Monday, August 2, 2010

Stormy Chicago

Before we left Pittsburgh I told Big D that we should intentionally have a day layover next time we are going through Chicago so we can go and explore. We are always flying through but we've never been able to get out of O'Hare.



I think I spoke too soon. Coming in to Chicago we had to circle the city for about thirty minutes waiting for a storm to break. These are the storm clouds from above.



They really don't look bad from this angle but I guess under them there was torrential rains mixed with a few tornado warnings. The news was saying this is the worst flooding they've seen in 137 years, according to CNN. They had streets washed out and flooding up to peoples waists.

After circling in the air for as long as we could we finally got diverted to Fort Wayne, Indiana (I've never been there either). It was a small airport that had actually just closed and every one had gone home. They had to open it back up, but of course there was no food.

Big D and I cuddled on the floor and watched a movie until our flight was called out, which was about an hour. The flight back to Chicago was amazing for me, Big D slept the whole time so I can't say much for him. There were lightning storms going on out both sides of the plane. Huge lightning that would light up the entire sky. It was like the clouds parted just for our plane. We still had to circle a bit before we could land but we finally got on the ground and then the circling on the tarmac began. We were stuck in the plane for forty-five minutes waiting for a terminal. Some of the passengers were getting pretty frustrated because they missed their connections, we all missed them.

They were setting up cots down K wing for stranded passengers but Big D and I decided to get a hotel so we could get better sleep. The ride to the hotel was our first experience with a taxi and our driver was authentic. Watching TV and the way they portray taxi drivers, I thought it was a bit of an exaggeration. Nope. This guy was a crazy driver and I could barely understand his broken English.

I asked our driver what he did for fun in Chicago and he said he goes downtown and gets drunk and some how that led into him saying he never goes to the South side because its bad really bad. Three cops had been shot just in the past month. Gang bangers have been walking up to cops and shooting them point blank.

I thought I was going to start crying right there. I no longer had a desire to explore Chicago, I just wanted to go home.

And I don't know how this worked out but it cost us $50 to get to our hotel and only $27 to get back to the airport the next morning. Hmmm, I thinketh we got screwed.

After a wonderful five hours of sleep, we showed up at the airport only to have our flight get moved back by two hours. I was starting to get ansi, I just wanted to get home to my babies. Once we were in the air I was a lot better, and so was Big D because he was out cold before we ever even left the ground. How does he do that?

There is nothing better than seeing your children after a week away. They actually liked me for a few minutes, especially when they find out I bought them some toys from the Amish community I visited.

I found out that Bug got bucked off a horse and landed on her head. The hole side of her face was scratched up and bruised. Grandma Honey didn't want her to tell me what happened because she didn't want me to freak out. So she calmed me down by telling me that Bug did every thing she was suppose to, when she landed on the ground she jumped up and ran as far away as she could as not to be trampled. I don't know if this makes me feel better, but seeing Bug in one piece, that makes me feel better. And Grandma made her get back on the horse right after she got bucked off so she wouldn't develop a fear of horses, thank goodness. What a good Grandma! I do think it was a good thing not to tell me some thing like that over the phone.

The kids had to tell me how Papa Guy shot a coyote. I'm pretty sure that made Bud feel better since he's always scared of coyotes at the ranch. Of course, the kids had to go and see the dead body. They told me how there were already bugs all over it and his eye was missing. Papa didn't want them messing with the body so he tried to get them off the hill but they wouldn't listen so finally he yelled that the coyote's brother was right behind them. They were off that hill in two seconds.

Grandma bought the kids a new swimming pool that they practically lived in the whole week they were there. Ahh my little water babies. They had a good time and they were sufficiently spoiled. Thank you very much Grandma and Papa. I could not have enjoyed my trip with Big D without you.

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