Rollerskating and Drive to Airport

December 15th dawned with our bags packed, the fish fed, the iron and stove off (checked and double-checked), and the five of us ready for 10 nights in the Caribbean. The plan was simple. Pick up the kids from school at 11:30, grab some lunch from McDonald's and wait for our limo to the airport which was due arrive at 12:15, giving us plenty of time to make our 3PM flight to Orlando, even if the weather turned bad in Chicago, as it is prone to do in mid-December.

What's that they say about 'best laid plans of mice and men'? Our eldest son decided to try a complicated maneuver aboard his roller skates during P.E. class (probably something intricate like standing up) and ended up crashing to the floor. We received the call at 11AM that he had injured his back and had the wind knocked out of him. With visions of the emergency room dancing in our heads, we went to his school to get him. He was in some pain, but the nurse felt there was nothing seriously wrong, so gave him some Tylenol and went off to McDonald's to grab lunch. He was feeling better by the time we left Mickey D's, so we grabbed some extra medicine, an ice pack, picked up his brother and returned home to wait for the limo.

The limo we had rented to get us to the airport was late, throwing us into a panic that we had either forgot to reserve a car, or had arranged it for the wrong date. I rushed to reboot the laptop we'd shut down for the trip just as the limo pulled into the driveway. We gathered up our five bags and three children, hopped in the super-stretch and headed off to O'Hare. After a quick 45-minute ride on the expressways, we reached the airport, checked our bags and breezed through security, leaving us two hours to kill.

O'Hare Admiral's Club

We went up to the Admiral's Club, had a drink and read our books. While checking the flight departure times (half-hour delay already for our flight), we ran into Mike Ditka, former coach of the Chicago Bears, and he gave Alexander an autograph which we framed when we got home.

Arriving in Orlando

The flight left almost an hour late. Two of us had been upgraded to first class and Alexander won the coin flip with his brother to see who would accompany J. R. in first class while Janie and the other kids would sit in steerage. We boarded the flight and were on our way to Orlando. The flight was uneventful but a little bumpy so the captain left the seat belt sign on most of the way, but no major issues. We landed in the airport and then had to wait almost 40 minutes in a crowd for our bags to arrive. It seems to take longer each trip. But, all five bags arrived without an issue, and we went off to check in at the Hyatt for the night. After check in, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Macaroni Grill, then went back to our room, repacked our overnight bag for the next day and drifted off to restless sleep. None of us slept much as we dreamed of the 'uncharted magic' to come.