Ohio Trip - This is kinda long....WARNING

Well, I decided to post this on here so that I don't have to retell this saga too many times.

A few months ago, AJ and I decided to take Caroline (7 1/2), Gillian (5 1/2) & Harrison (3 1/2) to Ohio to see Thomas, Tammie, Jackson & Emma. We chose to leave out early on a Thursday morning and the flight we picked had a 45 minute layover in St. Louis, MO. This connecting flight was cheaper than a non-stop straight to Columbus, OH, so in an effort to be frugal and save some $ we chose the flight that took off at 6:50am and we would still arrive in Columbus at the same time as if we had taken the 8:50 non-stop, which was 11:45am. So the kids and AJ stayed with me Wednesday night so that we could all get up and go together to the airport with it being such an early flight.

Caroline and I ended up staying up until 1:30am and I had to get up at 3:30 to get everything going. Everyone got up and in the car by 5am, which is what I was shooting for. The only problem AJ and I thought we might run into was identification for the 3 kids, but American Airlines had already told me none was required.....so we thought, smooth sailing.

Well, we get parked at Park & Fly and the bus driver tells us we are "cutting it awfully close". Whatever, it's 5:30am and our flight leaves at 6:50am....pfft....whatever. So we get off the bus and we have to go up the escalator to ticketing/security. Well, apparently these kids are not used to escalators. Gillian is the first up and she was a little timid and AJ got ahead of her and helped her on. Next in line was Caroline, I was standing there beside Harrison. Harrison, who is just fearless....pushes past Caroline and I and DIVES onto the escalator. As the escalator steps come apart, he rolls down a couple of steps and is cracking himself up. Caroline and I grab all the bags and hop on behind him. We couldn't quit laughing....ok, no problem, no one was hurt.

Then we get to the security, the kids, no problem. But OH WAIT.....Sarah's birthday was June 11th, this is June 19th, and guess what.....my stupid driver's license (VALID ID) has expired. I asked the security guy if I had a grace period or something and he just laughed and said that Columbus coming home would not be so understanding and he let me on through. WHOOO...problem diverted. So here we are, kids get thru no problem, we made it thru security and nothing else could possibly go wrong.....right????

Well, we get on the plane, the kids are just SO excited.....pilot comes over and tells us to get ready to taxi away from the gate....here we go....oh, no wait.....he comes back on 10 seconds later.....we have been GROUNDED due to thunderstorms w/ lightning moving thru the area and we'd be taking off as soon as we were clear......2 hours later, we are clear to go. I have to say, the kids were great. They didn't fuss or get restless (much) but it was all ok. Nothing AJ and I couldn't handle. While we were waiting to take off, Gillian and Caroline wanted to know where we were going and I told them St. Louis, Missouri then onto Columbus, Ohio. Well, sweet Gillian couldn't pronounce Missouri and she kept calling it "Misery".

As soon as we take off....Harrison lets out this WAHOO like we are on a ride at Six Flags. He laughed so loud and so did the girls....I'm sure the other people on the plane thought it was cute, except for when the turbulance started (which to an adult can be quite unsettling) the kids think of it as a ride again and carry on with their WAHOOs.....it was cute and innocent and I didn't want them to be scared and it calmed me down a little from my normal tension when turbulance occurs.

So we land in St. Louis, MO...Gillian in that sweet little voice asks, "Are we in Misery now?" Not knowing how true this statement would be in just a few minutes, I told her "Yes, sweetie, we are in Misery." Well, we get off the plane and go over to our gate that we were told the Columbus flight was leaving from. Nope, Columbus flight has already left. GONE GONE GONE. It took off at 9:30, it is now 10:40. We were not the only ones stranded, there were others, of course. I called the rebooking agent and I was told the other flights leaving St. Louis for Columbus were overbooked and with us needing 5 tickets, it was doubtful we'd make it there that day. There was a flight Friday morning, but that would require finding somewhere to stay that night and not having a guaranteed seat Friday morning, it was a "possibility". So, I called my office and had Allison google mileage between St. Louis and Columbus and the best route....417 miles, straight across I70 East. Not bad. It was doable. So AJ and I decide to rent a car and head on out to Columbus.

We grab lunch first and then head to the car rental places down stairs. Well, once again, I cannot rent a car b/c of my stupid drivers license, so AJ has to rent it, which was more $ b/c he's not 25. Ok, no problem, 2 hours later, we have a car. We get the car and get on I70 East. The kids are buckled in their car seats in the back, they have their books and we are good.

We passed the Archway and a few other landmarks. After about 10 minutes on I70 East, we go under a railroad track and trying to keep them entertained, I pointed it out to Harrison (who LOVES trains) and then as I look back onto the road, the highway has split and I see a sign that says "DETOUR I70 EAST". Great, missed my exit, no problem, just exit off and turn around. Not so easy. We get on I55 South to Memphis and AJ remembers we got a map from the rental car place and finds where we are, almost OFF the map and heading towards Memphis. SO, I exit off and turn around....we end up passing the Arch again (when Caroline looks at the pictures, she says, "Now is that the first time we passed it or the second?" Smart kid....too funny.)

