Thursday, September 17, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I finally gave up and looked at my phone and read but never got back to sleep, finally getting up with the alarm at 5am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 3,624 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 11 minutes for a sleep score of 58.

I dragged the first heavy bag (remember, no elevator) down the steps and hoisted it into the trunk of our car. My back was starting to bother me a little so I took an Advil and it kicked in immediately. I put the remainder of the bags in the trunk.

We left the Airbnb on schedule at 5:30. The Google maps girl did us wrong and gave me a crazy route to the airport. For the last turn into the airport rental car return area I was in the right lane of 5 lanes and she told me to turn left. I continued down that road about 5 minutes until I could do a U-turn and head back north to Zemke Road. I returned the car without incident, we took the train to terminal 1, got our boarding passes, checked our bags (including the carry-on they suggested we check for free), went through TSA and stopped at Tortas Frontera near our gate – B14. We shared a taco with 2 cups of coffee and the tacos were difficult to eat and contained jalapenos they didn’t mention on the menu.

Jacob and Annie James

This is what my fingers look like when the cold weather hits:

I received a message from United our flight is delayed because of storms between Houston and Chicago. The original departure was scheduled for 10:40 and now it’s been changed to 12:52 and it also said we will only have 8 minutes to get to our new gate, C2, for flight UA1675 departing at 4:25. ☹ We may be staying overnight at a hotel in Houston. ☹

Our flight didn’t depart until 2pm and landed in Houston at 4:20 so by the time we taxied to our gate and exited the plane our connecting flight to Medellin had already left.

Houston, we have a problem; Sorry, I’ve been dying to say that.
They had a flight to Bogota but it was full. We quickly and easily reserved the same flight to Medellin for tomorrow. Teresa was starving so we stopped at Panda Express and shared orange chicken, black pepper angus, and fried rice for $15.27. Downstairs we waited at Claim Check #1 but didn’t see our bags on the side so we waited a while to see if they came down the conveyer belt.

I looked at the screen and it said:

Chicago – Arrived in Claims

Denver – Arriving in Claims

We waited at a desk for a while but no one showed up. I found a claims guy and asked him about where our bags from Chicago were. He pointed to the row of bags along the side we had already checked. I asked him what “Arriving in Claim” means and he said they are coming down the chute now. I questioned him about “arrived in claims”, being past tense doesn’t that mean they should already be here? He agreed and pointed to the row of bags again. I told him there not here so where else could they be? He pointed to a far away room in a corner. I went there and after a short wait in line was told that this room was only for local baggage. I asked where I would find “international baggage” and she pointed to a girl nearby. I asked her and learned our bags are kept in a secure area until our flight tomorrow when they will go on our plane.

We took their little train to the airport Marriott but were told they are full for tonight but the lady gave me a sheet with a list of over a dozen nearby hotels with their telephone numbers and addresses.

I called the Sheraton (3 miles away) and was told they have rooms available and they would send over a shuttle to pick us up. I asked ChatGPT how much the Sheraton would cost and was told in the neighborhood of $148 including taxes and fees for a sample September 25-26 stay.

I waited about 10 minutes before going outside where I found a small bus that took us 8 minutes away to the Sheraton. (Although later I found everything is branded as Marriott Bonvoy; bait & switch?) I checked us in and the lady quoted me $199 and asked me if I approved that. I told her I was expecting something closer to $150; I asked her if they don’t have a senior discount or one for gringos? She laughed, checked her computer and asked, “how about $169”? I told her that was much better and put it on my charge card.

I asked the guy at the desk if they had any emergency bathroom supplies and he gave me a comb, a deodorant, 2 toothbrushes and 2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste.

We went up to our room – at the end of a long hall naturally and got settled. Turns out I have my bathroom kit in my backpack so we/I had a brush, deodorant, and toothpaste.

I left at 7:15 and went down to the bar. They had 2 large screen TVs with some college game, one screen with what looked like a soap opera, and the Lions vs Bills game was on the main screen right in front of the bar where all the seats were taken.

