Jet Lag

I'm here. I'm alive. My kids made it, and I don't have to travel alone with them ever again, if I don't want to. I am dog tired.

Randy and I scheduled this trip a long time ago. I looked at prices, called him, and he booked it. I told him I wanted to fly on the 6:50 AM flight, and so that's what he scheduled for me. Or so we thought. Last Sunday I asked Randy to get my itinerary off of his email so I could tell my parents all the info and they could pick me up. Well, when Randy went upstairs to check his email, I didn't hear from him and thought he got distracted. So, I asked him if he found it yet. He said, "Ummmmmmm, there's a bit of a problem." My immediate thought was that he didn't book the flight after all, and I wasn't going. That would be awful. No, that wasn't it, he booked us for 6:50 pm instead. Right at Emma's bedtime, and Kenadi's too. We were scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 11:16 pm with a layover in Denver in between. Then, a 1 1/2 hour drive home. OH, that sounded miserable, but I was trying to think positive and convince myself that the girls would sleep and it would all be ok.

So, I got to the airport with plenty of time, loaded our plane and felt like it was all going smooth. As soon as we boarded the flight attendant told us that we just received a stop-flight for the next hour because of storms in Denver. We could get off the plane if we wanted to, but they recommended staying on in case we could leave sooner. Meanwhile, Emma and Kenadi were already tired and getting cranky. Emma was crying and nursing wasn't helping. Kenadi wanted to climb all over and visit little kids up and down the isle, which I eventually permitted to an extent just to keep her happy. Finally we were permitted to leave, and left 45 minutes after boarding. Emma didn't fall asleep on take-off like I had hoped, and she cried the whole time. Kenadi was tired and restless and kept kicking the seat in front of her and making the guy turn around.

I wasn't too worried about making it to my next flight in Denver, since I would have an hour in the airport until boarding. I still rushed us over there just in case they were ahead of schedule, and on my way I found a reader board that told me my flight was delayed and wouldn't leave Denver at 9:35 pm, but instead 1:10 am. I about cried, since I was tired too, and knew that I couldn't get the girls to sleep with all the other people waiting. After sitting down and waiting for a while, I found out that my flight was canceled and we were all supposed to get into a customer service line on the opposite side of the HUGE airport and they would tell us what to do. I just kept telling myself that this couldn't be as bad as Cancun, and not to worry. When I got to the line, it was about a 1/4 of a mile long, and a girl I had met with 2 kids found me and told me that she just called the airline and they told her what she needed to know. So, since we were hungry, she told me to get us some food and she'd stay with the girls and call the airline for me. After being on hold for 20 minutes we got through and found out that I'd still need to get in line, and it hadn't gotten any shorter. Luckily my new friend followed me around and gave Kenadi someone to play with while I figured things out. Well, after being sent to a different customer service desk on the other side of the airport, (around 11:00 pm now) I was finally able to talk to someone who would help me. He told me my flight would leave at 6 am and gave me my boarding pass and was about to send me on my way, when I asked him if they had a hotel or room for us or anything. Apparently they don't do that for people who have to stay over due to weather (that is why our flight was canceled). I even cried, and let him know that I was all by myself with two little girls who need a place to sleep. It didn't work, but he DID say that he'd get me some blankets and a pillow. Hurray! After saying "goodbye" to our friends, I went to get the blankets and pillows that were promised to us and found 1 blanket, and 1 pillow. Both very thin and tiny. He didn't even give us enough for all of us! I couldn't belive it! So, I scavenged around and found 2 more pillows and 1 more blanket. I found us a nice little spot to sleep, next to the window at a gate that didn't look like it was going to be used anytime soon. Us 3 shared our pillow and blanket until about 4, when I had to find more (used ones from the cleaning ladies bag, I was that desperate) because it was getting so cold. Luckily Emma slept in the stroller and Kenadi slept on the floor and both got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. And Me? I got about 2 very uneasy hours of sleep. The next day we were up and on the plane by 5:30. The lady who got on behind us told me that her and her husband "just made it back from the hotel that they gave us. We got it because they canceled our flight due to bad weather. Did you get one?" Arg! I was so mad. Oh well, at least we didn't have to drive back to the airport in the morning. This flight was a little better though. Emma was so dead tired that she slept most of the way, and Kenadi was better too. I picked up my stroller after we got off the flight and found out that they broke the wheel on it, and made my way to my mother, who I desperately needed by now. She was waiting with my sister Kayla at baggage claim. On the way to meet them, the only elevator that gets you to baggage claim was broken, so I had to do a detour with the stroller and girls. That took us up 2 stories, outside, around the airport a few times, down a story, and to another elevator which took me to the baggage claim. It was literally a 20- minute detour. I guess I couldn't end the trip with anything too easy, could I? I finally made it to my mom and sister, and out the door with our luggage... only to find that they also broke Emma's car seat.

After all that, I am still tired. Next time I'm sending Randy with the girls, and I'll stay home. =)