May 30

All good things must come to an end. We did have one final adventure before flying out though. After loading the bags in the car to head to the airport, John sat down in the driver's seat, reached for the keys and groaned. "I think I set the keys on top of the suitcase." In the trunk. Which was closed. We scrambled to locate a trunk release button to no avail. Despairing of missing our flight, we had the inspiration: do the back seats fold down? Yes! Boys hopped out, I released the seat backs, reached in and grabbed the keys, which were, as feared, set on top of the suitcase!

And we were off to the airport. This blip only cost us a few minutes, but good thing it wasn't longer. Even with arriving at 7:30 for a 9:50 flight, we had just enough time, maybe 10 min to spare. No dashing through the airport or worry about "final call" but definitely no time for breakfast as we'd planned. I hadn't realized we'd go through US customs in Dublin, so that added about an hour of lines and an additional set of x-Ray & body scan machines. But it made our return in Chicago a breeze!

We left John to catch his flight back to Cedar Rapids (because of the timing of his meetings, he traveled separately, a few days before we did and flew from Iowa rather than driving to Chicago) and headed for baggage claim where my parents were waiting with open arms to welcome us home. 

We spent the day (Memorial Day) lounging (and doing some laundry!) and drove back to Iowa Tuesday morning. 

What an amazing trip! We are so lucky to have had the opportunity to create memories to last a lifetime!