About Our Family

Well, I am completely new to the blog scene here, but thought it would be a good way to keep family and friends posted on the happenings in the Hale family.

We have recently welcomed our newest addition to the family, Madeline Jane Hale. She was born on Dec. 4, 2007. We also have a son, Braden, who is now 4 and he is really adjusting well to life as a 'big brother.' He is already talking about beating up other boys who mess with his sister. He is a good boy! Knows his job like the back of his hand already.

A little background on the Hale Family (since Harding)....

After graduation Heather and I moved to Baton Rouge, LA where we lived for about 3 years. It was great to get out of Razorback country and back down to 'Tiger Town.' We enjoyed our time in B.R. and I believe for both of us it will kind of always feel like home.

From Baton Rouge, Heather, Braden and I made a big move to Chicago, IL for my work. We have been in Chicago now for about 3 years and have really been enjoying our time here. Once we moved from the South, we made a decision to try and take in the experience of living in a big city, so we decided to purchase a condo in Chicago proper rather than moving the 'burbs.' As you can probably imagine, this was a huge adjustment for us initially. However, after a couple of months, Chicago began to feel like home and we have been enoying life in the city. There is so much to do here, that if we ever complain about being bored, it is because we are just to lazy to get up and get downtown.

We currently live in the northern most lakefront community in Chicago, aptly named 'Roger's Park.' The location is great because we are boardered by a suburb called Evanston (home of Northwestern University) and have the best of both worlds. We can get away to some suburban shopping and entertainment in about a 5 minute drive or we can take the train or bus and be in downtown Chicago in about 20 minutes.

I recently took Braden to Devils Head, WI a few weeks ago for his first ski trip. Heather and 'Little Maddie' stayed back in the city for a 'baby boot camp' weekend. Not really sure what that entailed....Anyway, Braden did AWESOME on his first trip. The kid wants nothing but speed and has no regard for his safety or the safety of others on the mountain. He just wants to go fast. In ski school they tried...and I mean tried, to teach the kids to do 'pizza' which means to plow in order to slow down and then to do 'french fries' with his skis in order to speed up. When I was working with him and would tell him to do 'pizza', he would just look at me like I was crazy and would take off down the bunny hill. Kid is fearless and loves it. I really need to take him back a few more times this season, so that we can make a trip out the Rockies together next year.