I took a seat outside and checked my phone and saw the Bills were leading the Lions 14-7. A few minutes later I noticed they changed the TV nearest to me back to the game so I took a seat inside. I left at halftime and stopped at their gym where I did a few arm exercises with 5# and 10# dumbbells.

Back upstairs I read for a while until Teresa was ready to go to bed at 9:30.

Each of our double beds had a duvet and a comforter in addition to a sheet. Have I mentioned I don’t like duvets? Unless a room is extraordinarily cold, I sleep with a top sheet. A duvet forces you to sleep with 2 sheets and a blanket. Enough said.

 

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Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep pretty quickly, but soon woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep (I fault the caffeine in the Coke I had with our pizza), I finally gave up and looked at my phone and read before finally falling back asleep about 3am ☹, and waking/getting up with Teresa at 7:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,377 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 37 minutes for a sleep score of 49. ☹

Today is Annie James’ 1^st birthday and this is how her day started at 7:30 this morning.

Mommy is just a little crazy…about her girl.

I checkmated Troyclough in 16 moves, increasing my rating to 1559.

We left the Airbnb about 12:30 and met Jeannie, Jacob & Annie at Kohl’s Children’s Museum in Glenview. It cost them $30 each to enter but grandparents were only $5. 😊

There were a few rooms that Annie found interesting.

We left there about 2:30 as Annie would soon be needing her nap. We had lunch in nearby Potbelly; Teresa and I shared a Cubano (pulled pork) sandwich and bowl of broccoli & cheddar soup.

We said our goodbyes – until next year. ☹

We drove to T.J. Maxx where Teresa returned a blouse without the receipt. We stopped at a few places and I finally found a
Sun-Times at a 7-11.

Back at the apt we completed a little more packing and just crashed for the remainder of the day.

I set the alarm for 5am so we should have plenty of time in O’Hare airport for breakfast.

We finally got to bed at 9:30.

 

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Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep pretty quickly, got up at 2:15 to pee, couldn’t fall back asleep, got up at 3:15 to read a bit. I moved to the living room not to wake Teresa but found her on the couch. She told me she hadn’t slept at all as she moved back to the bed. I read until 3:45 then returned to bed and quickly fell asleep, finally waking/getting up with Teresa at 7:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,633 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 49 minutes for a sleep score of 71.

We agreed to get up at 5:30am on Thursday, leave the Airbnb at 6:30am, drive to the airport and return the car for our 10:40am flight to Houston. We’ll then have breakfast after we clear the TSA check.

I checkmated Mr_Blamo in 32 moves increasing my rating to 1555.

We left the Airbnb at 11:45 and arrived at Jeannie’s house by 12:15. We played with the girls for a few minutes then took them on a stroller ride in the park. We also walked around a block of nice houses a block away. We took them inside a kiddie area and put them in kiddie swings. Annie obviously loved it but Lucy doesn’t show much emotion. Jeannie returned Rebel to their house then we walked downtown to Harmony Café where we had drinks outside. We returned to the house by 3pm as it was time for their naps.

We said our goodbyes although it’s possible we may get together tomorrow.

We stopped in Walgreen’s where I bought a Sun-Times, a small container of TUMS and bottles of vitamins for her friends and ZzzQuil for us to hopefully sleep better tonight. (It says it contains Diphenhydramine HCI so I doubt it’s any different than Benadryl.)

We drove to Old Orchard mall where I returned the fanny pack I bought a couple weeks ago. (Teresa is amazed how easy it is to return purchases here.) We drove to a T.J. Maxx in an outside mall on Dempster where I mistakenly thought we had a return. Teresa found another fanny pack I liked a little better than the one I bought so if she doesn’t want it I said I’ll take it. She was going through the pockets when she found a $10 bill, 2 $5 bills and 2 $1 bills for a total of $22. I would have returned the cash if we knew who put it there but we don’t need to make the store any richer.)

