Home again

Well, Sunday morning Damien and Daniel headed back to Barona and Tom and I headed to the Windy City. Driving into, in and out of Chicago continues to be one of the worst things in the world, but we had a wonderful visit with Rebecca, David, Elie and Sarah. This was my first time to meet the twins, and they were a delight. At sixteen months, they are walking and jabbering, demanding that someone read a book and sing a song. Sunday afternoon we all went for a walk and then explored the urban Home Depot for a while. The twins had a grand time and the adults tried our best to keep up with them as they opened cabinet doors and looked under toilet seats. Monday morning David had to leave for work, but Rebecca and the twins introduced us to a favorite park where we played with swings, slides and seesaws, eyed other toddlers and their mothers and nannies and generally had a good time until deciding that a morning nap was in order. The twins hit their cribs with sighs of delight and Tom and I headed back to Wisconsin. It was fun but exhausting, especially for Tom who bore the brunt of the driving stress. I had the easy Wisconsin interstate portion.

The place where we stayed was convenient, just a few blocks from Rebecca and David's house. And we had a couple of good meals. They recommended an Indian place that turned out to be great for dinner. And we had lunch at Nando's Peri-Peri. I had first heard of peri-peri (also piri-piri) on the HBO series, Looking. It is a Portuguese chicken dish but with definite Caribbean and African notes. At any rate, I can vouch for its goodness. Give it a shot if you get the chance.

Back home I went to bed early. Although the place where we stayed was convenient to the family, and the beds were comfortable, I had a bad night's sleep. The air conditioner is the type that turns itself on and then completely off every half hour or so, waking me up each time. By the time we rolled into our garage on Berry Road, I was wobbly. I took a quick nap, called my mother, went with Tom to get a gyro for supper, checked email and such and then conked out.

This morning I was tempted to lie abed late, but I got up and went to the gym, did my treadmill and weights -- have to make up for all that good food -- , came home, showered, revised the NaNoWriMo brochure for the library, gathered some books to return, went to the library and handed all that in, came back home and am now writing this to post before I get some lunch.

We had a great time, but it is good to be back to familiar spaces and routines.