Vacating

No sooner had school ended than our little family high-tailed it out of town. It wasn't exactly planned to work out this way, but we were headed to Illinois and we figured the earlier in the summer we got there, the better. Of course, we weren't counting on the massive rain storms and flooding they were having...mostly in Iowa, but that's the direction we were headed. We arrived at O'Hare an hour behind schedule after being re-routed around some thunderstorms. Daddy's uncle Quentin had driven almost three hours to the airport to pick us up.

We stopped for dinner at a TGI Fridays near the airport where Mam suddenly went into hysterics over the nearly 20 bites I'd found on her back that morning. I'd applied hydrocortisone liberally and they hadn't bothered her all day...until dinner. Immediately after dinner, Daddy used his oh-so-handy iPhone to locate a Walgreens where we picked up some Benadryl.

It rained on our way to the countryside. And it didn't rain a little. It was that sort of rain that makes you wonder what windshield wipers are for because they don't seem to be doing any good. Smunch was tense and I could tell he was scared. I assured him that Uncle Quentin has lots of experience with this sort of driving. Of course, it was 11 o'clock at night and probably way past Uncle Quentin's bedtime. When the lightning flashed...and it often did...at least we could see the roadway. Aunt Susan called while we were on the road. There was a tornado watch for their area. Daddy carefully spelled this information out to me...literally. "T-O-R-N-A-D-O watch" so as not to freak the children out. Naturally, this information was met by a concerned, "What tornado?" from Smunch. That quality education sure comes in handy... The Benadryl had already worked its magic on Mam.

We made it to Woodbine a little before 1 am, delayed again because Uncle Quentin does know how to drive in crazy stormy weather, even after bedtime. Thank goodness. And no tornados either. Maybe our arrival was a good sign for the weather...