Well, we finally get back on the right road and we are cruising along pretty good. Then Harrison gets a little fussy, we are thinking, ok, great, here goes the restlessness. NOPE, he was only CARSICK.....Yep.....he got carsick, what joy. So we pull over onto the shoulder, get him cleaned up and the car aired out and we are back on the road. About an hour later, we stop to eat dinner.
We are probably 3 hours from Thomas' house, or that is what it should be. Then we get about 20 miles from our exit off I-70 to get to Thomas' and the highway comes to a complete STOP. CONSTRUCTION......It is now 10:45 pm. AJ and I are just not believing this. He said after our Montana roadtrip that he was not going to go on another roadtrip and that I had somehow duped him into this one.....HA. If he only knew.....

The traffic finally started moving and I told AJ we were getting to Thomas' by midnight if I had to offroad it somehow. Well, we are at the red light of two highways, Tammie was on the phone with us and it was 11:54pm and she said we were 3 minutes away. After waiting through the light.....well, we pull up into their driveway, NO JOKE, at exactly midnight. The kids, who were asleep for the last hour or so, run into the house and they were up playing non-stop until we finally made them get ready for bed at 3:30am. Harrison was sleeping with me and he was all wound up and didn't finally go to sleep until 4:30am....I had been up for 24 hours straight!!

The next morning started at 8am....when Harrison woke up. How in the world did he do that? Who knows, so I'm up at 8am. Dead tired. Friday was a good day. The kids just hung around the house and played in the pool out back, played the Wii and we had a good day.

Then we stayed up playing games and Thomas, AJ and I stayed up until 5am talking. It was great. Just us 3 talking about life and stuff and it was awesome to sit and do that, it had been way too long. Finally I get to bed. Saturday brought another 8am riser.....once again....just a nap for me. Us girls went and got pedicures and the boys played golf. Then we went to Thomas and Tammie's softball games. Then back home, dinner and more games. We went to bed early this night (midnight) since church was the next morning.

Sunday, going home day.....or so we thought. We get up and go to bible class and services, run through and get lunch to bring back to the house to eat. I run upstairs to print off our boarding passes and the website tells me that I can't print them off more than 24 hours before departure. WHAT??? Our flight leaves at 3:15pm and it's 12:30, we gotta leave the house by 1pm. SO I look at the date on the printer next to the computer and it says 6/22/08. UH?? HUH??? I had booked the departure tickets for 6/23/08...MONDAY....needless to say AJ had to do some calling to work and I had already taken Monday off to 'recoup'. AJ ended up being ok. The kids were ELATED b/c they were not ready to come home. SO we take them to the community pool. They are so excited b/c there are slides and it's just a great pool. Well, they are in the water for 5 minutes and the lifeguards shut it down b/c of thunder and lightning in the area. Oh, we were so sad. So back to the house we go. They go to go bowling that night and all was good. Caroline and Jackson stayed up this night and played Monopoly until almost 2am. The kids got along so well and it was just a great trip.

Monday, we were actually going home. All in all it had was a fabulous trip. The trip home was without hiccup. This is probably one of my favorite pictures....Harrison asleep as we landed. He was such a trooper the whole trip!!!!

We land at DFW and of course AJ and I had used up our cell phone batteries on the trip up there so coming home, no cell phones. I turned mine on quickly to send texts to Matt & Aimee to let them know we had landed. We get off the plane, go to the pickup lane for our Park & Ride bus and I start looking for my wallet.....NO WALLET. I had left it on the plane. Well after everything I have a meltdown. We get on the bus and my phone is still on. All of the sudden, it rings and it's an 817 number - I answer and it is a crew member from our flight asking me if I had left something. His name was Eric and it was the greatest call EVER. Right as he is telling me where he will meet me once I get my car and come back to the terminal, MY PHONE DIES!!!! I lose it again....So we get to my car, I plug in the phone, call Eric back and we go back into the airport. I run into the baggage claim area, call Eric's phone back and he's right there!!! Poor Eric got a big hug and a few tears on his chest (he was like 6'5"....so there was no crying on his 'shoulder').

We get back on the road going home, I take the kids home and I'm telling Matt a little about our trip and he hugs me before I leave and tells me I have a fever and need to get home and get to bed....YEP. Came home, running 101.8. Take some Tylenol. Get up the next morning...WORSE, go to the doctor and I have a sinus and ear infection. The dr. said it probably started off as allergies to sinus infection and the sinus pressure along with the plane ride = ear infection......YEAH ME.

But you know what, we made it home, ALIVE. AJ and I didn't lose a kid, they all came home in one piece, and we did too. I'd say we did pretty good traveling with 3 kids. It is a trip none of us will soon ever forget.