We drove to a Marshall’s in another mall on Golf Road where Teresa returned a hat.

We drove to Countryside Saloon where we shared a small Italian sausage pizza. (She’ becoming more of a Chicagoan every day.) We sat outside and felt a few raindrops but luckily they never amounted to anything.

We returned to the apt to hang out for a while before going to bed.

 

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Monday, September 14, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, took about an hour to fall asleep, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 3,101 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 17 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Another photo of Annie James

I tried balancing my USAA checking account but I’m off by about $20. I’ll get to that again later.

We left the Airbnb just after 9:30 and drove to Woodfield mall. I had asked ChatGPT where to park to be closest to the JD Sports store. I parked between Penney’s and Nordstrom and the store was just inside and around a corner. I quickly returned the $150 shoes I bought a couple weeks ago and we were back on the road.

We stopped at a Jewel supermarket and bought a bouquet of flowers. We continued on to the cemetery where my mother is buried. We found her grave, cleaned it with a special knife we found in our Airbnb and sat down and said a prayer.

We drove to Geneva arriving at noon and I found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant, Nosh. We walked around town for about 20 minutes but didn’t find anything interesting and some stores are closed on Mondays.

We returned to the restaurant and Jim, Joan and David (my cousin) were already there.

Left to right: me, Teresa, Dave, Jim, Joan.

I haven’t seen Dave in probably 10 years. We shared a large table and I ordered a chicken sandwich (minus the bacon) for Teresa and I ordered a half-price on Mondays burger for me. We shared stories including Dave explaining in detail how he used to catch rattlesnakes for $15 each for milking when he lived in Arizona.

We left at 2pm and drove out to a mall west of town where we found a couple discount stores. We returned to town and at my brother’s advice parked a couple blocks south of downtown where we walked through a couple of old houses repurposed as boutique stores. One that impressed me the most was named Cocoon and I was impressed by the owner’s layout and design skills.

We drove east of town to a mall where we found a Marshall’s, a Ross and a Nordstrom Rack where we spent some time shopping.

We finally left there about 6:15 and drove to Mr. Beef and Pizza on Elmhurst Road where we had our last Italian beef sandwich for this trip.

We returned to the Airbnb and prepared for bed. We found we’re out of zopiclone sleeping pills so we each took a full Benadryl.

 

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Sunday, September 13, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, took about an hour to fall asleep, slept through the night, finally waking at 6am and getting up with Teresa at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 3,665 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 44 minutes for a sleep score of 81.

With veggie leftovers from yesterday’s party, Teresa made omelets this morning.

I had a 42-minute nap after breakfast.

We left the apt at 12:30 and drove to Broken Tee Brewing Company in Highwood where I found a parking space right across the street. We walked inside and there was a young family eating and watching the game. It certainly didn’t look like a party going on. Then someone came in that recognized us and informed us the party was in back. Behind the building they have a patio and half a dozen young families with kids were celebrating Annie’s second 1^st birthday. They had premade hotdogs and a lettuce salad for everyone to share. Of course you go inside for your drinks. Just before halftime (the Bears were ahead 28-21) we got some raindrops and moved everything inside to a side room. For dessert they had delicious cupcakes. They put a candle in a cupcake and we all joined in singing Happy Birthday to Annie James. They soon brought out a bowl of watermelon slices pierced with sticks. Annie’s eyes lit up because that’s her favorite dessert. By the time she finished her 5 slices her dress was wet from all the dripping. 

The party broke up at 3pm and we helped J & J carry stuff out to their cars. The Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 59-37. I’ll have to wait until we return to Envigado to resubscribe to DAZN (aka NFL Game Pass) to watch the game. We drove back to the apt and just relaxed for a while.

Chesswiz98 resigned our game increasing my rating to 1553.

We left the Airbnb just before 6pm and drove to Himalayan Restaurant in Niles where I ordered Garlic Naan bread to share (Teresa had one bite and I two slices) and Teresa had fish tikka masala and I had chicken tikka masala for a total of $50.40 including tip. It was all delicious.

