chicago surprise

                                      

We had planned on going to chicago for matt's graduation ceremony. He has been doing school online through Loyola university in chicago for almost 2 years. He is not completely finished but close enough that the program wanted him to walk in the ceremony. He has one more class and his dissertation left and he'll be done this summer~ for good i hope! Matt is so determined to constantly improve himself and his career.

on a second note it has been a stressful couple months. we moved, we're renovating, matt has been gone a ton, i got really sick and have had some stress on top of it all and i really missed ki, scotty and ellie! . i haven't been the most happy and have cried to more than one person. 

cue to this weekend! we flew to chicago. matt's parents were going to drive up and see matt's graduation. i was excited to see them and spend some time with them. we miss all our family! we got there and things started getting suspicious. matt told me he had a surprise, he kept texting on his phone and we were waiting by the hotel and eating lunch across the street and sitting in front of the hotel. i started realizing that i thought the surprise was kiley coming. i didn't know if it was just her and the baby or what but i didn't ruin the surprise. matt's parents got there and while hugging and saying hi to them a cab pulled up and ki and ellie got out! scotty came from around the back with the bags and i couldn't believe i was really seeing them, i yelled and ran to give lots of hugs! matt has it on video

 this was immediately on the street in chicago. i wanted to give ellie a little bit to warm up but she just kept looking at me like i was someone familiar to her. after a few min. i held my arms out to hold her and she let me take her. i was so happy to hold her again. i missed her so much!

 we went into the hotel and got everyone settled. it was a surprise to matt's parents too. they wanted to get something to eat but matt said we should go across the street (again) so we did. i kept saying that this was so perfect i wish caleb was there.

 he was going to be so sad he missed seeing ellie and that we were all here without him. scotty kept saying he'd be fine at the beach all weekend. i told matt i think we should have brought him.
we finished their lunch, walked out of the restaurant and caleb was getting out of a cab! that was a shocker! i was so happy he was there!

 ellie looks sad in this picture but she really wasn't. she loves caleb and warms up quickly

 there are things that you just don't get to see on skype or face time. i love seeing ellie sleep and seeing her wake up in the morning.

 there's the face of happy buddies! he's going to miss her like crazy on his mission!!

 we had so much fun, shopping, eating, hanging out, playing with ellie and talking with family!

                                                all of us at dinner

 i laid with ellie when she just woke up while everyone went down to get breakfast, i think that's my favorite time with her, she's so sweet and funny and talkative!

                                                    brother and sister wrestling, still!

                                                       caleb feeding ellie

        ellie with kathy at graduation. she met both of her great grandma's in the past few months!
then we went to graduation. the weather was not good and none of us except grandpa tim and caleb were prepared. we all freezing! it just meant we didn't wear what we had planned for graduation but it was ok.  the graduation was nice, short and sweet!

 there was a bagpiper. matt loves bagpipes and wants them at his funeral. maybe this will be good enough.

 kiley said she has been at all 3 of her dad's graduations! he now has his PHD!

 afterwards the boys really wanted chicago pizza so we found somewhere with gluten free pizza and it worked out great!

 we went to ghirardelli's and stuffed ourselves! we went to Qdoba, chipotle, panera and weber BBQ! we also went to shedd aquarium which was really great. we haven't been there in many years!!

 it was a short but great weekend! it was so fun to see my kids and hang out with family and love on ellie. i have to say it has buouyed my spirits! i have such a good husband and know that he gets stressed too but that he always wants me happy! the icing on a very good cake was that with all his miles he got us upgraded to first class on the way home. we had 2 legs and the first leg was ok but the second plane from san fran to hawaii was top notch!

 i couldn't even touch the seat in front of me. the seats reclined with a foot rest, we had our own t.v. with movies and tv shows and got sundaes that we chose toppings from a sundae bar. hot fudge of course!! it was really nice! i could fly like that anytime!!

it was such a special, great weekend but it's always nice to come home to hawaii, especially the weather!

thanks matt, it was so special to me and really boosted me up!