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1.06.2011

rocktown revisited.


rockford, il. will always have a special place in my heart.
my first 18 years were spent in that midwestern town after all.
and there's nothing quite like going home again.


so, the day after christmas, i headed out at an ungodly hour and made my way to the airport.
there was only one thing that tried to get me down.
the flu.
nothing quite like throwing up more times than you can count in airport trash cans, airplane, and on the side of the road with your family watching from the backseat as you make your way home from the airport.

even when i thought i was going to die, recovery did show it's lovely face.
i made my way up from my parents' couch and was able to reconnect with the outside world again.

i hung out with my favorite high school girlies, played with my adorable niece Fiona, took my nephew Jayden to pick out a new book at borders (i'm trying to get him into reading early...readers are leaders after all), saw my favorite lil' kristi's new house (adorable), and dined on portillo's with her, her hubs dan, and mama judy. oh and got my hair cut, hence the straightness.

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i couldn't come home to such a winter wonderland and not go sledding!
sledding= my favorite winter activity for sure.
jayden, lele, and i braved the frigid temps and took to the hills.
good times were had by all.
well, minus lele falling on jayden and me pushing his sled into a tree.
whoops.
good thing he's semi resilient (minus a couple sob fests).

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in general, it was just great to be around family.
i like to call this first picture new school vs. old school.

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guess who came to visit me????
none other than mr. lesley!
hooray for hometown visits (bachelor reference intended).

i picked him up from the train station in chicago and we headed out to the shedd aquarium.
little did we know about 1 million of our closest friends would also join us.
you know you really love fish when you're willing to wait over an hour to see them...

we loved walking around, looking at all the amazing creatures, and sometimes making up voices for them.

we even brought mr. gnome along for the adventure!

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once we made our way back to rockford, it was time to meet the parents!
mr. lesley received rave reviews...obviously!

the next morning we feasted on my dad's pancakes and went on a little rocktown adventure...
the main stops included:
-my old school (12 years baby!)
-the rockford symbol (duh)
-my childhood home (tear)

he was on the edge of his seat the entire time i can assure you.

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then there was new years eve.
what. a. night.
it started with some hibachi goodness at JMK...
then to Lele and Zack's for a generally ridiculous good time.
oh, and i can't forget to mention that before we left my parents house for the night jayden and mr. lesley constructed the most beautiful lego castle in the land.
in jayden's words, "nick is my best friend."
overhearing them chat it up was one of the sweetest sounds ever.

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and one last thing...
i might of had my first new year's kiss of life that night.
i can't decide where that puts me on the "weird for my age" scale.
either way, i was pretty happy:)

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the last day in rockford consisted of...

-swedish pancakes at stockholm (obviously)
-quality time with gino tripodi (a.k.a. the happiest baby on the PLANET!)
-more quality time with gino's parents (love them!)
-and a hilarious game of apples to apples with the family
(highlight: my dad and my ability to pick each others cards every time:)
(quote of the night: jayden: "hannah, i hate to say it, but can i take my shirt off.")

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it was a perfect week.
(well minus the whole flu incident)


rockford, you will always have a piece of my heart.


xoxo

3 comments:

  1. Oh Hannah! I loved your blog post. I drive by your home on Quentin every day. (memories) Happy New Year - Much love.

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  2. this makes me miss you. a lot. a lot.

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  3. This was perfect. You are great. :)

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