A SLIGHT change in plans...(Part 1)

The kids and I had been looking forward to my mom coming to visit for weeks. It had been almost a YEAR since we had seen her last so they were counting down the days. A couple of days before she was scheduled to arrive, Noah would notice every airplane in the sky and ask, "Mom, is that Grandie's airplane?" Yeah, they were just a little excited.

Finally, the big day arrived! The house was cleaned, grocery shopping was done, outings were planned...and then we get a phone call.

"My flight has been canceled."

WHAT???

And instead of the ticket agent trying to get my mom on another flight, in the midst of the craziness, the agent refunds the ticket!

WHAT???

Long story short, it was going to be at least three weeks until my mom could get another ticket for the same price. Otherwise, she'd have to pay at least double to come any sooner.

The kids were so upset. Of course, I was really disappointed too. Adding three more weeks to our countdown seemed like forever. So I get this bright idea - maybe I could be brave and drive up to Chicago with the kids (by myself) and visit my mom instead. (She and my step-dad are living there for a couple of years for my step-dad's job, and we're the only ones in the family who haven't been to visit yet.) I talked to my mom about about using the refunded ticket money for gas money, and she thought it was a great idea! What a great homeschool "field trip" this would be too - staying in the big city, museums, seeing a giant T-Rex skeleton, Millennium park, Lake Michigan, American Girl store, restaurants, bakeries...how could I pass this up?

As an extra bonus, I could stop and see a friend and her kids (whom I've never seen in person) along the way, and visit my cute little niece and nephew too. I told the kids about the idea and Noah started stuffing things into his backpack right away - "I'm all packed, Mom!" It was 3/4 full of toys and 1/4 full of clothes - his "basketball shirt", pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and khaki shorts. So cute.

The next morning, feeling confident about the drive, I went to get an oil change and started getting things ready, but by that afternoon, I started feeling nervous. I'd never driven that far on my own before. I'm not really an impulsive person (with the exception of bringing home a puppy a few months back, and I've been paying for that - let me tell ya). I was having all kinds of doubts. Later that afternoon, I texted my mom, "I'm feeling nervous about the drive. Would you be upset if I changed my mind?" She said she would understand. I knew the kids would be upset, but I figured I could make it up to them with dollar movies and ice cream cones - maybe. Still, I was feeling really torn..and did I mention, nervous???

*Part 2 to come (and a GIVEAWAY)!!!