Family Time in the Suburbs of Chicago

Friday was Robert’s sister Christine’s graduation from medical school at UIC, so Bill and I were nominated to stay home with Jennifer’s kids while everyone else went into the city for the day-long event. Highlights of our day at home include my reading an extremely sleepy John and Emily a story, which nearly put them to sleep for a nap—until I put myself to sleep instead, and John eventually gave up poking me and Emily fell asleep on the floor. I was also called “Grandma” at various points by John—certainly the earliest, and possibly the only, such encounter in my life. John was being very logical, though—there was Grandpa Bill, and there was a woman who was with him, who he knew other people kept telling him was a relative of some kind, and who more likely to have with a grandpa than a grandma?

On Saturday, Bill and Judy and I went over to Christine’s in-laws’ house early to prepare for her graduation party. With some efficient Sam’s Club shopping, the use of a neighbor’s oven across the street, and a lot of help from Iffath and Hasan, Naimath’s parents and the official hosts of the party for the day, we were ready well before the first guests began arriving at 1:00 or so. At right, you see Aunt Loretta, Jennifer, Iffath, and Yasmine. At left, you have a view of the tent borrowed from neighbors and set up in Hasan and Iffath's back yard. I think everyone had a good day: we got to visit with Uncle Don and Aunt Loretta, as well as with Dave and Candy, which was really nice. Robert and Dave played with Aurora and a 9-year-old friend of hers; this mostly entailed letting the girls remove their shoelaces, sunglasses, etc., and hide them around the house. Of course, another crisis ensued when we were ready to leave and some accessories were still hidden. Below, Christine cuts the Sam's Club graduation cake.

When the party broke up around 5:00, went home and visited a little with Jen and Joe until Dave and Candy swung by and picked us up. Then, since the old folks were exhausted from the party and kept saying they were too full to eat another meal, we went out to a nearby Chili’s to eat and talk until the restaurant closed at midnight.

Sunday, Mothers’ Day, was a very relaxing day. I went to church with Jennifer in the morning, and Christine, Naimath, 1-year-old Yasmine and Aurora arrived for brunch just as we got home. Bill made an asparagus-sausage-red pepper strata, and Robert made crepes (filled with sautéed bananas, chopped mangoes, grape jelly, or a shrimp-avocado-mushroom-cheese mixture, depending on your age and taste). Christine had to hurry off to deliver a friend to the train station, and Joe took the kids over to his sister’s house for the day, so the rest of us were able to have uninterrupted conversation for the entire afternoon.

Around 4:00, Jennifer drove and Robert navigated Judy, Grandma Terrell, and me on an expedition to the Sprint store (some buttons on his phone stopped working), Target (we bought brightly colored extending marshmallow-toasting-forks), and a local cheese-fries shop (sadly closed for the Mothers’ Day holiday). We returned ravenous, and hurriedly made dinner of grilled pork chops and accompaniments. That evening, Robert set up a new DVD player for Jennifer and Joe, and we tried to make small children who had taken a late nap stay in bed. Everyone, including the children, retired around 11:00. Below, Grandma Terrell, Emmy, Bill, and Jennifer cuddle in the living room.

On our last day in Chicago, Judy made her famous buttermilk pancakes, and Robert and I topped them with raspberries and chocolate chips, blueberries and raspberries, and other combinations of the above. Jennifer took the kids off to her morning Bible study and playgroup, and we had a leisurely morning to shower and pack before heading out to the airport. Robert was happy—we at last had a nonstop flight.

Upon arriving in Boston, we grabbed a cab to our house and put down our stuff and collected the mail before taking the train back to the Boston Common movie theatre for a preview of the movie Troy that I’d gotten free passes to the week before. Bob and Howard met us at the theatre, and we all went for dinner afterward in Chinatown—a great way to wrap up ten days of vacation.

 

ALTERNATE ENDING:

We get to O’Hare in plenty of time, only to find that our tickets home on American have been cancelled because of an annoying clause in the very, very, very fine print. We spend an hour at the American counter. We argue and plead. We talk to customer service on the phone and in person. We talk to lowly folk and supervisors. They helpfully offer to sell us new tickets for only $842 plus taxes, so we leave the American desk and schlep our stuff two terminals over to United, where we buy new tickets (with a stop in Philadelphia) and wait an extra hour for our United flight home. We miss the movie and dinner, and we arrive home feeling like we need a vacation.

Phoenix Sights | | Scottsdale Conference
Downtown Chicago (Kids) | Family Pictures (Party, Etc.)