The Chicago insanity move has gone well so far. Sarah and I are trying to make our way, heads down and into the wind. Ruby is a trouper, she’s too young to know what’s going on. Evelyn is doing great. She hasn’t mentioned Ella or any of her friends back home in Cincinnati too much, but I’m sure she’ll get around to it eventually.
Tips: Things to Consider when moving your young family to Chicago:
1. The Heat. If you have an apartment, they don’t generally come with window units. In Cincinnati, they’re provided by the owner of the property. In Chicago, they go where the tenant goes. We weren’t told this. We’re all still sleeping in the same room with the 1976 window unit we found upside down in the closet. Cardboard on the edges keeps the outside air from coming in and further inflating our air matresses.
2. The Height. If you have small children and plan on moving in a hurry, or at any speed, for that matter, get a place on the first floor. Two crying and tired children along with groceries are not fun up 3 flights of stairs.
3. The Dogs. Everyone in Chicago has a dog. Even more than NYC from what I can tell. If you get a dog, make sure you refer to yourself as a “pet parent.”
4. The Distance. We tried to go to a church that, according to google maps was “22 miles” away. We hadn’t learned the “chicago trip planner formula” yet, and were completely late to mass. We’re so stupid because the “Chicago Trip Planner” formula is so easy. To figure out how many hours a trip will be in Chicago, simply take the distance in miles and change the word “miles” to “hours”. 22 miles magically becomes, “22 hours.”
5. The Non-Handicap-Friendly-CTA. In a city that prides itself on not allowing Wal-Mart into the city, you’d be amazingly surprised at how little of the city is actually handicapped accessible. Of course my main beef is that we’re pushing strollers around the city and everytime we want to take an “el” train, we have to unbuckle the girls and get them out and fold up the stroller and lug them up the stairs. But of course I like to complain by saying, “What are you supposed to do if you’re confined to a wheel chair!!!!????!” In the battle of handicapped accessability, NYC wins hands down. If you want to live in a big urban city and have a stroller, move to NYC.
P.S. Here is a picture I found from our trip to Chicago 2 years ago. Happy on the “el”.
4 Comments
at 9:01 am - 7th August 2006 Permalink
So I think I might have seen you guys on Sunday afternoon. Bobbi & I were walking east on Belmont at about 5 or 5:30 p.m., on our way to North Halsted Market Days, a big annual street festival in Boystown. You were going the opposite direction, pushing a double stroller, I think. I was going to turn around and say hi (if it was, in fact, you guys), but we were in a pretty big crowd of people, and I didn’t want to look like a goof, forcing my way through the throng yelling, “Jayson! Sarah!”
Of course, this is completely irrelevant if it wasn’t you. Anyway, I hope you guys are getting settled in OK. Hopefully you had a chance to get out and enjoy the weather this weekend. Take care!
at 9:25 pm - 7th August 2006 Permalink
Yes it was us! And I saw you too. I thought to myself, “That’s Amber!” but you were wearing sunglasses and I didn’t realize it until we were past you and figured it couldn’t have been you otherwise you would’ve turned around! My best friend Dale lives right near there and we had just finished buying some shoes at DSW.
at 9:48 am - 8th August 2006 Permalink
Hahaha. How funny! That was exactly my chain-of-thought too. It’s like it didn’t hit me until a few seconds after I had already passed by. And then I wasn’t sure. But I’m glad you guys found DSW — that’s an important location to know.
And next time I’ll definitely turn around and yell.
at 7:20 am - 19th September 2006 Permalink
I never thought about the handicap inaccessibility of the El. Weird.
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