Quick Trip

We got back yesterday from a quick three day trip to North Carolina. My parents, our little family, and my younger brother surprised my brother, Spenser, and flew out for his graduation. Jonathan, Savanna, Clark and I flew out Wednesday afternoon and TC took a red eye that night. Our trip out there was a lot of fun. Our traveling out there and back was a bit of a mess to say the least. On the way there my friend was supposed to take the kids, my brother and I to the airport but then my brother said we did not all fit in her car and wanted us to take his truck. So we did that. We were running late because Jonathan got stuck in traffic. We were going to do curbside check in since Jonathan had to park the car and it was going to be hard for me to get all the bags and kids in. Unfortunately US Airways did not do curbside check in. After being yelled at for being uncooperative by the US Airways man for asking a couple of questions (I'll admit I was frazzled but I was not yelling at him. Just trying to think of other options). He sent us to a lady to Southwest who helped me in while Jonathan parked the car. Jonathan mistakenly left his bag with me which I did not realize he did not want checked but was carrying it on so I paid extra to check it and then he called me and told me that he was carrying it on. The lady was nice to me and refunded me the money (I was crying at this point. I really don't like flying because it makes me nervous and all of this was just getting to me.) So I went through security by myself and Jonathan met us in there. We had 3 flights to get all the way to our destination. Our second flight was 3.5 hours long and was super bumpy. At one point they asked all of the flight attendants to sit down and only ring your call button if it was an emergency because we were experiencing severe turbulence. At this point I looked out the window and there was lightening in the sky. I don't really like seeing that or turbulence to say the least. Then the guy in front of me would turn around and glare at me any time Clark made a noise that was a tiny bit "loud" even when it was a happy noise. Then when we were waiting to get off Savanna was whining about it taking a long time. Jonathan asked me what was wrong and I said "She wants to get off like the rest of us but she is 4 and that is how she expresses it."This rude guy turned around and said sarcastically "Maybe we should all do that." I very calmly said, "You obviously don't have kids do you?" What a jerk! But anyway eventually we got there. TC got in the next morning (after working 14 hours the day before, flying overnight, and being stuck in the Charlotte airport for 4 hours because his plane was delayed because of a mechanical problem. They ended up putting him on a different flight which he was only able to do because he did not check a bag. Otherwise he would have gotten there too late to make my brother's graduation which was the whole point of the trip.)

We had a good time while we were there. Once TC got there we hurried to my brother's graduation. Then we went to a museum, ate dinner, went back to the hotel and hung out and went in the pool. Friday was Clark's birthday! We went a rock climbing wall place, got lunch at Wendy's, went to a Special Forces Museum, went in the pool again,went out to dinner and then came back to the hotel and did cake and presents. It was a really fun day. Clark seemed to have a good day too! We had carrot cake and for his birthday presents he got a Muppet Movie and dump truck from my parents, a potty book, an alphabet book, a potty dvd, three toy cars, and an electric bug from us.

Saturday my brother, TC, the kids and I flew back to Utah. Here is the other half to our flying drama. So we flew into Charlotte just fine and had a two hour layover. When we got to our gate and they were supposed to start boarding they announced that they were fixing a mechanical problem on the plane and there would be a delay. Well we only had a 35 minute layover in Phoenix so they sent us to special services to see if they could re route us. The lady I talked to said we had to stay on that plane since our baggage was there but she would put us on a back up flight leaving Phoenix at 8 p.m. (our original connecting flight left at 4 p.m.). Anyway I got back to the gate and shortly thereafter they announced that we would be switching gates and taking a new aircraft. We ended up leaving about an hour and a half after our scheduled departure and nonetheless missed our connecting flight. We ended up having a 3 hour layover instead of a 40 minute layover in Phoenix. On the bright side they did put us in first class on the last flight. On the down side Clark threw an absolute fit the last 20 minutes of the flight and after we landed because TC turned his phone off and he couldn't play with it anymore and since he is two now he had to sit in his own seat and not on our laps. (The truth is he was just totally exhausted). Then the moment that just topped it all was when we were waiting to get off the plane and Clark is still crying. I hear a lady a few people behind say quietly "Get that screaming kid off of here." (probably thinking I wouldn't hear her. Actually I don't even think she knew I was the mom because there was a few people in between Savanna and I and TC and Clark). You know I am a nice person but I can be a bit fiesty sometimes especially when I am super stressed or you mess with my kids. I turned around to her and said "He has been flying for 14 hours. You could have a little bit more compassion." She just gave me this deer in the head lights look! I think she was shocked I heard her. But then I admit I took it a little bit farther. She was standing against the wall when I came out of the bathroom from changing Clark's diaper after we got off the plane and I looked at her and said, "You should be ashamed of yourself!" On a good day I wouldn't have said that! I just don't understand how people can be so rude and so inconsiderate with people with children! Obviously we all wished he wasn't crying!!!! But give us a break!! A couple of sweet men came up to us and told us how hard they know it is and that we were doing a good job. One man said he had 10 kids! Anyway but we got home around midnight and the kids actually woke up on their own a little after 8 and we made it to 9:00 church. What an exhausting few days! It was worth it though to be there to support my brother and spend time with my family.