Monday, September 29, 2008

Cabo Redux

We're back, by hook and by crook....

Overall, Cabo was really awesome. Things at home, though, weren't so great.

Wednesday morning, Heather the Babysitter came to our house at 4 AM so we could leave for the airport. Her task for the day was to take Monkey Man to before-school care and then her sister Valerie was going to pick him up after school and bring him home until Heather finished her school. She's in dental hygienist school, you know.

By the time we got to Chicago, we were sitting at breakfast at Macaroni Grill (more on that later) and got a voice mail that she had locked herself out of the house. Luckily she had everything that she needed for the day and didn't need it unlocked right away, but someone had to get over there before Monkey Man got out of school. Immediately, I called Cat Door who is the only friend we have with a key to our house and he agreed to go over there as soon as he got a chance to unlock the door. He texted me later, "Don't worry, I'm here and will take care of everything. HAVE FUN DAMMIT."

If only it had been that easy.

By the time we got to Cabo and did the grind through customs and immigration and did the ride to the hotel (which, by the way, was vastly improved from the last visit where the road was still under construction and we had to go on goat paths half the way), I was so ready for a drink. We went immediately to the pool bar, met Malcolm and Paula and this cool British guy named Duncan who was on our flight from Chicago, and bellied up for some drinks and something to eat.

Then, I checked my voice mail. Heather had called, and she had gotten a call from The World's Most Expensive Preschool. Monkey Man was sick. Of course.

Long story short - he ended up with almost a croupy cough, runny/stuffy nose, and a fever. So my sister, God love her, went and swooped him up and kept him until we picked him up at 1 AM this morning. She has been saying for a while that she wanted to keep him for a weekend, but I don't think that this is necessarily what she had in mind. Honestly, I was probably more worried about her and my brother-in-law because they are totally not used to have a six-year-old around, let alone one swimming in green goo and demanding Spongebob. I think I'm going to have to do something nice for them, like an all-expenses paid trip to Europe or something. Or maybe just a gift card for dinner out somewhere nice.

Monkey Man, however, had the time of his life. With my sister's two gargantuan greyhounds at his beck and call, he was the king of the roost. My sister spoiled him absofreakinglutely to death. He told her yesterday that he really, really, really liked staying at her house. I can only imagine what thoughts were running through her head since she probably got NO sleep the entire time thanks to Sir Coughsalot.

So it definitely put a damper on the trip. It made it really hard to relax at all because I was worried about Monkey Man plus my sister and brother-in-law (who at least could escape to work every day, but when you're a pediatrician...well, that wouldn't be much of a break at all, would it?). I called twice a day to check on things and tried to keep my spirits up, when in reality all I wanted to do was jump on a plane and get home.

Oh, and the Macaroni Grill breakfast? Was just what my stomach needed to start me off with the shits before we even got to Mexico. I think it was worse than Montezuma's Revenge could ever be. All I can say is hey, people in first class on our flight down? Yeah, I'm sorry. Seriously, I tried to wait for the line in coach to go down and use the john with the rest of us peasants, but it didn't happen. And when that "vacant" light was on...well, yeah. I violated your potty. I'm sorry.

And both of us ended up with some form of intestinal distress throughout the entire trip. And it wasn't the tequila, dammit.

Anyhow, Cabo...we did a spa day. We spent one day just hanging at the pool. We went into town and did some shopping. We went out and drank. A lot. Did I mention drinking a lot?

But yesterday was time to come home, so we got to the airport early and once we got to the ticket counter, the lady told us our flight was delayed at least an hour. Um, not good, considering we only had 2 hours in Chicago anyway to get our luggage through Customs and make our next flight - and you know it never goes smoothly, right? Anyhow, everyone's flights were delayed so we ended up sitting around the airport - along with Duncan, whose flight got moved too and he ended up being rerouted to Chicago on our flight - and eating Burger King. For some odd reason, I walked by one of the flight status boards at one point and noticed...hey, the flight was leaving earlier than they thought! So we got on the plane and crossed our fingers that we might make our connection in Chicago.

Once we got to Chicago, we literally RAN to Customs...got our luggage (which for some reason ours was within the first 10 suitcases that came out) - rechecked baggage after going through immigration and customs - and then hoofed it over to the other terminal.

YES! We made the flight. By like 10 minutes. And cocky little bastards that we are, we were high-fiving each other in the plane.

Oops. Our luggage didn't make it. It's still in Chicago. I just got off the phone with the airlines and hopefully we'll have it back today. Which would be a good thing considering my hairdryer and makeup bag is in there.

Anyhow, we finally got home around 1 AM with Monkey Man in tow. Got jack for sleep. And I called in sick today, so I'll have to face the wrath of EPOD tomorrow which makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it.

Or is that the tequila? I'll never tell.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Poor MM!

And where are the photos???

MamaMaven said...

Welcome home, missed ya! Hope MM is feeling better and EPOD cuts you some slack!