A trip down memory lane....

One of the greatest parts of having my Dad 'home' is getting to spend some quality time with him at some of our old haunts! Tonight we took a trip to the 'old neighborhood' with the girls, Andrew, and Auntie Peggy to get some comfort food. Rainbow Cone on Chicago's south side has been an icon for 83 years strong and given that my Dad is 84 years young one can guess correctly that he had a bunch of memories to share! Here he is standing in the same spot as he stood in 1942 before he shipped out to the war! How many diaries contained passages recalling the delicious combination of five ice cream flavors on a single cone and wondering if they would make it home alive to taste it just one more time?

Here Peggy and I stand in the same spot where we celebrated so many of our childhood milestones with that cold summer treat! Rainbow Cone is one of those seasonal shops that is only open during the summer months. Countless local high school kids can claim this as their first job.

Andrew just couldn't quite bring himself to try the Original Rainbow and the brain freeze from his plain chocolate cone was the cosmic punishment!

I have such a dichotomy of emotions as I look at this scene! I'm so happy to see my Dad comfortably downing his cone even if walking is a challenge but I'm also melancholy at the idea that this could be the last time he's up to making the drive to share a cone with Peggy and me.

We now live pretty far away from Rainbow Cone so one MUST stock up on a couple of gallons to bring home!

This is what happens when you ask a tweener trying to eat a cone to help you pack the take out in a cooler!!! What's that saying about walking, talking, and chewing gum????

What??? Really, I have EIGHT siblings who also celebrated their milestones at Rainbow Cone who would be majorly peeved if they heard we made the trek and didn't bring them home some of the heavenly concoction!!!!

Since we were in the 'old neighborhood' we decided to cruise past some old landmarks for the kids to see.....

The Chicago bungalow that my maternal grandparents built in the 1920's and into which my parent's brought the first seven of their children. I was 9 years old when we migrated to the suburbs and naturally I remembered this house to be much bigger!

This bungalow located just six houses down the block was my paternal grandparent's home! Yep, my Mom and Dad were literally neighbors growing up!!!!

Surely this building has shrunk also!!!! This is the school where I went to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. Thanks to a lease to a private day care, this building has been spared the wrecking ball unlike it's twin that housed the middle grades. It was too dark by the time we circled around to the church where my parents were married and I was baptised to get a good picture as a storm was closing in quickly. Not all of the 'south side of Chicago' is 'the baddest part of town'!!!

Tomorrow we have our big family reunion picnic :) I guess this will be a 'way it was' kind of weekend!