So just a few days after arriving back from Croatia, etc. we all got up early to board a flight back to the United States to attend my parents surprise 40th wedding anniversary. They had no idea that all of their six kids, their families, my grandpa, two of my dad's siblings, and a number of their friends would be gathering together to celebrate this special occasion with them.
It started out a little messy. I guess I set the alarm for 4:15 PM, instead of 4:15 AM. Our taxi was scheduled to pick us up at 5:15 AM to take us to the airport. We woke up to the DOORBELL, not the alarm. We leapt out of bed, brushed out teeth, put on some deoderant (at least I was smart enough to do that...Heather, not so much, unfortunately!), I put on a hat, and we quickly woke up the kids and got them dressed. Fortunately we had really prepared well the night before as far as packing, so we were able to grab the luggage with little concern that we were missing something. I did, however, run back inside to turn off the computer and noticed one of my shoes had fallen out of a bag! By 5:30 we were in the taxi headed to the airport. Not bad, 15 minutes to get all ready. The downside, we would be traveling for 24 hours, meaning 36 hours without a shower, but oh well. I was more worried about traveling with the kids for so long.
This worry turned out to be irrational, as all three kids traveled almost FLAWLESSLY. The first flight to Paris was easy, even sitting on the runway for an extra hour, as the girls colored and watched their ipods. And Ryan was perfect, not a peep out of him the entire time. The layover in Paris...easy, no issues. Then we got on the flight to Chicago. We were pleased that we all had individual screens for videos, etc. With those movies on demand and the ipods and the coloring and reading and even a little bit of a nap, all three kids did great. Ryan, for both flights, awake or a sleep, was a perfect baby. So the only embarrasment we had to endure was that we stunk. I'm ok with that.
We arrived into Chicago, picked up our luggage, picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel in Chicago where we met up with Heather's sister, Dawn and her two boys. We were able to spend a day with them before we headed down to Champaign to surprise my parents. We showered and then all went to Papadeuxs, our FAVORITE place for crawfish bisque, the best we've ever tasted. Katie and Ashley fell asleep at the table. After that, we had been awake for 24 hours, so it was time for the rest of us to get some sleep.
Despite staying awake until 11PM central time, we still all woke up at 3AM. I don't get it. We stay awake for 24 hours and then can only manage four hours of sleep. We hung out in the hotel room until breakfast.
Dawn kept the girls while I went and got my driver's license. My license expired a year and half ago, and although I tried to get it last year when we were home, I didn't have my Social Security Card. This time I was prepared with all the paperwork and although I had to take another road test (this is pretty easy test, but still a little nerve-racking, worried I'd do something stupid!), I left with a valid driver's license. I would have done it in Hungary, but it would have cost me $1000 and I actually was told I had to take a driver's education class. No way was I going to spend the time and money for that!
We were able to get in and out of the DMV in an hour, so we made good time. We went into the city with Dawn and her kids, first to 7/11, then to Nordstroms for a little shopping, then to Jimmy Johns for lunch, and then to the American Girl store off Michigan Avenue. The girls had a good time, while Stephen, Hayden (our nephews), and I waited for them to get done. You can see in the photo that Stephen and Hayden were pretty bored. Can't blame them.
We then tried to go down to Navy Pier, but while trying to park and get there, we determined we didn't have enough time or energy to proceed, so we gave up. We said goodbye to Dawn, Stephen, and Hayden until Sunday, when we will meet up with them again in St. Louis. We picked up my sister Kara and her husband, Luke on our way out of Chicago and we all drove to Champaign, arriving around 7:00.
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