Leaving Chicago (Last Post About Our November Trip)

Tiffany told us KC was upset the night before we left.  She asked, "Why do Grandpa and Grandma have to leave?  Why can't they stay longer?"

I knew KC was working through her emotions about our imminent departure when I heard her telling some people she'd met, "Grandpa and Grandma are leaving in three days."

Art thought we should take a taxi to spare her the pain of seeing us leave.

Tiffany said it would be OK and that she would drive us to the airport.

I saw KC through the window waving with a sad smile.

She cried when she left us this summer.

This time she was being strong for us and sending us off with a trembling smile.

 I was proud of her.

And then it was time to  walk to our departure gate at the United terminal.

United had changed our departure time from 9:00 AM to 8:30 AM.  However, due to some mechanical problems, we took off an hour and a half later.

We laughed when the pilot apologized for the delay and said we'd be 15-20 minutes late.

Luckily the connecting flight in L.A. was nearby so it didn't require us to run.

We returned home to Hawaii about 5:00 PM to a beautiful sunset.  My brother, Dennis was waiting for us. 

Mom had prepared a wonderful meal.  She'd worked all day to make Art's favorite nishime dish.

We brought her cava (sparking wine) from Barcelona.

She liked it so much, she finished my glass too.

Oh yes...

It was nice to be home.

Apple Picking in Wisconsin!

I'm nearing the end of my posts about our fall trip to the Mediterranean and Chicago.

KC asked her parents if she could go apple picking.  She must have heard about it from her friends, but she wanted to try it. Since KC doesn't usually ask for this sort of thing, Ed and Tif thought it would be fun for her to experience it.

Ed insisted on looking for an orchard that had Fuji apples since that's the only kind of apple KC seems to eat.  Ummm.... yes, she's particular.  Tiffany did some research online and found Edwards Orchard in Poplar Grove.

November 1st was cold but sunny.

It  was a bonus that they also had Granny Smith that Tif likes.

$40 for a basket seemed steep, but you're paying for the experience.












We got to ride into the orchard on this flat bed wagon pulled by a tractor.

The orchard was full of fruit.

The nice thing is that the fruit were not too large which made them the perfect size for KC's snacks.

We used to take Tiffany and her brother, Keola apple picking all the time when we lived in Illinois.

This brought back lovely memories.

Tif said somebody had mentioned how good their donuts were.

Oh yes!  They were the best fresh apple donuts we've ever had.

The little museum of farm equipment was interesting and gave KC a glimpse into the past.

When we got home we found that quite a few of the apples had this translucent look near the core.  I'd seen something like this before when we'd bought Fuji apples and thought they might have been damaged by cold weather or some other condition.  Actually it's called watercore. Apples with watercore have high levels of the sugar sorbitol and are desirable in Japan. Areas in the flesh near the core are supposed to be filled with air, but became filled with liquid instead.

In the end, they tasted great and we loved them.  In fact, we even ate some on the airplane that Tiffany packed for us.  I hope we get to have them again next year.

Heaven Sent Luck?

December has been a month cloaked in sadness.  Not too long after we returned from Chicago and the Mediterranean cruise we took with my cousin, Arnold and Nancy, his sister, Joan was diagnosed with liver cancer. It's been a month of shock, hopes raised, then dashed and a desperate need to make her as comfortable as possible.  We thought she'd have several months but tomorrow we'll be attending her funeral.

We visited her on a Saturday and Joan looked happy and cheerful.  She is a cousin who was always caring for others despite her pain or exhaustion.  I had no doubts that we'd be seeing her again in a couple of days, but she died on Monday.  Even though the parting had been foretold, there was still a sense of disbelief when it actually happened.

I was feeling pretty down.

On Wednesday I went to my regular Zumba class.  At the end of class, our Zumba instructor, Stephanie held a lottery to give away some holiday gifts.  Everyone's name had been put in a bag and two names were drawn.  I NEVER expect to win so you can imagine my shock when my name was drawn.

When I opened the gift, there was a $20 gift card to Burger King.

I had to chuckle because Joan did have that occasional weakness for fast food hamburgers.

During our last visit she laughed with me about liking root beer floats.  I told her how I could get a senior drink and a free frosty at Wendy's to make a root beer float.

Art and I don't eat fast food toooooo much, but we do indulge every so often.

