Part 4: Travel Gone Awry

Remember that we weren't able to get our luggage?

That was a blessing.

We arrived back at the Charlotte airport on Sunday morning to catch our flight to Philly. We could barely make it in the doors of the airport it was so packed. Lines extended everywhere. Good luck finding the end of the line. When we first saw those lines we just had this sinking feeling. No way would we make it through those lines and make our flight. BUT, since we didn't have any luggage to check we were able to bypass that mess and head straight for security. At that point I was so grateful that our luggage hadn't been pulled the night before.

We got on our flight to Philly - finally! We had to wait for about 1 1/2 hours though before taking off. Philly airport was still closed down and until it reopened, we just sat. And then we sat some more for luggage to be put on (at least that's what they said).

We landed on a very snowy runway in Philadelphia. We were there! We deboarded, and headed for baggage claim where we were assured that our luggage would be - seeing as we were the first flight from Charlotte to Philly that day. And they assured us our luggage would be on the first flight from Charlotte to Philly.

The kids and I headed to baggage claim. Chris headed to the car rental. We were worried that they wouldn't have any cars for us. We had a reservation - but with the canceled flights and being over a day late picking up the car, we were worried that our reservation wouldn't be honored. Thankfully it was! And Chris was able to get a bigger car. A little luxury that was most appreciated.

Meanwhile in baggage claim - we waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally the announcement was made that the luggage would appear on Carousel A. We rushed over there and waited. And waited. And finally . . . about 5 pieces of luggage were spit out onto the carousel. Another announcement was made that that was all the luggage there was! If we did not have our luggage we were to go to baggage services to file a claim.

That line was about 2 miles long. By this time Chris had come back from getting the car and he waited in the line. I took the kids to get a little something to eat and brought back a hot dog for Chris to eat while he was waiting. And waiting. I'd say he was in line no less than 2 hours. They had no clue where our luggage was - 2 suitcases (with Christmas presents in them) and 2 car seats.

We waited for a few more flights from Charlotte to arrive, hoping against hope that our luggage would show up. It never did. There was this neat "marble run" type display right by the baggage claim. Colt was happy as a clam just sitting there watching it. At one point he got his travel pillow and blanket out and lay down - positioning himself so that he could watch the balls go their various ways.

We finally gave up waiting for our luggage and piled into the car for the 2 hour drive to my parents.

Of course we left at exactly the same time that a pro football game let out and sat in traffic for an hour.

Good times.

But, finally we were well on our way to my parents and arrived without incident around 11:30 pm. No luggage, but we were safe.

My parents had scoured the house for clothes that we could all use. She came up with some hand knit sweaters that my grandmother had made for my brothers when they were little. It was cute seeing Colt and Jonathan wearing them.

Our luggage didn't show up until the evening of the 23rd. A full 4 days after we left on our trip. But it arrived just in time. Chris did take a run to WalMart for necessities for us all to tide us over. The airlines will be picking up that tab as well as the car seat rental.

And that about completes our adventure. We're thrilled to be here, even if we all did come down with colds and getting here was a mess.

Part 3: Travel Gone Awry

There we were dumped in Charlotte, North Carolina. In order to get us to our destination, we (Chris) had to wait in a line a mile long to get us rebooked on some flight, any flight. I hung out with the kids while Chris waited. As we were waiting I remembered that perhaps Charlotte had a flight to Scranton - which would be ideal since our original plans had us flying into Philly, renting a car and then driving the 2 hours to my parents. But if we were able to get to the Scranton airport we'd have only a 30 minute drive. I checked the departure board and noticed a flight leaving in about 2 hours to Scranton. It was in Concourse E. We were in Concourse B or C (I don't remember). Either way, it is a trek to Concourse E where Chris would again encounter really long lines in Special Services in hopes of getting us on that flight.

Colt wanted to be with Chris while he ran to Concourse E. Jonathan, Carena and I decided to just mosey there, since we'd just be waiting in line anyway. As Colt and Chris took off running, I noticed Colt's shoes were untied. I should have said something.

This next part - please do not talk to Colt about it. It's a very sensitive subject. So, Jonathan, Carena and I moseyed to Concourse E. As we were going down the escalator to E, I noticed Chris and Colt off to the side at the bottom of the escalator. Colt was sobbing. Just sobbing. We deboarded the escalator and went to see what the problem was. Colt's lip was huge and bleeding. Chris was frantically tying Colt's shoes. The story is that Colt's lace got caught in the escalator!! Since it was stuck and Colt was trying to get off the escalator, he fell - face first. Chris immediately saw the situation and just yanked that lace out of the escalator, freeing Colt.

I took over with Colt and the kids while Chris continued his run to E. Colt's lip was bleeding, but thankfully, not too bad. I had a towel in my backpack that I put cold water on and gave to Colt. We then slowly made our way to E. We didn't go very far when Colt told me he thought he was going to be sick. We ran to the nearest bathroom and he starting getting sick. We hung out in the bathroom for about 10 minutes before Colt felt ready to move on.

Finally we make it to E, where we met up with Chris who was in a line, a long line, but not as long as the line he was just in. So that was positive.

I took the kids to get something to eat and we just really hung out. Finally Chris made it through the line and was able to get us on stand-by for that flight to Scranton.

Sadly, the flight was full and we didn't get on that flight. We then had to rebook on a different flight - one into Philly THE NEXT DAY. We asked the booking person if we could get our luggage so we at least had it for the night. She told us we could pick it up at the luggage carousel. Down to baggage claim we went. We waited and waited and waited and waited. No luggage. Chris then waited in another insanely long line to find out where our luggage was. He finally made it to the counter - they told him that with as many canceled flights as there were, they weren't pulling ANY luggage, but assured us it'd be on the next flight out to Philly.