We walked to a nearby Marshall’s where Teresa found a jacket for the gym and baseball cap she liked and I found a less expensive and more suitable fanny pack for less than I paid at L.L. Bean so I’ll return that one.

We returned to the apt and got ready for bed.

 

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Saturday, September 12, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep pretty quickly, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up with Teresa at 7:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,701 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 53 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Teresa took out the eggs for breakfast and showed me we only had 2. It’s like her not to give me a heads up when we are low on something. I drove to Walmart where I bought our usual carton of 18 eggs plus a small container of blueberry preserves. I stopped at my old townhouse and picked up some genealogical material my ex left between the door and the screen door.

Teresa made herself breakfast while I just collapsed on the couch.

Teresa finally talked to her mother this morning after calling her all week and her never answering.

We left the Airbnb at 12:30 and drove to Jeannie & Jacob’s house for Annie’s first 1^st birthday party. I saw a number of people I haven’t seen since Annette’s funeral: Kia, Chris & Mark, Valerie & her husband, Angie, Jerry & Toulah.

Everyone left by 3pm and Jeannie opened our presents for Annie: a book Mis Primeras Palabras in Spanish, 2 dresses and I told Jeannie about our 529 contribution.

We left a few minutes later. I drove us back to our Airbnb where we collapsed for a few minutes. We ate the half sandwiches Jeannie had given us and at 7pm we drove to Potbelly where we each had a bowl of their broccoli cheese soup.

We went to bed at our usual 10pm.

 

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Friday, September 11, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10:15, was still awake when Teresa got up at 12:30, we both took another ½ zopiclona and returned to bed this time falling asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 6:45 and Teresa was already up.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,313 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 42 minutes for a sleep score of 75.

Wow, today is the 25^th anniversary of 9/11; can’t believe it’s a quarter century in the past already. Well, it’s understandable when I think of where I was then and where I am now.

We left the apt at 9:30 and drove to Deerfield Bakery in Buffalo Grove. Again, Teresa had the skillet and I had the 2x2 and we shared a pecan roll with coffee. Teresa ate half her skillet and got the remainder to go. We drove to All Seasons Orchard in Woodstock.

We presented our free passes and they gave us two small paper bags for our apples. I understood any more than fit in the bags and we would have to pay for more bags. A tractor pulled us in a hayrack a short distance to the orchard. They had American flags indicating the rows (one gala and the other honey crisp) that we were supposed to use. I couldn’t believe how plentiful the apples were; previously I’ve always gone in October when it was difficult to find ripe apples.

We easily filled one of the bags then walked down to the honey crisp row. The honey crisp didn’t look healthy as they all had a spot on them. We returned to the gala row and filled the 2^nd bag and then some. We returned to the entrance and the girl nicely didn’t charge us for the extra apples.

We stopped in their store where we shared an apple cider donut and a glass of apple cider (she was not impressed) and got a small apple pie to go.

We drove to Crystal Lake where Teresa checked out Ross and I bought a 10-pack of thin socks and a stick of deodorant. We stopped nearby at a T.J. Maxx where Teresa returned a few items. Sitting in the car in the parking lot we finished the leftovers from Teresa’s breakfast.

I stopped at a gas station and filled up the car with $4.25 per gallon gas.

We returned to the Airbnb and brought up our things to our apt. We left again at 7:30 and drove to the nearby Chinese restaurant Twin Dragon where we shared a plate of chicken with rice and I had a hot tea. The check was $15.55 and I gave them $20 and told them to keep the change.

We stopped at a Walgreens where Teresa was looking for some type of fingernail polish. I found a group of 6 teenagers (1 guy, 5 girls) and one spoke Spanish and helped Teresa find what she was looking for.

We returned to the Airbnb.

I finished James Patterson’s Kill Alex Cross on my Kindle and downloaded the next book in the series.

 

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