It is late Sunday afternoon as I catch up the blog. We are settled in our hotel room near Midway Airport - Chicago! We had so much fun on this return whirlwind trip back to IL......here's what we've been up to since Friday night!
Saturday - we were up early after a short visit with Ryan over a glass of wine last night. Other than our picture at air show yesterday, this was our only time to be together!
#8, Corrie Mayes; #6, Frank Weisser; #4 Andy Talbott; #2 Matt Suyderhoud; Mark
Pat; #5, Ryan; #1, Ryan Bernacchi; #3, Lance Benson, #7, Tyler Davies
One other tidbit from Friday's practice at Oceana NAS. During the school year, there are usually several bus loads of children who get the afternoon off to come see the Blue Angels practice on Friday in whatever city they are performing that weekend. So, we arrived at the base and there are yellow school buses EVERYWHERE........hundreds of buses and thousands of children. The 5th graders from the VA Beach, Norfolk and surrounding areas were invited to watch the practice thru the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program. These kids were dressed in matching T-shirts for their school (in every color imaginable or tie dyed) and school name.
What a wonderful experience! Wish our Connor and Brady could've been there!
We've never seen anything quite like it!
We took an Uber car to the Norfolk airport. Saturday (4:30 AM) We had a 6:50 flight, but one of the flight attendants didn't arrive till 6:50....so, we were delayed! We still arrived on time in Chicago to rainy gloomy, foggy skies - "welcome to IL". I turned my phone on after landing and text messages were coming in like crazy! WOW.....big news, our nephew Ed and his wife, Morgan had their twin baby boys late last night. They were 8 weeks premature, but at 3-3 and 3-12, are doing well and expect to be in the hospital for 3 weeks.
Our teeny tiny great nephews...Payton and Keagen
So in a matter of 2 days, we have 3 brand new little boys added to the Chamberlain Clan
We stopped at my niece Jennifer and Jake's home. They were having a garage sale this weekend and brother Bob and Linda were there and of course, sweet Leia. Had a good visit, toured their new home and enjoyed a delicious lunch! The sun came out later and it was a gorgeous day!
Leia, the Crocodile
She is excited to be a big sister in January
Back on the road at 12:30 and next stop was Mendota to visit my brother Ron and Vicki. They will be returning to FL later this week, so was fun to catch up with them.
We changed clothes and off to 4:00 Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Sublette (my hometown church where I grew up). Off to my 50th class reunion in Amboy. What a great night of reminiscing, laughing and catching up. Amboy HS always combines the 25th and 50th year reunions, and to add to all that, one of the gals from our class had her Mother (93 years young) present who was in the Class of '41 and celebrating her 75th reunion! WOW.....
There were 92 in our class; 19 have passed away and 42 came, so a really nice turnout!
So, along with a great buffet dinner and all the mingling, big group picture, oldies music, etc., it made for just a very fun evening and so glad we could be there. Mark knows some from our class, but he and Joe (Jane's hubby) enjoyed yakking throughout the evening.
We spent the night at Bob and Linda's in Mendota who came on home after the garage sale.
Sunday - 9/11/16 (15 years later)...
How incredibly fast time flies, but this day will never ever be forgotten.
God Bless the victims and their families
God Bless America
A gorgeous sunny 70ish day. Had breakfast with Bob and Linda and then stopped at Stonecroft to visit my Aunt Marian and cousins (Dick, Mary and Janet) who stopped by....
As we were traveling to next stop did face time with Annette, Luke and Maeve. Philip is on a long trip to Columbia.
Met Anne, Patrick, Liam and Connor at Capponi's Italian Restaurant in Toluca - a long-time family favorite. It was so good to see them, sit and visit over our delicious food.
The boys with their G and G
The Campbell Clan
We heard this afternoon that a long-time friend, Jane Brandenburg passed away yesterday. Jane and Orville were boating friends for many years and we have so many happy memories. What's real ironic is that Orville died exactly 14 years ago to the day - 9/10/02 and Jane on 9/10/16.
We said our good byes and they went on home and we left for Chicago. Staying near Midway tonight and have 6:10 AM flight to Reagan in DC tomorrow. And then onto Annapolis and Catrina.
An interesting post on facebook this afternoon came from Janet Hamilton. Janet's husband, Mark is one of the Fat Albert pilots for the Blue Angels. She wrote that "15 years ago today, she was a Navy spouse in the bleachers at Pensacola NAS watching a Blue Angel practice. The Diamond had just taken off and the Solos were preparing for their take-off when they were suddenly stopped and everyone was told politely but firmly to leave the base immediately. No one had any idea what was going on but quickly gathered their belongings and left. And then we heard that planes had struck the Twin Towers in NYC. And now 15 years later, my husband is a Blue Angel. But every time I sit on those bleachers, I will never forget."
