Who Needs a New Year's Eve When You Can Spend Precious Time on a Tarmac?

Ok...so when I last left you, we were having a blast in Texas. But, like all good things, it had to come to an end eventually...

December 31, 2007...the last day of a whirl-wind year. The day that we had to fly back to Chicago, arrive around 5pm, and drive home for our little family New Year's shin-dig...that was the plan anyways...

...Enter Amazing Race "I Hope That Never Happens To Me" moment number two...the on-plane delay...

Ok, so the weather was amazing in Texas...low 60s I think...but elsewhere, not the case. Actually, "else where" only includes one place...Chicago, IL. Seriously, apparently the ONLY precipitation on the ENTIRE weather map was over that area...our luck! So, as anticipated, the plane was delayed for 40 minutes, giving us siblings some time to run and grab a little something pre-security for lunch. (Again, time around 2pm...we have a horrible eating schedule!). It also gave me enough time to run the key back to the Avis counter that my dad accidentally took (oops!). Anywho, so we were finally allowed to board, when the worst thing happened...Ok, I can think of a few other worse things, including incidences with people trying to light their tennis shoes on fire, but this comes in as a screaming second...we were delayed while on the plane!

Seriously, I wish this on nobody...We were taxied out to the runway, but conveniently, we were told while taxiing (is that correct?) that we were delayed due to weather in Chicago, and that the wait time was roughly an hour, but that was just a guesstimate (I hate that word...that's how much I hate this situation...). So, after watching some "Ellen in a Minute" podcasts, and taking many short naps, the hour had elapsed and so had some of our patience (ok, kinda mostly Jessi, but then I got into Amazing Race mode, so I too was getting impatient). The pilot got back onto the speaker and informed us that there was another wait where after that we would have an answer...but, in the meantime, enjoy some water and tea. Thanks guys...

So, Jessi got on her cell phone and began to make some calls... Madison Julie was her ticketing agent who was giving her other options of getting into Wisconsin in time to spend New Year's on the ground with our loved ones... The issues:

(A) We were on a plane in the middle of the tarmac...According to man sitting behind Jessi, next to Missy, if we had requested to get off, they had to let us off, but the issues came in with our luggage (which had to stay on the plane). Also, if we decided that we had to get off, but that option fell through, we then had the issue that we couldn't get back on this flight...Risky indeed...

(B) Our van was still near O'Hare at that hotel. The idea was too fly into somewhere not O'hare so that we would actually be able to land... One option that Julie found was flying into Madison, getting us in early enough, but if that fell through, well, take a look at issue (A).

(C) Delays were happening all over due to delayed flights in/out of O'Hare. The chances of getting somewhere on another flight...well, look at issues (A) and (B)...

So, we stuck with it. Then, after waiting for 3+ hours, we were given clearance to take off! This, of course, came with warning that we might have to circle for some time, but nonetheless, we would be hovering over our destination!

Well, after a blind landing (0 visibility), we arrived around 9pm...just enough time to grab the luggage, call the hotel shuttle, traverse the confusing O'Hare tunnels to the correct pick-up area, and get back to the snow covered van in the hotel's parking lot...Oy. We managed to leave fairly quickly, and after a bit, I had fallen asleep, with zero hope of being home to ring in the new year. Jessi, the optimist (did I really just say that?), called Andy and made plans to be dropped off to see him before the ball drop. Well, the race was on!

I woke up when the van stopped at the New Berlin Entertainment Center, where we let Jessi out. Looking at the clock, I saw 11:44...we still had time!

So, after 1 very long day, 3 states and thousands of miles, we managed to get home at 11:58pm - less than two minutes to spare. We neglected the bags, ran in, threw on the TV, and watched Dick Clark's countdown...we made it! So, instead of the celebration that we had loosely planned, the majority of us just hit the sack...our whirl-wind adventure was done.

Happy New Years!