First Day of our Florida Trip, in Chicago

I think we are getting kind of presumptuous about this whole bumping thing. I mean, we left for Florida on Wednesday and didn't even bother booking a hotel for our first night there. I'd like to say that we were just reverting back to our ol' stop-when-we-get-tired travel planning. But I knew the truth: we were flying through O'Hare, we were looking to get bumped.

And of course, we did. Twice. It is getting kind of obscene though, don't you think?

I have stopped knocking people over as I sprint for the counter when they ask for volunteers to give up their seats. Really, I promise. We do try to give other people a chance to partake in the bounty. But everyone else seems to actually want to get to their destination. How strange. They ask, we offer. And the gate attendants thank us profusely and shower us with gifts.

I told Peter that I've developed a bit of a superstition about these free-flight vouchers. Not sure where these perceived rules came from, but here's the offer I believe that the universe has presented. If we violate either of these rules, the free flights will come to a screeching halt.

Rule 1: If they ask for volunteers, we have to do it. They are asking for help and they've done us so much good that we have to say yes. There have been a time or two where we didn't do it but that was only because there was some immovable plan that depended on us making a certain flight.

Rule 2: We can't profit from these vouchers. We use these vouchers to visit family in Michigan far more frequently than we'd do if we were buying tickets, and when not traveling to Michigan we travel to do some fun thing as a family. We can't sell these vouchers or use them for drunken, gambling fests in Las Vegas (unless that is somehow a fun family outing.)

Peter smiled at me in that "sure, dear" smile when I told him about the rules. But he follows them too, I know it.

So last night we stayed overnight in a nice hotel and had a lovely dinner...all compliments of United. They even booked us in First Class for the next flight out. We weren't quite up for a full day on the town in Chicago, so we played in the hotel and had a great evening.

We don't let a little thing like not having our swimsuits in our carryon bags stop us...



(Well, to be honest, I do let that stop me. But Peter and Soren had a ball using alternative swim attire. And, no, Peter wasn't quite as bold as Soren.)

And Soren and Peter spent some relaxing time tending to their fish in the FishWorld Facebook application.



(If you have a FishWorld tank, be sure to friend Peter so you can clean each other tanks, send each other fish, or whatever else it is that you are supposed to do in that game.)