Brian saw a highway,
it wasn't the highway we had been on or a highway that our directions told us to go on, but Brian wanted to take it. I convinced him not to.
So,
we kept driving around downtown Chicago.
Brian kept saying things like
"I love driving!"
and
"This is so much fun!"
I was growing increasingly upset,
I just wanted to find the house and get us all to bed.
I finally saw a Fedex Kinkos.
I figured they should have a clue how to get someplace!
So, Brian pulled over and had me get out and ask for directions.
Thankfully, it was a nice area and the Kinkos was filled with some very nice people.
I can't say I wasn't a little worried to be walking into a place in downtown Chicago and telling them we were lost.
The first employee I asked didn't drive, so he directed me to another employee who gave me nice clear directions.
On the way back to the highway we needed, we saw the highway Brian had wanted to take earlier
so he kept insisting that he had been right and we should have taken that road.
I
may have said something to the affect of,
"Yeah, if we wanted to go the WRONG way and drive around downtown Chicago FOREVER!"
Yeah, I might have said that,
but I was tired and can you blame me?
Finally, we found his sister's road!!
We had her address and were all set to pull into her driveway.
Just one little problem.
We didn't see any house numbers!
You know how in a NORMAL town there are house number near the road or at least on the front of the houses???
Well, not in this little neighborhood!
We drove up and down this very very narrow street several times and then Brian parked the car and started walking it to see if he could find the number!
He went up and down once and came back to tell me he couldn't find it, but he was going to look again.
After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably 10 minutes, he came back and said he had found it. The house numbers were on the side of the house, about halfway back! Crazy!
We chatted with his sister for awhile and she even made us supper.
Her housemate came home and had brought ice cream, so we had a little dessert too.
Her housemate was extremely nice and even told us to sleep in her bed for the night. We had planned on sleeping on the living room floor, but she wouldn't hear it. I think it was around 11PM when I got to bed. Denise was going to wake us up at 3AM her time, or 4AM "real" Michigan time.
A little while after we were in bed, Denise knocked on our door and came in.
She told us that her housemate had told her that she didn't mind if we came to the house after we got back from our trip and stayed there, even though Denise wouldn't be there.
I said thanks and then tried to comprehend what she had just said!
It was too late to worry about it, so I tried to get some sleep.
For those of you keeping track, here's how it looks now:
1.)Denise offers to pick us up at the airport
2.)Denise gets a better offer and changes plans and makes us a reservation for a hotel (that we pay for)
3.)Denise's better plans get cancelled, she's picking us up at the airport again
4.)Denise's better plans are back on, but she is going to be home in time to pick us up at the airport
5.)Denise is not planning on being home to pick us up.
6.)???????
Unfortunately, the last thing Denise had asked me was what time we needed to get up, and I had told her 3AM.
In the middle of the night, I woke up and was worried that it was getting too late.
So, I found my watch
and saw that it was about 10 minutes to 3.
So, I got up and started to get dressed.
At 3, I woke up Brian and then a bit later, woke up the girls.
Brian got the girls a bowl of cereal (Denise had told us that we could have some the night before).
I then went into the living room where Corey was sleeping to wake him up. I looked at the TV, which had a clock on it and that clock read 2:20.
Huh???
I was confused for a minute, then it dawned on me!!!
OH!!! SHOOT!!!
I had been thinking 3AM Chicago time, but had looked at my Michigan time watch!!! So, I had gotten up an hour earlier than I needed to!
That Flamingo one was just for you. 
the days she talked to you. 
