Destination Paradise

We left the house at 7:30 am so we're a little droopy at this point, but a quick rest will cure that. The airline apparently has a policy of very much overbooking flights so that even though we arrived 2 1/2 hours early for our flight, they tried to bump us to tomorrow's flight. We weren't about to have any of that and insisted that they find room for us on today's flight. We won. Other than that, no incidents to speak of, and a quick and easy flight. The hotel is great, with a couple swimming pools and a verrry comfortable bed. Later we'll post some photos, after we better figure out the internet situation. Tonight we'll be going to bed early so that we can be ready to get up early for Carlos' medical appointment.

That's right! I'm now a 26 year-old! I'm fortunate to have enjoyed my past several birthdays in pretty interesting places: 2005 - Chicago 2006 - Barcelona 2007 - Rome 2008 - Monterrey Last year, it was authentic Italian pizza and gelato. This year, Carlos and I celebrated at Peter Piper Pizza with a "Chicago Style Pizza". Apparently in other parts of the country/world, pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and green peppers are all it takes to make a pizza "Chicago Style". Regardless, the pizza was good, which is why we went there. Afterward, we went with Nico for a long walk under the stars (or whatever can be seen under the smoggy Monterrey sky). The best part of my birthday was being together as a whole family! Here's hoping for the next one, we'll all be back in Chicago.

And just in time for my birthday! I flew in on Mexicana yesterday, which was great! Direct flight from O'Hare to Monterrey, only 3.5 hours. They did ask for my Doctor's permission to fly right away at the check-in when they saw me, so apparently I look really pregnant now! The flight was great, I love Mexicana. They even serve real meals during the flight! Only snag was getting through customs, and not for the usual type of reason. No, in my case it's that 15 or so flights in a year have taken their toll on the suitcase I chose, and having lost a leg somewhere between Europe and Mexico, it now lost a wheel on this flight. This only caused a problem when I had to hoist it off the customs baggage scanner and the sharky businessman behind me felt it would be helpful to push me, so that I was off-balance and dropped the already-unbalanced suitcase ON MY TOE! I emerged from customs frazzled, pregnant, dragging an injured suitcase, and gushing blood from the toe. But all ...