With big decisions lying ahead about what to do with Kam's ear, we are desperately seeking some direction. We felt really strongly about the route we chose with Dr. Muntz & Dr. Shelton, which we can't say we regret, but now as we are looking to revise what has been done it's been a lot harder to be confident in our decisions this time around. In our search for answers we came across a conference in Chicago for Microtia Atresia patients. We registered for the conference in April but then were flooded with questions: would the conference be beneficial to our specific circumstances since we've already attempted reconstruction? Is it worth the investment of our time & money? With a thousand questions on our minds, we went back and forth on whether or not we should make this a priority. Finally on the 19th of July (months later & merely weeks before the conference), with a pit in our stomachs, we booked our (very expensive!) flights & (very expensive!) hotel to make it official and then crossed our fingers that it would be worth it.
With an early flight to catch, we spent our first night in Salt Lake. We invited Ellie (Kambri's cousin) to tag along. To say they were excited would be an understatement. They spent days researching Chicago & made a whole list of things they wanted to see & do.
We were a little nervous to be exploring the city with two little girls in tow but we made it onto the subway and downtown without a hitch. Hallelujah!
CHICAGO! Little girls. Big city.
We had done our research and opted to walk instead of renting a car for a couple of reasons: 1. Traffic 2. Parking was $70/day at our hotel. Ouch! While walking was a wise decision, we spent a lot of time walking - we averaged 5-6 miles every day. We had a good system walking two by two, hand in hand everywhere we went.
It was a few miles from the subway station to our hotel, add a million people and the 4 of us dragging our luggage behind, not to mention google maps zig zag directions, it took us a long time to get to our hotel so we were grateful for a moment to recoop when we finally arrived.
After a long day of travel, we were ready for something to eat. Chicago Pizza was first on our list and it did not disappoint.
We spent the afternoon & evening wandering the big city and just taking it all in. The architecture is fascinating.
The city is magnificent. The buildings are incredible and people are in abundance. There is constant honking and the sirens echo loudly.
The highlight of our day was definitely the street performers. Some of this group is on this season of America's Got Talent and they did not disappoint. In fact, we watched their show twice because it was so cool - that was the best $20 we spent all week.
These guys were cool too.
We rounded off the day with most delicious Ghirardelli Ice Cream before heading back to the pool.
(side note: Kambri lost her water headband a week before we left so we taped her ear closed with medical tape & it worked like a charm!)
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