Chicago

On our way to Ohio from Wisconsin, back when we closed on our house in July, we stopped in Chicago.

We visited the Hancock Tower.  (We'd been there before.  But it was a long time ago, so David and especially Mary did not remember.)  It's pretty neat feeling like you're on top of the world.

We have also been to the Willis-formerly-known-as-Sear Tower.  It's taller, as you probably know, and the Skydeck is pretty cool.  But you can't beat the location of the Hancock Tower--right next door to the Lego and the American Girl stores!

The next morning we visited the Field Museum.  (Pictures are M.I.A.)  We said hi to Sue the T-Rex and visited a number of the exhibits.  David and Mary especially enjoyed the precious gems on display.  We have been dragging them to museums for years (mostly for our sanity than for their enjoyment), but now David and Mary are getting old enough to really "get" museums.  It's great.

After the Field, we climbed back into our cars and drove to Cincinnati to begin a new chapter.

Campus

Greg's diploma is framed.

Sadly, that's all the formality he's getting for his PhD.  There was no commencement in August.  So we planned to go back to Wisconsin for graduation in May (and swing up to Door County).  But with his deployment, he'll be on the other side of the world in May.  So then we decided we would go to graduation in December, which is the Sunday before Christmas.  But now he has Evasion and Conduct After Capture training in San Antonio next week.  Darn.  Greg doesn't get to walk and be hooded.  (And I don't get to see my friends.)  But he has a diploma!  And spot on the wall in his office!  (Not that he'll be in his office for much of the next year...)

It would have been nice to go back to campus.

But we did go to campus for a final family outing right before we moved.  It was very hot and humid that day in Madison.  Today in Ohio there is snow on the ground and school was cancelled.  It was an entirely different season back when we moved.  It's been months...over four months.  That's like a third of a year.  Why do I feel like we're still brand new?

Anyway, here is a walk down memory lane ... pictures from campus that I would swear were taken just a few weeks ago ... but it was the end of July ... back when Sara wasn't quite seven months old and David just  barely eight and Mary's sixth birthday was ages away still.

Time marches on.