I felt like Joan was looking down at me and chuckling. 

I can still hear her telling my aunt, "You have to enjoy life too, Mom."

Hmmm... Does Burger King sell root beer floats??

KFC Christmas!

We had a very laid back Christmas this year.  This holiday season has been rather difficult for our family so we didn't have a tree and we really didn't get into the holiday spirit too much.

We weren't going to get together for Christmas, but Art said we should... just to  perk ourselves up.

When I called my brother, Dennis, he said that he and Nancy always have Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Eve.  I had to laugh because I'd heard that it's become a custom in Japan to have Kentucky Fried Chicken at Christmas.  It was some kind of marketing strategy that worked like a charm.

For Dennis and Nancy though, it was just something easy they started since they were so busy with their jobs that they didn't have time to cook an elaborate meal on Christmas Eve.

Nancy brought over the Kentucky Fried Chicken meal and Mom added her macaroni salad as Dennis requested.  I added a green salad just to make it a little  healthier.

And you know what?  This was a no stress, simple, loving and really fun party.  It was just right.

I think we might have to make this an annual tradition.... just like the Japanese.  

A Zumba Christmas Party

I know it's a little weird to go from a Halloween post to Christmas.  However, I just had to write about the fun we had at our Christmas/Holiday Party at the Waikele Country Club.  This would be our 3rd Annual Holiday Party for our group of Zumba friends.

The Waikele Country Club sits on a beautiful stretch of green grass.  I grew up in this area and it's changed so much from the dusty plantation town it used to be.









Myrtle has been organizing our parties and they've been the highlight of our holiday season.

A large table was set up and Myrtle and her helpers were already getting things set up in festive trimmings.

As people arrived our placemats were loaded with Hawaii type favors.  Everybody brought something unique, delicious, fun and wonderful.













And speaking of delicious... quite a number of us chose the steamed basa cooked Chinese style.

It was scrumptious!

Myrtle had a whole bunch of games organized and many friends donated prizes for the winners.  I have no idea how she comes up with new games every year!  Here she cut up two Christmas cards for each player and whoever could put them together first would win a prize. 

Would you believe I won?

No kidding!

And look what I won!

For this game, Myrtle gave each of us a tangerine and a card on which to write how many segments of  fruit we'd find after peeling it.  After much deliberation, I wrote 13.  And yes, YES!  I won again!!!

What did I win?  Silicon cupcake cups!  I shall have to try them soon.

There were many games that required the use of your memory.  I failed miserably.

And here we are...  wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  My year has been merry and healthier just because these wonderful ladies keep me motivated to exercise throughout the year.

Coldest Halloween in 18 Years!

We'd been paying attention to the weather news and anticipating the cooler Halloween weather that was forecasted.  However.... it was far worse than we expected.

Here's a sight we never see in Hawaii.

Trucks to pick up piles of fall leaves!













Later in the afternoon, we went to KC's school to help with their fall celebrations. They do not celebrate any holidays at her school, but they can celebrate fall.

Anticipating the terrible weather, Art and our son-in-law Ed volunteered to take the kids Trick or Treating.

Apparently there was sleet, rain and frigid temperatures.  It was so bad that it even set a record for the coldest Halloween in 18 years!

Still... Dad and Grandpa gave up before the kids did.

Art said he couldn't believe how KC had the stamina to run around the neighborhood despite the horrible conditions.

They had an incredible haul of candy and other treats.  I think everybody thought nobody would show up and dumped extra candy into their containers.

This was definitely a Halloween to remember.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

I can't believe this post happened to end up on Christmas Eve.  I hope it's warm and cozy where you are and that you are all having a fabulous time with your family and friends.

I'd like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Annual Outlet Mall Visit

One of my favorite places to go to is the Kenosha Outlet Mall in Wisconsin.

A beautiful sunrise greeted us.

Ever since my Corningware bowl got cracked, I've been looking for a sale to replace it.  Oh happy days!  I could buy a whole set for the price of one bowl. 

We had fun wandering through all the stores and finding some excellent buys.  My favorite store is the Corning Corelle Revere Factory Outlet store.  Granted, now Art's backpack would be a little heavier on the way home to Hawaii.

We returned home in time to pick KC up at school and take her to her ice skating lesson.  I'm just so amazed at all she can do.

