Clouds over Chicago

The part of the midwest that we were in  has seen some crazy weather over the last 24 hours. We had been staying at a hotel just outside of Madison, and last night a crazy rain & hail storm blew through in about 10-15 minutes. Abe and I watched most of it from our window - lots of thunder & lightening, as well as so much hail that it looked like a very light covering of snow on the ground. Today we saw rain on and off all day, but mostly in the form on sun showers. And it was never heavy, driving rain, but very fine, light raindrops. We passed through Chicago just a little while ago as the sun was starting to go down, and I really can't remember ever seeing clouds like what we saw. It's very overcast outside, but with many layers of thick, puffy clouds. But the most interesting thing is that there were a few breaks in the clouds with the brightest sunshine streaming through. It was so remarkable that we took a quick detour off of the highway to the southernmost point of Lake Michigan just so I could get a few pictures. I'm not an expert photographer by any means, but this is what I captured.
 

And this one I got hanging out the car window as we drove towards Gary, Indiana:

I guess after a weekend that started with such a scare, it was nice to "see the light".

April 4

Today was the last day of our visit to Wisconsin - Ruth has gotten more alert and more talkative each day, and today was the best so far. We got to talk with some of her doctors today as well as the hospital's case worker about insurance issues and treatment plans. Thankfully Abe's brother and sister live locally and are able to take time off of work this week to help Ruth and Wayne through this experience. We both wish we could do more to help, but we know they're in good hands with Heather & Zach (thanks guys!).

We had a little McDonald's picnic in Grandma's room for lunch today.

Riley and Jonah got some Badger gear for the summer at a quick stop to Target last night... Riley's sporting his shirt today. The only reason he's standing so perfectly still A is because I promised him an M&M if he let me take his picture!

April 3

Many more hours of playing at the  hospital today! Abe's Aunt Sandy & Uncle Chuck also came for a visit late this morning.

Jonah enjoyed his breakfast & milk on a very fancy plate this morning.

Grandpa had a couple of new toys for the boys this morning - Riley's was a battery-operated bus, so he spent most of the day following it up and down the hallway.

Jonah having a snuggle with Uncle Zach.

Someone who looks like they're about to get into trouble!

Riley's enjoying a show on Daddy's computer.

Sharing toys with Uncle Zach...

Climbing down from Aunt Heather's lap.

Jonah loves to pull his shoes and socks off, and then play with the socks. He usually gets them one at a time, but before I changed him for bed tonight he decided to tackle both at the same time!

I know they'll probably never read this, but the weekend nurses at Ruth's hospital were just amazing. So kind and attentive, and very welcoming of the chaos that our family brought to the floor. Thank you, Jen and Amy!

April 2

We had a great drive out to Wisconsin last night... we made it in 15.5 hours, which is our best time ever. The boys each slept for about 10 hours in the car, but even though we were sharing the driving, Abe and I each only slept for about 3 hours. In the morning we stopped for breakfast just north of Chicago and then made the last leg of the trip up to Portage, WI where Ruth is in the hospital. We found out that in addition to the broken ankle and shoulder blade she also had 7 cracked ribs. She was on a lot of pain medication, but was happy to see us and the boys.

Riley had a snack in the waiting area while Grandma napped.

This is the hallway of the ICU - the boys made hundreds of laps up and down this hallway over the course of the weekend!

Riley thought wrapping himself up in the curtain of his Grandma's room was hysterical!

Jonah is checking out some of the cars we brought along.

April 1

I have to say that the large snowflakes that were falling this morning were a very cruel April Fool's joke, but I'm so thankful it turned out to be nothing by the end of the day. This morning I headed to the gym with the boys while Abe hung out at home with the Fritch service man who was out for a routine checkup of our HVAC system. After he was done, we headed to Billy's Downtown Diner for lunch to check out some of his new menu items - yum! I took a couple of quick pictures in the afternoon of the boys involved in their usual hi-jinx:

Around 5:45 tonight we got a call from Abe's sister telling us that his brother and mother had been involved in a serious fall that afternoon (scaffolding collapse at the house they're working on). We decided right away to make the drive to Wisconsin to see them and were out the door 30 minutes later. Here are pics of the 4 of us as we started our drive. Since Jonah is rear-facing, all I could see were his feet!

So far the diagnosis is that Ruth has a broken ankle and a broken shoulder blade, and Zach has a sprained ankle and possible ligament damage. Please keep both of them in your prayers!

March 31

Today we headed to the boys' friend Will's house for a PJ playdate! Riley insisted on wearing his clothes, but the rest of the kids came dressed in their PJ's and the mommies came in comfy clothes - definitely a relaxing morning!

It's the end of another month already! Total photo count for this month... 706!

March 30

This morning we headed out to get Riley's haircut. He needed a little more hand-holding today than usual, but his stylist did a great job!

Abe and Jonah hanging out during the cut... Jonah obviously didn't want to be held anymore!

He always gets to pick out a lollipop at the end of his haircuts... such a big decision picking a color!

After his haircut we made our usual stop at LL Bean to check out the fish tank and ride the demo tricycles. Riley was a lot better at riding this time than the last time we were here!

Riley loves to use our computers to "do his letters". He's already learned to spell Riley, Jonah, Mommy, Daddy, and Nanny, and is working on learning some of his friends names too.