Hey guys! It’s back to reality as I am on the train headed to work.  Our plane was delayed coming home last night, so we didn’t get home until after 10:00 p.m. and I haven’t even downloaded my pictures yet.  

Last Wednesday our car was picking us up to go to the airport at 9:00 a.m., so guess who got up and did 60 minutes of Insanity?  Me!  However, while I was working out, it kept getting darker and darker outside, and we had some major storms roll through.  

But by the time the car came, it had blown over, or so we thought.  Not even ten minutes after leaving the house, the rain was coming in sideways it was so stormy.  However, for some reason, our driver never turned on her windshield wipers.  I am a horrible back seat drive by nature – just ask Hannah.  I just kept my head down and kind of came to the realization that I may just die in this Cadillac Escalade before I even make it to the airport.

We arrive in plenty of time.  The kadults were smart and packed smaller carry on bags.  Did I do that?  Nope.  So I had to wait in line for an hour not only to check my bags, but to then get through security.  Hannah kept texting me, “you are making me nervous Mom!”   I still made it to the gate in plenty of time, only to discover that our plane was delayed.   And then it got delayed again.  So we went to lunch, where we got a text that it was delayed again.  In the end, around 4:00 p.m., our flight was finally cancelled and we had to fly out early the next morning at 5:00 a.m. – but now flying through Philadelphia instead of a straight flight.

We had a decision to make.  Call a car service to take us 45 minutes back home, wake up at the crack of dawn to get back to the airport, or just decided to grab a hotel near the airport and wait it out.  My sister did a quick priceline check and grabbed us two rooms a couple miles from the airport.  I checked in, Hannah and Jacob decided to nap, so I walked for an hour in the tiny hotel gym while watching FoodTV.  When I woke up that morning, I never would have guessed that I’d spend my first night on vacation in a hotel 45 minutes from my house in Schiller Park!

Since we didn’t have a car and there were no close restaurants within walking distance of the hotel, we ate in the hotel restaurant/bar.  The food was actually really good – I got a burger, and skipped the bun.


We finally made it to my Aunt’s house after picking up the rental car at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, nearly 24 hours after we were supposed to get there.  I guess the only silver lining is that it happened on the way TO vacation vs. coming home.  I missed a day of work a couple years ago when my Mom and I were coming back from Key West when our flight got cancelled.  

On the way to my Aunt’s house, since we had eaten breakfast so early, we stopped at Hardee’s – I got the chicken fingers (6) with green beans (2) – I don’t know what Hardee’s puts on their green beans but they are delicious!

 

My brother and his family and my Mom had made it the day before, so it was nice to have everyone together.  My Aunt had a big beef tenderloin and asked if I’d grill it for dinner.  A strange thing happened as I was cutting into this glorious medium rare beef – nearly everyone in my brothers family (my brother didn’t eat any beef!) and my Aunt like their beef well done!  What the what?!  Thankfully, while I cooked it medium rare (for me, my Mom and Jacob!) I just put the sliced beef back on the grill to cook it to everyone’s taste.

 

I made my steak into a salad – yum!


My favorite thing of the whole vacation – besides the family reunion, was just floating in the water.  I also tried paddle boarding – I loved it, but it’s harder than it looks!


I’ll download my pictures tonight and will continue the vacation pics in tomorrow’s post.   I am hitting publish so I can catch up on your blogs the rest of the train ride into work – it was nice to be away from social media for a few days!

Make it a great day!