Good News- the Fam's Still Intact

And, we just came back from an amazing weekend in Chicago. We had bought tickets to see the "Tut" at the Field Museum last Spring, and the trip finally came over the past weekend. We did the whole town: museums, restaurants, shopping, theater, parks, and buildings (I am an architect, first and foremost). Watched the start-off of the marathon, then sat through the traffic leaving town on Sunday. We were lucky, overall, as we are all early risers and got good starts to each of our days. It was a long weekend for the local schools, so we spent a full four days there. Still not enough to see everything, but better than a typical weekend. One of the best and most treasured times I've had the chance to spend with the nuclear-family for a long time.
One of the reasons its still "fully intact" is that I ended up turning down the great job offer in Philly the week before. It was a tough decision, and I have been second guessing it ever sense, but I am confidant it was the right decision to make. The biggest part of the decision was coming down to the timing of the offer. They needed me to be down there by the 20th. of Nov., which would for sure mean that it would be a split relocation between me and my wife. I would have to go first, leaving her here, alone, to deal with both taking care of the kids, and all their 'thousands' of activities, and selling the house. In this softening market, the idea of a Winter sale was not looking promising. Plus, we weren't really looking to relocate when the opportunity came along, so there is some work we would need to get done REALLY fast, probably too fast to fit the time frame they had asked for. So, I had a really good conversation with the CEO of the other firm, and declined the offer. He was really good about it, and took it well. We ended the conversation pretty open-ended. While he couldn't guarantee the same position would still be available in the Spring, he said I should for sure call him anyway and see where things were at.
So, we're going to do a lot of work in the coming months. Should be a way to keep ourselves distracted from all the commotion of the impending holidays and cabin fever, as we settle in for the Winter. Hockey starts this weekend, so that will be something new and different as well. I grew up on skates, and now my son (the middle child, and only boy, of three) is old enough to be in community ed. league. He's been on skates before, but Saturday will be the first time fully decked out with all his gear. He gets 1 1/2 hours every weekend, Sat. and Sun., for the next few weeks. I'll let everybody know how that all goes.