Be careful what you wish for

Saturday was our last day of the holiday. We packed up, said our goodbyes (and parting was really hard) and left Grayslake and our kind hosts.

So guess what happened on our final day? You guessed it: snow! Oh, the irony! Not just snow, either, but rain, which promptly froze. After what felt like a perilous journey to the airport (Mr Ruby assured me he was unconcerned and all would be well - I don't know if this was a big old lie to reassure me, or if he really is supremely confident but, either way, I appreciated hearing that!), we cleared security and read, with confidence, the screens saying that our flight was 'on time'. Was it heck? The darned thing wasn't even in Chicago: it had been re-routed to Detroit... where it stayed.

Mr Ruby's panorama of the front yard

So, know what snow and freezing rain are really bad for? Yep: aeroplanes. The airports of the Midwest were in ice-induced chaos - planes re-routed, flights cancelled or delayed, departure gates changed (more than once, in some cases)... So anyway, we settled in for what turned out to be a long afternoon... and evening... and some of the night, of delays, while various planes were moved from one gate to another and repeatedly de-iced. However, get this: it actually turned out, for us, for the best. Despite the obvious disadvantages - airports are really dull places, waiting around is nobody's idea of a fun night out and we were all starving and shattered by the end of it all, but it wasn't all bad.

For starters, both the Mouse and TR spotted the climbing frame in the departure lounge and the (some might say lengthy) delay allowed them ample opportunity to play on it - and this wore them out. By the time we finally boarded our plane, they were shattered and so slept really well, and because we were all crammed onto another flight, we lost our specially reserved bulkhead seats and bassinet for TR and instead had to cram into a row of three seats. 'How can this be good?' I hear you ask. Well, a very kind BA steward (Gwynneth, we salute you!) managed to swing it so that we had two rows of three seats. Thus both the Mouse and TR could stretch out over two seats and Mr Ruby and I simply took it turns to look after each child. Unbelievably, both children slept for the entire flight and even Mr Ruby and I managed more sleep than we were expecting. It was a very good thing that the Mouse slept all night long, because her lactose-free meal hadn't made it onto the plane. Mind you, my hand luggage consisted mainly of snacks, so she'd have been alright, had hunger struck.

After a rather turbulent flight (and you know it's bad when the stewards start serving dinner and then have to run down the aisles and gather it all back in again - man, were we hungry when we finally got to eat!!!), we finally arrived at Heathrow 6 hours later than anticpated. The captain informed us all that 'the weather in Heathrow is very similar to the conditions we experienced in Chicago'. If by 'similar' he meant generally inclement then, yes, I guess they were. If what he actually meant was that Greater London was in the grip of an ice storm then, no, I think he may have had his facts wrong!

Anyway, we disembarked and went to meet my brother, who had set off at the crack of dawn to collect us, unaware of the delays to our flight. That is a looooong time to spend waiting around in an airport: sorry, Bro. On the plus-side, he bumped into his hero, Matt Le Tissier, and updated him on the latest performance of the (once) mighty Saints.

How good it felt, after all that waiting around, to be finally home again. Home, thankfully, was still where we'd left it and in much the same way - although an inexplicable problem with our central heating meant that we returned to a virtual sauna and some rather dead-looking houseplants. (So much for our stewardship of the Earth's resources: a trans-atlantic flight and the central heating on full-whack while we were away. Whoops!) Thankfully, Mr Ruby was able to remedy the problem. I can't say how, because he works in IT and it would give away trade secrets.

Oh, OK then: he just switched it off and then switched it on again. I think our thermostat is on the blink.

To finish here is my list of what we really enjoyed about our time away:

Visiting with family, and the generosity and kindness of our hosts;

Thanksgiving;

Pumpkin pie;

The weather (well, most of it);

So much space everywhere, and those big, prairie skies;

American Girl Place - the sheer lavishness of the place and how emblematic it seemed to be;

A cosy fire and a bed that folded right out of the wall.

Here ends the blog, which I shall now dedicate to my family and fellow travelling companions and the good doctors, P and X, and my niece, Terrier 900. Thanks for everything, guys, and see you in August. That's when we're most likely to get freezing rain in the UK. Ha-ha! Cymru am byth, folks! See you there.

Small Print: Sorry for the delay in publishing this page. We arrived home to a rather erratic Internet connection and it's been like that ever since.

Are we there yet?

We are, yes. After our eight hour flight, we arrived in Chicago yesterday evening. Or it may have been the afternoon. None of the Ruby clan are entirely sure what time it is. The Mouse and TR are particularly confused about this.

Our flight was smooth and uneventful, which is exactly how I like my flights to be. The Mouse enjoyed watching Angelina Ballerina and TR mostly enjoyed ripping tissues out of the dispenser in the aeroplane bathroom and bashing on the counter while I changed his nappy.

Now, there is plenty of advice out there on flying with kids, some good, some bad. However, I am here to reassure you that, should you be contemplating the idea, it's not all bad news, so long as you come prepared. My list of flying-essentials would include:

1. Nappies that can also be worn like pants - very handy for standing-up changes. Since airports don't seem to major in changing tables, you will need to get good at these. Also, a standing-up change provides better access to the aforementioned tissue dispensers.

2. The knowledge that those small-screen TVs will occupy a four year old for a surprisingly long length of time.

3. Endless snacks and dinner supplements. This is particularly important if anyone in your party has any kind of food intolerance or allergy. BA are geared-up to deal with all sorts of special dietary requirements, but not if you have any kind of combination of them. The Mouse cannot eat either milk or soya and she is furthermore philosophically opposed to sandwiches with fillings like 'Mushrooms and roasted red onions'. I was able to book a lactose-free meal, but not a soya-free meal (and intolerance to both those things is really very common, so you'd maybe think... but no). You can guess what the most common milk substitute is, can't you? Yep. And what a bummer that is. In an ideal world, I'd be able to book her a lactose and dairy-free meal with child-appeal. In a less than ideal world, I packed a lot of snacks. Which was a Good Thing to Do!!!

So that's my list: three items, over-elaborated.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we did get the packing done before we left: