South Bend

I got home from my week with my brother and sister-in-law and nephew. I had so so much fun. I got there last thursday, and left yesterday, wednesday.
Liz and Connor picked me up on Thursday in Chicago. Then we attempted the city for a couple hours. Lesson learned: never drive in Chicago. They are crazy drivers. We went shopping for a bit and walked around some. Oh, wait on the way from the airport to the city I was playing with Connor and took his pacifier out of his mouth. He got MAD. We are talking seriously angry. He screamed for 20 or 30 minutes, and would not console. He is a determined kid. I don't think we got off to the best start :)
On Friday we went to campus. The weather forcast said 10% chance of rain, so we decided to risk it. Of course it rained the whole walk there. We got soaked, but we had fun. We walked all through Notre Dame. It is a beautiful campus. Very very religious. On top of the gold dome, which I think is on top of the administration building, is a big gold Virgin Mary. BYU doesn't have anything like that. We do have a naked indian statue. Everyone at ND has a ridiculous amount of school pride. Apparently everyone wears ND attire everyday, not just on game days. And, ND is almost a world in itself. The whole city of South Bend is centered around ND games. It is weird.
On Saturday we went to the church and watched conference x2. Luckily we were able to go into the RS room and let Connor play while we watched. It was a nice relaxing day on Saturday.
Sunday was similar to Saturday except we listed to conference over the internet instead of going to the church. We all took a 2 hour nap in between sessions, which was pretty much the best. Sunday night we played Uno Attack after Connor went to bed. By this point Connor likes me pretty well, but is still a little nervous about me holding him.
Monday was great, we went shopping at DSW, Steve & Barry's, Old Navy and Meijer (groceries). Steve & Barry's is awesome. Everything is really inexpensive. It is amazing. Liz got Connor a costume at Old Navy that is super cute on him.
On Tuesday Liz, Connor and I braved the train to go to Chicago. Connor enjoyed the first couple hours of the train, but it lost its allure after awhile. We had an awesome day in the city. We went to the Aquarium, Planetarium, Zoo and shopping. Everything was free except the shopping. It was great fun. The Aquarium was our favorite, the fish were so cool. The Zoo was great as well, we saw all sorts of animals.
We took the subway between attractions. We didn't get to take "the L" but that is okay, I got my fill of public transit. As we left H&M (yeah!) we had to run back to the train. Literally. We got to the train with about 5 minutes to spare (whew!). Had we missed the train we would have been in the city for a couple more hours. Eek.
Wednesday was another day of travel, Liz and Connor took me to the airport in Indianapolis, a 3+ hour drive. Then, they had to turn around and drive back home. Connor wasn't entirely thrilled about the experience. However, he did enjoy watching people at the airport. I flew from Indianapolis to Phoenix. That is a long flight! I spent a couple hours in the Phoenix airport then flew to SLC. A much more manageable flight. I have decided I love Jet Blue. Southwest does not have any TV screens. I have a hard time sleeping on planes, and can't really get interested in reading on planes. So, I sit and stare at the seat in front of me. Jet Blue has live TV. It is nice. In Phoenix I actually re-met this guy I had met a couple months ago. It was crazy. He and his sister were flying home, so I sat by them on the flight home. We had a good time.

All in all, the trip was great. It was so fun to talk to Liz so much. Connor actually liked me quite a bit by the end of the trip. Although, I seriously disturbed his sleep patterns (sorry!). I got to see Chris in the evenings which was great. He studies a TON. Good job Chris. And, I got to experience the joy of even more forms of public transportation. Yes!

I love spending time with Liz, Chris and Connor. I need to go out there more often.