I wished we lived closer so we could be with her more often.

Trick or Treat Trot

Tiffany signed up herself, KC and Art for the Trick or Treat Trot well in advance of our trip.

Forgetting for a minute that he was in the Midwest, Art was going to wear shorts for the run.


It was a beautiful morning, but cooler than what Art expected.

KC's 1/4 mile race was first.

I could see she was a bit apprehensive, but when the race started she was off like the wind.

Tiffany taught KC that if she's tired, she can slow down, but when she's close to the finish line she should come in strong.

She sure did!

And then it was time for the 6K run.  Tiffany and Art did great.

I learned that smart phones take faster, better photos than my bigger Canon PowerShot SX30IS.

After the race, the runners in the family collected all the free goodies that were being passed out.

Tif's running friend and KC's surrogate "auntie", Jane joined us for the day of fun.

It was another glorious fall day!

Plain Ol' Princess

Halloween was around the corner and KC was looking forward to all the fun activities.

I was amazed at KC's costume.  It was well made and quite expensive looking.  Tiffany assured me that she'd gotten a good deal at TJ Maxx (discount store).

"Aha," I laughed.  "You're Elsa from Frozen!"  I remembered how impressed I was that she knew all the lyrics to Do You Want to Build a Snowman? and Let It Go.  I can still hear her singing those songs over and over and over.

"No Grandma," she corrected me.  "I'm just a plain princess."

Eyes followed her everywhere we went at the shopping center's Fall Fest.  The artist doing the face painting said she would do a Frozen design on KC's forehead.

I could see KC biting her tongue and not correcting the kind artist.  I wondered if she was going to say, "I'm just a plain princess."

KC had a great time Trick or Treating at all the stores and picking up a free pumpkin to decorate.

It was a wonderful day!

Chicago: Day #2: It's Fall!

Our second day in Chicago was gorgeous and temperatures were comfortable.  We knew it wouldn't last.

"Let's go to the forest preserve", said Tif.

You just never get tired of fall colors.  You never take it for granted.  KC gathered leaf bouquets and danced over gorgeous red and yellow leaves.

The fall scents, sounds, beauty was captivating.

And the day was still beautiful.


















"Let's go to the Botanic Garden," said Tif.

And so we did.

Oh yes...

It was beautiful.

KC spent time drawing the fall beauty she was seeing.

It was glorious to be in Chicago.

"You're so lucky you got here in time for fall," said Tif.

Chicago: Day #1

On our first full day back in Chicago, frost greeted us.

I'm sorry I'm writing about fall when we're in winter, but I have a few more posts to do before I catch up to where I am now.


Tiffany asked if I wanted to go to a rummage sale with her.  I used to love rummage sales so I happily agreed.

I loved seeing all the Halloween decorations everywhere.

There was a time I could dig right in and find some treasures.  Tiffany said I seemed to be in a glassy eyed, jet lagged daze.  I just held a bag for her while she looked for things KC might enjoy.

In the evening, my dear friend, Gerri came to pick me up to join our fabulous teacher group.  We've been friends for my entire teaching and retirement years.  Although three friends were sadly missing due to health difficulties, I was able to see them later.  

When Gerri asked me a couple of months before our trip for a date when I could meet with them, I goofed and gave her the day after our tiring flight.  It didn't matter.  As soon as I saw them, jet lag flew away and I had a rollicking good time.

I did go right to bed when I got home though.

At 11:45 PM, when the whole house was asleep, the doorbell rang.  I couldn't imagine who would be ringing the doorbell so late at night.

I looked out through the blinds and saw a car.

When I went downstairs to open the door with my pajamas on, a fellow from United was there delivering our suitcase.

Seriously???!!!???

Ah well...

I got my suitcase back and that was the main thing.   We'd be able to give KC the souvenirs we got her after all.

Day #16: Venice to Chicago!

The Best Western in Venice provided everyone with a very substantial complimentary breakfast.

At 7:50 AM we boarded the hotel shuttle for the Marco Polo Airport.  It took only about 5-10 minutes.  I forgot the airport was so close.  At a total of 32 kilograms, our two suitcases were well under the 23 kilogram per suitcase limit.  23 kilograms is about 50 pounds.

