Whirlwind

We've had a crazy, truly crazy, last few weeks.

We had a scheduled trip to Chicago/Milwaukee. Pat went golfing in Scotland with his Dad for a week, so Paddy and I went to visit family.

The two of us drove to Chicago on Friday - our first trip in the car just the two of us. It was fairly uneventful, though long. We stopped a couple times to ease the pain for Paddy. Riding backwards, alone it the backseat, for 6 hours is more than he can handle.

Saturday I went to Notre Dame with my Dad and brothers to watch the game. We had a nice time, saw a victory, and most importantly didn't get rained on. The next day I went to the White Sox - Tampa Bay game at the Cell with Patrick, Kristin and Lisa. We were treated to a 1 hour rain delay (we stayed in the car) and then beautiful weather for the entire game. We were lucky enough to see the White Sox one win in the '08 playoffs.

The rest of the week brought lots of running around. We got to spend time with Aidan, Mia, Audrey and Quinn. We spent time with Grandma Mary. We were lucky enough to visit Grandpa Frank twice. We finally made our way to Milwaukee on Friday evening (we were REALLY late).

In Milwaukee we got to spend time with Grace and Rollie as well as Mema, Uncle Ed, Aunt Angela and Aunt Anne. Pat and his Dad returned to Milwaukee Saturday evening in time to say "Night Night" to Paddy. Pat, Paddy and I jumped in the car Sunday morning to return to St. Paul. We weren't in the car a half hour when my Mom called to let us know Grandpa Frank had died that morning. Sad, sad news, though not unexpected. We had to stop in the Wendy's parking lot because I was driving, and that wasn't a good idea.

We got back to St. Paul, started laundry, and started packing again. We returned to Milwaukee on Wednesday for the wake and funeral service on Thursday and Friday. Though no one wants to go home for something so sad, it was good to be able to spend some time with our families. We decided to stay the weekend in Milwaukee and returned to St. Paul on Sunday.

So here we sit, for a couple days at least. We leave again on Fridy to drive to Milwaukee where we will drop Paddy off at Mema and Papa's for the weekend. Pat and I will then drive to Chicago on Saturday where we'll meet up with lots of family at the airport to head to Virginia for Diana and Sunny's wedding. We're both super excited for the wedding, and, for our first weekend sans Paddy.

We'll return to Chicago on Monday morning, drive to Milwaukee, pick up Paddy, and drive to St. Paul. My poor little car has gotten a lot of miles in the last couple of weeks.

Our poor little guy has been through the ringer travelling. He's been a champ though. Hopefully he'll keep his happy disposition through the rest of the madness. He'll get a little break and then we'll begin again at the holiday season!