morton arboretum

Our recent long weekend trip to Chicago was a full one. 

It was full of good family visits, good quiet memories, 

heartfelt conversations, and full of autumn color. 

We were fortunate enough to spend an afternoon at the Morton Arboretum. The grounds spread forever and walking through the trees was very relaxing. We marveled at the colors and the smells of the woods quickly brought back memories of childhood in the midwest, for both of us. I found myself humming Girl Scout tunes in my head, because I was suddenly sent back to those days, traipsing through the woods singing catchy tunes with a bunch of happy campers!

We had a bit of a hike from the parking area and most of the trees we passed were green. I was hoping we weren't going to be disappointed that the leaves hadn't started changing. Until I caught a glimpse of this... peeking through the green pines.

             And then we got to the welcome area and saw this incredible fall display. I was happy!

                We started our way through the rest of the park, seeing one pretty tree after another.

                   And to make it even more special...a few late bloomers still smiling up at us.
                                                The bees were happy too!

We had plenty of time to talk about the reason for our trip and shared alot of good family stories. The day before we had driven up to the northern suburbs of Chicago, where my family lived many years ago. Our family heritage is there and we were fortunate to have made a discovery while there. (I'll save that for another post). We visited with my Aunt in her beautiful victorian house and also spent some quiet time near family members who are greatly missed by all. Chuck and I enjoyed reflecting on the day while leisurely walking through acres and acres of trees. If the sky were blue that day (or any of the days we were there) it would have been the icing on the cake, but hey...it's the midwest and overcast skies are expected. It was temperatly mild and balmy for the end of October. Quite ideal!

                                                          Love these sidewalks!

                          Is this a great color or what?

           This was such a peaceful swampy pond. I loved the small little peek of red... peeking out.

                                           So berry pretty. Of course I had to.

                                           We could knot help but notice this little creature.

                          Green or red? Both so pretty.

                              Yep...we wanted to lay down in the leaves for just a little while.

                                           This one is just outstanding in its field!

                I really love this photo. The layers of color go on and on and it just looks so delicate.

                                                         And then this rich beauty.

             I think the dark branches intersecting though the leaf color is such a lovely contrast.

                                                                            Perfect.

                        The soft color sprinkling behind this green tree... Isn't nature something?

We walked all the way to the end of the park and were not disappointed at all. We were told the maples were beautiful towards the back of the park and they were. There were a lot of families and groups taking photos. Probably some pretty wonderful Christmas card moments happening that day. We took a few of each other and tried some infamous selfies. For some reason...we have a little trouble doing that. I won't be sharing all of those here, but our kids got a little enjoyment from the goofy shots we texted to them. I just don't know how they can get such good selfie shots when they do it. Us...

Okay...we did finally get one that was decent.

All of these photos will remind us of our weekend in Chicago and of all the family moments shared there. We are happy we were able to connect with his cousins and share memories with them. We thank them for having us and to Beata...thank-you for sharing your pass for our afternoon at the arboretum!

After our visit there we drove around Chuck's old neighborhood where he grew up. I've heard stories forever and after all this time it was nice to see where all those "growing-up years" happened!

So, just a little tidbit... Chuck and I were both born in different suburbs of Chicago. His family moved from Illinois to Albuquerque when he was fifteen. My family, leaving Illinois when I was in kindergarten moved to Kansas, then Texas, then Ohio, then back to Texas and then on to Albuquerque when I was a senior in high school. We met each other in an art class at UNM our first semester of college. Four years later, when standing in front of the clerk to get our marriage license, she looked at our birth certificates and said "Oh, you two are childhood sweethearts." We said no, we met in college. She insisted that we most certainly had to be childhood sweethearts because...as she turned our birth certificates around towards us, she said..."well...have you ever noticed this?" We have the same county clerks signature on our birth certificates. Born within 3 months of each other, in the same county, we have the same county clerk signature.

All together now..."awwwwww!"