9:20 AM:  We caught the Lufthansa flight from Venice to Munich which took about an hour.  I felt a little wistful seeing Venice as we flew overhead.

11:40 AM:  We left Munich for Washington, D.C.  We had to actually RUN for our connecting flight because the HEAVY security in Munich took so long to get through.

The flight from Munich to Washington, D.C.'s Dulles airport took 9 hours 19 minutes!

At Dulles airport, I used my GOES card  at the US Customs and Border Protection lines.  Art got through easily, but I was having a terrible time.  It took me quite a while to realize that because I was too short for the machine, it wasn't able to take my photo to scan for facial recognition.  I finally managed to get through by standing on tip-toes.

And then... BAD news!  My suitcase somehow did not arrive with us from Munich.  They couldn't reassure me that they knew where it was.  They just knew it didn't arrive in Dulles.

Arrrrrghhhh!

Because of all these problems and the too tight flight schedule, we almost missed our flight to Chicago.  The couple we'd talked to in line at Dulles did not make it to Chicago because they were in a slower moving security line.

I was told to make a lost luggage claim when we arrived in Chicago.

Sigh..........

And yet, after all that... seeing the joy on KC's face when we arrived made all the travel weariness disappear.

It was good to be back.

Day #16: Venice

Art wanted to get an early start because we would have to make our way to the airport on our own instead of with the tour group who would be taking a four hour bus ride to Milan to get to another airport to go home to Hawaii.

After a quick breakfast, we quietly got our bags and disembarked from the ship.  I felt badly that we didn't get a chance to say goodbye to our tour mates.

When we stepped off the ship, it was really dark.

We asked workers coming to the dock to direct us to the People Mover trains.

This was beginning to feel like an adventure.

We bought tickets and waited for the train to come.

We finally made it to the airport where the Best Western shuttle came to pick us up.  We met another couple waiting there who said Lufthansa was paying for their hotel stay and would be flying them out the following day.

At the Best Western, while filling out the check in forms, a taxi pulled up and out came Bernice, our new cruise friend from New Jersey who was also affected by the Lufthansa strike and would be leaving the following day.  What a wonderful surprise to see her again!  What are the chances of meeting someone in this way with all the other hotels around Venice?

Art bought an all day ACTV bus pass for about $20 a person which even included the Venice water bus, the vaporetti, .

We walked out to the bus stop, rode into Venice and boarded a vaporetti to Piazza San Marco. 

We were surprised to find water flooding the piazza.  It was high tide and there was lots of water in front of St. Mark's Basilica and in the middle of the square.

Ramps were set up to enter the St. Mark's Basilica.












There were even ramps inside the basilica.

The water covering marble floor bought out the beautiful color of the tiles. 

You can see where the water is rising from the manhole.  We remembered to bring Flat Stanley with us.  That's the Bridge of Sighs behind us.

The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals. In addition, little could be seen from inside the Bridge due to the stone grills covering the windows.
                                                                                     --Wikipedia

Using a toilet is pretty expensive in Venice.  The public toilet on the left cost 1,50 Euro.  That's almost $2. There were some fun sights to see around the canals and we got to spend time buying souvenirs for our children and grandchild.

We got on a vaporetti and was somehow put in front where I got a magnificent view of the Grand Canal and Venice.

The wooden bridge on top is the Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell'Accademia) which crosses the Grand Canal towards its lower, southern end, linking the San Marco district with the Accademia gallery in Dorsoduro.






Here is the famous Rialto Bridge.

The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.
                             --Wikipedia

Too soon, it was time to return to our hotel to prepare for our journey to Chicago.  Thankfully, the Lufthansa pilot strike did not impact our flight schedule.

On the way home, we got off too early so had to wait for the next bus to come along in about 20 minutes.  This was the first time Art goofed.

We then almost missed the hotel as we went past, but would you believe I saw it?  I'm still shocked I did.  Art took this photo to document the moment that I was the one who actually managed to find our destination. 

Here in Venice, for our last meal, we had our first pizza on this trip.  What made it humorous is that I think the owner and definitely all the servers were Chinese.  And the pizza?  It was very good!

I was so glad we had this lovely extra day in Venice on our own after all the mishaps we'd encountered.  It was a lovely way to end a Mediterranean Cruise punctuated by falls, illness, pilot strikes, etc.

But then... do you think anything else could go wrong?