looks like snow.” Turns out, it was snow. It wasn’t long before we were going 35 mph and by the time we reached the junction of 55 and 74 in central Illinois we were parked on the highway. We, along with everyone else on the road, were now in search of a hotel. Well, by 1 o’clock in the morning we managed to find one in LaSalle, IL. We had changed routes since 74 was a parking and headed North to find salvation in the form of a Super 8 (with some help from Erin and Nate).
On Thanksgiving morning we woke up to sunny skies and clear roads. By the time we were into Iowa the snow had disappeared from the scene and the rolling hills were blanketed by the sweet sight of old corn stalks.
Soooo, we eventually made it to Des Moines, where we had a great time hanging out with Susan’s family. Andrew got to know (and fear) his cousin Ian. He made tremendous strides in his effort to walk while we were there thanks to plenty of help from the family.
We came back to Cincy on Nov 30 in anticipation of Dec 1 when our new furniture was due to arrive. It came (minus one slip-cover) as scheduled, and it looks great in our living room.
That brings us up to this weekend. Many of my college friends were in town, which is always fun. Friday night we had a nice, relaxing dinner with our friends Simon and Rachel (who are always in town). Saturday night we went to a Christmas party at Holly’s and then after Andrew went to bed I went out and sang some karaoke with friends. It was amazing how people come out of the woodwork when just a few people are going to be in town.
We all went out for breakfast on Sunday and then Susan, Andrew, and I went out and got our christmas tree. It was pretty exciting to get our first tree as a married couple and put it up in our first house.
In the upcoming weeks we have all the normal holiday business, and I look forward to it! ! !