Journal Part II

When I last left you, the wife was in the Windy City and the kids were driving me crazy. Actually I was taking them for a walk. Well I walked through the neighborhood toting a wagon with two children in it while two others walked. After a mile we get to the house with the Huskies. The goal of the walk. I knock on the neighbor’s door to ask if my kids can pet the dogs. All this and the little princess decides she doesn’t want to pet the dogs. Great. After a short visit with me having to make conversation with the owners, we head back. The return trip saw me carrying one child and pulling two other ones in the wagon while the last one is busy catching caterpillars.

I manage to get them all asleep as the wife misses flight after flight after flight. Finally I am off to bed after watching the Sopranos. The baby slept better this night. And by better I mean she only woke up screaming 3 or 4 times and actually slept in until 6:30 am. I, of course, am not going to work on this day so I feed the children and entertain them until I get a call from my mother-in-law. She said that the wife is probably taking the 8:30 or 9:30 flight, after the wife had said she would be on the 6 am flight. I look for the shotgun. Fortunately I get a call that the wife has landed around 8:30 am. I am saved. She showed up around noonish and I was part of a two parent family again.

Now here is a glimpse into the 60 or so hours from her perspective.

She gets up at 4 am on Saturday morning to get leave by 5 for the 8 am flight. She gets nauseous on the flight out and is miserable all day. She takes a great hour long train ride from the airport to downtown Chitown. The have a great time at the American Girl Doll Place and then to mass downtown. I will have more on that part of the story later. Then she gets back to the hotel and crashes around 11 pm. Back up at 6am to be at the Place for an 8am appointment. Then back on the train for an hour to catch a 1 pm flight. That is where the fun kicks in. I have already told you about the flights she could not get on. So the only bonus feature is that there were three 9 year old girls bored in an airport for 12 hours.
After arriving home on the 6:30 am flight on Monday, they soon realize one of my daughters left her new gameboy and mp3 players on the plane. They alert security and security contacts the cleaning crew. They do not find it. My wife begins to call them criminals and thiefs and terrorists. But, surprisingly, all that flattery did not result in them finding the electronics. OK. I am out $100 or so in toys. Just get home. OH NO THAT AINT GONNA HAPPEN. The wonderful, nice, great, person that accompanied my wife on the trip forgot her friggin keys in Chicago. Chicago aint DC. Dammit.

They call the mother-in-law who happened to be in the area and she drove them to my mother’s house who drove them home. An exciting weekend for her I will agree but somehow lacking compared to the weekend I experienced.