Saturday - December 1

Welcome to December and

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DREW

 

  We woke up to a very yucky day with rain, wind and cold temps.   The plan was to have breakfast with Drew, celebrate his birthday and then we would be heading back to Bloomington.     So, first of all, after checking out of the Hilton, loading our bags and ready to leave parking garage, the card would not work to open the gate and let us out.   I went back to front desk, she gave me 2 more cards and still didn't work.    Had to call the City of Iowa City to come and manually open some box and let us out!    And then on our way to pick up Drew with the rain pounding down, he called and said he was not feeling well and didn't want to do breakfast.    He met us at his dorm, we gave him his gift, a quick hug and said "good-bye".    Poor guy....not up to par on his birthday..... 

Happy 19th Drew!     Still smilin'

We went on to The Pullman Diner (as had been the plan) and had a wonderful breakfast.......this is a favorite of Drew, Michael and Brooke's and other family who've been in Iowa City.    Sooo good but sure missing the birthday boy.

Another version of Avocado Toast - excellent and served with a side salad!

Grilled hearty grain bread spread with tomato jam, sliced avocado, very thinly sliced onion and topped with a medium fried egg!!!

Mark had the McPullman breakfast sandwich and potatoes - DEElish!!!

Onward home we came with the rain and wind.    Sure melted a lot of the snow and we were back in Bloomington around 1:30.    Unloaded our stuff and did a load of laundry.    At 3:00, we went to the airport and picked up a rental car (mine) for the next week.   It's a black Chevy Malibu with Florida plates.    

Went to 4:30 Mass at Holy Trinity - great to be back at our "home" parish after a long absence since May.

Home to Eastland and finished off some leftovers and glad to be in for the night.   We were under a tornado warning (thanks to Anne for telling us) till 7:15.

Getting Mark packed and ready for his trip to Memphis tomorrow to spend a few days with Ryan as he starts his FedEx career.    A spouse, parent, sibling or friend were invited to be there with the new pilots for orientation, tour the FedEx facility and hear all the nitty gritty.    Mark plans to be back on Wednesday!