Unfortunately, I did not sleep so well on the mattress on the hideaway bed, but that didn't change the fact that we had another action-packed day. After we were all cleaned up, we went out for a light breakfast before we met my oldest brother and drove into downtown Chicago. We mailed some packages to Ukraine for my parents, and then we drove over to the high rise apartment buildings where my oldest nephew resides in a flat on, I believe, the 44th floor. (Did I mention that the eight of us descended upon him by surprise? He thought it was just his mom and dad.) I think I have dealt with less security crossing the border into Canada. The view from his apartment is absolutely amazing, even with the immense fog that was covering the Windy City that day.
We decided to forgo the nostalgic trip to our favorite pizza parlor, as it is only about one block from the Chicago River which had, incidentally, been turned entirely green for the St. Patty's Day Parade. The tens of thousands of individuals, many of whom I am guessing were already drunk on green beer at 2 pm, flocked the streets and made it close to impossible to drive through the area. Instead, we headed the opposite direction and had a late lunch at Giordano's. (I must say, having Italian when the rest of the city is celebrating an Irish holiday did feel a little...wrong.)
After our meal, we headed back toward Wisconsin. We stopped in Antioch at a newly opened ice cream shoppe that displayed my brother's handiwork. Bret had custom designed and installed the beautiful granite countertops in record time. After sayings good-byes to my brother and his son, our vehicle made detour to Wheatland to drop me off at AnnaLisa's house. We had decided that I would spend the evening visiting over there, stay the night, and then go to church the next morning with her. I didn't arrive there until around 7, but we decided to go out for awhile anyway. We stopped at Walgreens and then went to a local bar and grill. We weren't in there 60 seconds before we were gagging on the smoke, though, so we opted to find another place to hang out. We caught up over some evening appetizers, but we didn't make it a late night; we were both exhausted from long hours the day before.
Alas, my night did not go well again. I thought I'd be tired enough to sleep. It seems that the intermittent groans of the sump from pump right beneath me were just enough to keep me awake, even with the white noise from the baby's noise maker. Actually, there were two sump pumps. (What can I say? They live in a flood plain.) Just as I'd drift off, the drone from the far corner of the house would stir me just enough to bring me back to consciousness. (If I remember right, I also spent some time texting my husband under the sheets because the light from my phone was waking Sadie.) I would start to doze again, and the deep buzzing vibrations from below me would startle me. My sleepy eyes would close once more, only to have the two basement monsters growl at me in sync. That was enough to bring my heart rate into the "Weight Loss" range.
I think it was 4 am by the time I decided to get up and take some Melatonin to help me fall asleep. Either way, morning seemed to come all too soon, especially since we'd lost an hour to Daylight Savings, but I rolled out of bed so that we wouldn't be late for church as AnnaLisa was scheduled to work at the greeting table that morning. Oh, the irony...
You see, I failed to mention that the night before, when we were out, Annalisa's van hadn't started right away. She was a little nervous because it had been acting up as of late; however, Scott had spent the day working on it, and it did start fairly quickly. did I also mention that it has something like 220,000 miles on it? Anyway...
The kids piled into the minivan, and we drove towards Kenosha. Unfortunately, when we tried to accelerate at the green light at the interstate, something sounded like it dropped out of the bottom of the van, and it failed to respond to the depressed gas pedal. Timing.
AnnaLisa called her husband, who sent his father to rescue us since he was still busy helping at church. Lennie arrived in his newly acquired Tahoe, and we headed to church. The unexpected delay had eaten up the time enough that we barely made it to church in time for the service to start. Does anyone else find it ironic that 3 other people scheduled to greet that morning called AnnaLisa to tell her they couldn't make it?!
Well, my sister Simone met us there, and the 2 of us proceeded to have a reunion as so many people from our old youth group now attend Great Lakes Church, pastored by David Nelson, AnnaLisa's brother-in-law. Before, during, and after the service, I felt like I was on a trip down memory lane. My brother-in-law, Gordon, plays guitar each week for the worship, so of course, I had to see him as well.
After church, Simone and I made a quick trip over to Texas Roadhouse. Our brother, Josh, with his wife, Serinna, and son, Jude had made a stop there for appetizers with Gordon and some other friends before we met my parents and headed to Illinois to take an elderly friend out for lunch. We met at the DelReals' house while my parents went to pick up Bernice, then we all met again at the restaurant. Lunch was nice, and Bernice, still quite lucid, was thrilled that we had all come to see her. We went back to her home and visited for awhile.
By the time we made it back to the condo that afternoon, I was exhausted and reeling from so much activity. I am happy to say that we spent a quiet evening there, and the rest of my trip went by uneventfully, at least in comparison to the first 48 hours. I was, and still am, glad I made the trip. My only question is, Will I EVER get to take a vacation that doesn't require more rest when I arrive home?!
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