Road trip...

Mom & I decided a few months ago that we'd do a road trip this summer. The destination was Charleston, SC.

We left home a few minutes after 6 this AM. This was the view as we pulled out of our driveway.

We only stopped for walking around & potty breaks until about 4:30 when we got to Tuscaloosa. We drove by the University of Alabama campus, walked around the statues that honor the famous coaches by their football stadium. Fairly impressive!!

We stopped at Olive Garden, had some salad & spaghetti, then kept driving. Went through Birmingham  & stopped about 30 minutes past the city at a little town called Pell City to spend the night. We found a Comfort Suites, showered & called it a day. We had a nice day of visiting, seeing the sights along the interstate.  Traveled through four states today...

A new place to hang my hat...

For the past eleven years, I have loved going to work every morning. I have had the most awesome job I could ever have hoped for. I have had the pleasure of being the librarian at Acton Elementary School. It's the school where I taught my very first year (could that really have been 20 years ago??). I can't really imagine going to work anywhere else. However, this spring I was offered the opportunity to broaden my horizons & move to Acton Middle School. I love the principal there & already know many of the teachers, too. After much prayer & consideration, I accepted the challenge. I'm thinking that "shaking things up a little" will be good for me professionally. I love the technology aspect of my job & there are lots of possibilities on the horizon for utilizing that skill set. So....after all these years, I'll have another "first day of middle school" in August. I think I may be more nervous that day than I was when I was going as a student to middle school. The upside is that I will just be accompanying many of my 5th graders from last year....we'll all move up together.

I've spent a lot of time moving, organizing, cleaning out, painting, etc. Have had lots of help from friends with the process. It's starting to feel like home & I'm looking forward now to taking a little time away from school & enjoying the summer.

Here's to change...

Wish me luck!

The finale...

When traveling with friends and family, it doesn't take long to figure out that everyone has something to contribute. Cori & Kacy were the navigators....taxi,GPS, underground public transportation, etc.....they could get us where we wanted to go....

Much to the girls' chagrin, I had a Chicago travel book & any time there was down time, I read to them....not sure that my first book dropped out of my bag.....I'm thinking perhaps they put it in a trash receptacle somewhere in the airport. No worries, though! I replaced it as soon as we got to Chicago!

What a good trip. We decided we would do another trip together....sans the ER visit.

P.S. Some of the details of the trip have been left out because we vowed that WHAT HAPPENS IN CHICAGO, STAYS IN CHICAGO!!

Love my traveling partners!

Day #4

Breakfast this AM was at the Argo tea shop. We highly recommend it!!

Next, we went to Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, their tours didn't start until the week-end. We did see the area and the stadium.

We walked back to town and walked through some neighborhoods and shopping areas around Damen Avenue. My shopping friends steered us back to the Mag Mile for more shopping then we headed to State Street to see the flagship Marshall Fields store. It's now Macy's. It is a beautiful old building that was worth the walk.

Next stop was the hotel and ordered Chicago style deep dish pizza to be delivered to our hotel room. Everyone was tired and ready to pack to come home.

Day #3

Monday we got up about noon. Kacy decided she would rest while Cori and I toured.

We went to the Field Museum and found it very interesting.

We came back to hotel to see about Kacy. She thought she was up to getting out with us.

We went to Millennium Park to see the Chicago Bean. Ate at the Park Grill that was adjacent to the park.

Molly's Cupcake shop was the next stop. We each got a cupcake to go and enjoyed them when we got back to the hotel.

Day #2

Sunday we began our day by going to BHLDN (Anthropologie's bridal store). Cori tried on her first wedding dress and got some little goodies for her attendants. Fun visit. After that, we did a little more shopping. We came back to the hotel and dressed for dinner. We had reservations at Table 52. Cute little place with excellent food.The chef was Oprah's long-time chef. It was a treat! Good pick, Kacy!

We left the restaurant and headed for the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Tower. Beautiful view! Kacy started feeling bad when we got to the top of the tower. She went to the restroom and continued to feel worse. After several attempts to get up and head downstairs and almost passing out, the call was made to 911. A couple of very nice medics got us down the elevator and into an ambulance. Cori & I were able to ride with her and off to Northwest Hospital we went. Here's Kacy's expensive ride & hang-out for the evening....

We were at the hospital from about 9 PM until 5:30 AM. Thankfully, they got her pain under control. We were all ready to go to bed upon arrival at the hotel. No pharmacies were open so at 7, Cori and I got Kacy settled, then waited about an hour & went to got her rx filled. We couldn't wait to get back to bed after that.

The funny story that came from all the medic excitement was that, while we were waiting for them to get her ready to go downstairs) one of the sweet young EMT guys said to Cori & I, "I have lived here all my life & I've never been up here. Now I know where I'm bringing my girlfriend for her birthday." We said, "You're welcome!" HAHA!

Spring break...

Friday at 3 o'clock....if you heard a cheer right after the 2:45 school bell rang, it may have come from Acton Elementary School. It was time for a break. It had been a busy week with book fair, etc.

Saturday AM...Cori & I left home at 5 AM headed for DFW. At 6 AM, we arrived at Kristy's house to meet Kacy. We picked her up & headed for our gates. Kacy & I had an 8:25 flight. Cori had worked out going with us at the last minute,so she was on an 8:50 flight & had to stop in St. Louis for a few hours.

Kacy & I arrived about 10:30, so we got to our hotel & got checked in. We walked around in search of a bookstore to buy a new Chicago book because, apparently, I lost mine in the airport in Dallas. We walked and walked and walked...only to find a Books-a-Million about a block and a half from our hotel. While we were out walking, we were reminded that Chicago is the WINDY CITY!! We then went to Giodarno's and had a pizza while we waited for Cori. It was YUMMY!!
We stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel on Adams Street in the financial district.

Saturday afternoon, after Cori arrived, we went to the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Avenue and shopped. I realized after just a few minutes that I was traveling with two SHOPPERS!!

We walked down the river walk to the Bridge House Tavern and ate dinner. The highlight was the sweet jalapeño popcorn.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and thought we would call it a night. Down the hall a few doors, a party started up about the time the bar closed. It was so loud that Kacy went downstairs to complain. Security came up and quieted it down once. After about 15 minutes, it started up again. I called the front desk and they sent security again. This time we could hear them be threatened with being kicked out if it got loud again. That worked and by 4:45 AM, we were able to go to sleep. Needless to say, we slept in Sunday AM.