Meeting People From the Internet Does Not Always Result in an Axe Murder (AKA My Chicago Trip)

  Several years ago, I joined a website called The Bump. It's a place for all things pregnancy, baby names, community forums, nursery decor, whatever. For some reason, I don't remember joining a forum full of "January 2011 Moms". I guess I did, though. After a few months, we decided to make a Facebook group so that it would be easier to follow threads, and we've talked pretty much every day since. We've gushed over our January babies, given advice and support for all kinds of situations, and tons of us have had MORE babies since.  

JanMoms in Detroit, Fall 2012.

We all finally met up in Detroit last fall when EK's future mother-in-law got the crazy idea to host us at her house. (See that GTG here!)  It sounds insane, but for some reason I was totally cool with flying to Detroit to meet virtual strangers. I still can't believe Ryan let me go, but I think he just knew how totally uncool I would be if I wasn't able to. 

Chicago weekend, August 2013.

It had been a while since we had all seen each other, so some of our moms living near Chicago decided to host us in their town. We rented a big loft in the Meat Packing district of Chicago, and made a long weekend of it. I left home at 4am Friday, drove to Dallas, and hopped a plane to Chicago. I met 3 other girls at the airport and we rode the L to our loft. It was seriously so much fun, and I got to meet some new moms who weren't able to make it to our last GTG.  I wasn't even the only Southern mom this time, so there was someone else's accent to make fun of :).  I just wish I had been able to stay a little longer!

View from the Observatory.

The Bean.

So. Much. Fun. 

My fellow Arkansian.

We're on a boat.  This was the architecture tour, it was a fun time!

EK's Future MIL. We will have the most beautiful grandbabies EVER.

JanMoms at the Hancock Observatory.

After I got home, one of the moms said there were 40 shootings and 3 murders in Chicago over the weekend. None of them were internet mom murders, though! So, you can totally meet strangers from the internet and not die.  I'm already excited for our next trip!