December was similar to November in that it was filled with travel, interviews, continued slow recovery from mono, boards preparation and studying - and finally taking the written boards!  Paul had a spurt of vacation and was able to join me for some of my midwestern interviews. We also had the opportunity to take the whole family to Chicago and then visit his family in Minneapolis. It was an insane road trip Pittsburgh to Chicago, Chicago to the Twin Cities and then from Minnesota all the way back to Pittsburgh. Let's not forget that our Honda was full of carseats, cribs, luggage, dress clothes, a double stroller and warm clothes to battle the frigid temps.

In Chicago while I was away, Paul was hitting up the town for the museums that we had reciprocal membership to - you cannot argue with free! He, the boys, and our au pair put on some major miles pushing the stroller. They went to Millennium park and braved the cold, windy temps in Chicago. Michigan Ave was gorgeous with the trees all lit up. Paul and I decided to make the best of our time there with a date night out. Our date resulted in a lot of time spent at Whole foods, both shopping and dining at their little built in pub. It was a blast - and convenient that it was directly across the road from our hotel. The next morning, Lovis had the time and opportunity to hit up the Sears Tour for an awesome view while we packed up the hotel room. We all met together at the German Christmas Market in downtown Chicago. They had mulled wine and cute gifts, it was busy and full of people trying to stay warm.

After our morning in Chicago, our road trip continued north with expensive a stop for Subway subs complete with coupons and made up for by my expensive bacon addition - ha! Whoops! We finally rolled into Paul's aunt's house and set up camp - it was so kind of Pauls's aunt to let us stay. The boys made a run to the Mall of America and our au pair went back to the mall after hours to look for the deals and take in the vast number of shops. We had a great time in the cities and met up with Paul's cousin and his brother! It seems as if everyone is migrating to the twin cities - we were surrounded by family members and friends who recently moved there from Madison and other midwestern cities.

The month was one massive road trip -  after 5 days rest in Pittsburgh we all packed up again and went back to Green Bay and Appleton for Christmas. Paul could only join us for a few days until he had to fly home Christmas day. But we did get to have Christmas together with our families. What a massive travel month, but we did it!  Looking forward to sharing holiday memories with you soon!

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