Bye

It was sad having to say goodbye to Chicago, but even sadder having to say goodbye to my sis and Piao. As if the city isn't already so special to us, it's now even more special because we got to share it with them- whether it's stuffing our faces silly with signature Chicago foods (Al's Italian Beef, Hot Doug's, & La Pasadita) or just the neighborhoods and architecture that we have come to love so much over the years (see Andersonville and the historical buildings along Michigan Avenue), it was just awesome spending time with people we love in our most favorite city.

Plus the fact that Sophie clearly had a whale of a time throughout the vacation- she was all wide-eyed and curious, just soaking in all the new sights and novel sounds, and oohing and aahing a lot in the process. We're convinced her senses were on overload from just standing in the middle of Michigan Avenue. And to top it off, [deliberate alliteration warning!], Sophie chose going to Chicago to commence crawling! She doesn't quite have all her limbs working in coordination yet but she's definitely got the crawling mojo working. I suspect sometime this week, our daughter's going to be launching herself across the room...

We're all going to miss my sis and Piao- the past 10 days with them has been so precious in the most wonderful way-- real morning breakfasts (as opposed to scarfing cereal while standing over the kitchen sink), seeing Ann Arbor afresh through the eyes of visitors, having lovely photos of Sophie taken, and just solid quality Sophie cuddling/snuggling time-- and it's going to be hard having to wait till December to see them again... :(