By this time it was getting late - 11 pm. We were tired and the baggage claim area of Charlotte airport stinks like exhaust. Chris decided to see if he could find an airport hotel that we could hunker down in for the night.

All the airport hotels were booked. Arg. He then decides that we'll rent a car and drive to the nearest hotel. We got a car and drove and the first hotel we come upon is a very nice Hampton Inn. We got a beautiful comfortable room and within 30 SECONDS of turning the lights off, the kids were asleep. Ahhhhh.

The next morning we partook of a most fabulous continental breakfast that consisted of fruit salad, yogurt, hot chocolate, WAFFLES, various juices, eggs, sausage, and danishes. It was all wonderful and a great way to refuel for the day ahead of us.

We headed back to the Charlotte airport . . .

Part 2: Travel Gone Awry

So, all of the flights except ours to Philly were canceled. For some mysterious reason they decided to make a go at making it to Philly.

The flight crew wasn't so confident we'd actually make it to Philly. The captain told us, "I guarantee that we'll get you there sometime before Christmas." Then he laughed. The flight attendants were bustling around trying to get the plane in order because "who knows where we're going to end up." They made sure the plane was stocked with snacks and drinks.

A bit before the plane was to land in Philly, the captain told us that Philly had shut down and we were being diverted to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Travel Gone Awry - Day 1: Part 1

I love this news piece. I loved how the reporter just roamed around the airport looking for a story while wearing her shorter-sleeved shirt and looking pretty and well-put together. I loved how she approached the kids and I asking if we had been "stranded" in Phoenix due to the weather back east. I loved the look of disappointment on her face when we told her we were just leaving on our trip and were not in fact stranded. "Oh," was all she said and walked off. I told her to come back later when I was pretty sure our flight to Philly would be canceled. In fact, she did come back, probably because she couldn't find much of anyone else that was "stranded" and that could tell her the atrocities of traveling through a blinding snowstorm. Instead, she settled on us. Oh how I wished she could have followed us the entire trip to see first hand all we went through. She got her story, sauntered off, without a care in the world and we were left to our own adventure.

We're Here

It took us 2 days, but we got here. Fun stories of canceled flights, shut down airports, snow storms and lost luggage to come . . .

Food for Thought

Do you know what this is? This happens to be the most delicious fruit on the face of the earth. It is a mango.

Did you know that mango contains urushiol - an organic oil toxin found in plants such as poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac, as well?

Did you know that contact with the skin of a mango can cause Urushiol-induced contact dermatitis?

For years I've known that I could not eat the most delicious fruit on the planet. Every once in a while I'd cheat. And I'd pay for it with an itchy swollen type rash across my face, so infuriating I'd just want to claw my face off. Pretty picture. So, I've been more careful about staying away from the most delicious fruit on earth.

Last week Jonathan saw some beautiful mangoes at the grocery store and begged for one. I caved. A few days later, after it had ripened, I cut it up for the kids. Since Christmas was coming up and I had a lot to do, I decided to pass on ingesting the most delicious fruit on the planet in order to be functional - and not have to deal with the pain, itchiness, and ugliness it causes.

I DID NOT KNOW that just cutting one up would wreak the havoc it has. I did not know that the urushiol was contained in the oils of the skin of the most delicious fruit on the planet and that I should have scrubbed my hands raw after I handled the most delicious fruit. And, I did not know that it was the same chemical found in poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.

At this point I wish I had eaten some of the most delicious fruit on the planet to make this rash worth it. But no, I never got any joy out of it because I thought that you had to actually ingest it for it to cause problems.

I've researched online some "cures" for this. But alas, there really seem to be none. It's a waiting game with some reporting having the rash for up to 3 weeks. Oh joy. In the past, I've suffered up to 2 weeks. And nothing really works at relieving it except time.

Sigh.

The Death of Hermie

One of Colt's hermit crabs died today. Sad sad. Chris did the honors of flushing Hermie. In an effort to console Colt, Carena said, "At least he's in Heaven now." To which Colt replied (in all seriousness), "Does the toilet take you to Heaven?"

A Post With Pictures!

I've noticed that my posts have really lacked pictures lately. That's gotta be boring. So here are a few to make up for it!

Colt was a sheep in his class play:

Colt with his scarecrow that we made together in class:

My birthday (those candles are wrong: I'm only 25)

Or, according to Jonathan's card to me, I'm 5

Light Amid Despair

As I was out running errands yesterday, I came upon a rather run-down and dilapidated home. The front yard was nothing but dirt. The house in shambles. A window was broken, but towels were shoved in the space to keep out the cold. The front door was dirty and dented. The trim around the doorway was non-existent. There were some old rusty and broken patio chairs sitting by the front door.

Seeing that house, I wondered about its occupants. I wondered about the desperation that seemed to emanate from that home. I wondered what it would be like to live in fairly obvious poverty, where you are not even able to fix a window, but instead had to make do by shoving towels in drafty places to keep the (Arizona) winter out.

But yet, as I looked closer I noticed that a strand of Christmas lights had been put around the door.

Even though the house is terribly run down, someone still cares. It may look like a house in shambles, but it is someone's home. Just like the rest of us getting ready for Christmas, these home owners decorated too! They, too, are getting ready for a holy time of year and took the time and effort to express that, despite their hardships.

Seeing this small strand of lights around a broken and dented door really touched me. This home and its simple strand of lights summed up the Spirit of the season perfectly for me. Amid the despair was hope, and when the night comes - a little beauty, despite the home's day-time imperfections.