Thanksgiving

Our flight to Raleigh, NC was the trip from hell. We sat on the runway in Phoenix for about an hour and a half while they fixed some problem with the instrument panel. I personally am used to ignoring red lights on my instrument panel as demonstrated by the “Brake Light” indicator that has been on for the past 2 years. (The brake lights ARE working for Pete’s sake.) But I guess they don’t like to ignore stuff like that on airplanes and then they like to do “paperwork” for a couple hours after fixing problems.

It’s bad enough to just sit in a confined area without the motion and noise from the plane to lull our kids to sleep but it’s even worse to find out your plane is landing while your connecting flight is taking off. We get off the plane in Minneapolis and are handed our new itinerary… our flight leaves at 6:50 AM the next morning and we have yet another stop over in Detroit. So here we are with two little kids and in lieu of luggage, we are handed two little boxes of toothbrushes and shaving cream. Brian pitched a huge fit but couldn’t get us out that night, couldn’t get a direct flight the next day, and couldn’t get our luggage. So we took our meal vouchers and had meal at the airport Chili’s and then boarded the van to the Day’s Inn with 8 other disgruntled passengers. Some were downright hostile about Northwest Airlines until they saw us with our two kids and then I think they felt like they really didn’t have anything to complain about.

When we were loaded in the van, Jack announced that he wanted “Jack Songs” which are toddler tunes that we play for him in the car. Toddler tunes seem to be like valium for toddlers as Jack immediate calms down when hears “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. Well, of course the van driver didn’t have Jack Songs so Brian announced that everyone on the van needed to sing “Wheels on the Bus”. Amazingly everyone joined in and we made it to the Days Inn without a meltdown from Jack or any of the other adults. I will note that if Toddler Tunes are valium for Jack, Baby Einstein videos are heroin. Whoever invented portable DVD players has kids… no doubt about that.

The night at the Days Inn was short and relatively uneventful although it sucks to have to wear the same underwear 2 days in a row. We managed to get Raleigh around noon the next day and guess what? No luggage. This really sucked because 1) we had my brother-in-law waiting by the curb to take us to Myrtle Beach (3+ hours away). 2) The airline had TONS of time to get our luggage on the right planes! The woman at the luggage service desk actually said that we should have packed more in our carry on. Brian had to restrain me from attacking the woman. We already had two car seats, two strollers, an enormous diaper bag, a big duffel bag, my purse, and Brian’s laptop. We physically couldn’t carry anything else. Brian even carried Jack’s car seat on his HEAD through the airports—he wore it like a big hat so he could push a stroller. And she thinks we should have taken more with us???

We finally agreed that my other brother-in-law, who also lives in Raleigh, would leave for Myrtle Beach the next day and we would have our luggage delivered to his house that evening. So we loaded into the van, met up with my sister and their two kids and made our way to the beach. We rented a beach house with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. This was perfect for us because we had 9 adults and 6 kids. It was right on the beach too which was awesome. Northwest said they would pay $50 for each person to get some essentials since we still didn't have our luggage. I decided that I needed an outfit that I could go out in public in as well as sleep in, in the event that we didn't get our luggage for a few more days. I decided that would be a warmup suit. So Brian and I headed to the local WalMart where I struggled to find a warm up suit in my size. I finally settled on a black one with blue velour trim. My sisters made fun of me but at least I was comfortable. I bought underwear, a sports bra, a pair of socks and Cetaphil. I was sporting a big zit on my chin from not having my normal skin care regime. I had to leave Brian at the WalMart because apparantly Jack was freaking out at home. I guess leaving him in a strange house with a bunch of crazy people after traveling for 36 hours wasn't a good idea.

The luggage didn't arrive that night. It didn't arrive in the morning. Brian spent a couple hours yelling at Northwest on Sunday morning (we left on Friday morning) since they said our luggage would be delivered last, not arriving to the house in Raleigh until that evening. After much negotiation with the airline, my brother-in-law finally showed up Sunday afternoon with the goods.

The week was spent playing cards, drinking, eating, playing on the beach, shopping, hanging out in a local bar. Jack was especially clingy... not sure what that was all about. Ty was really fussy to the point that Brian took him to Urgent Care to rule out an ear infection before the plane ride home. They said he was teething. But I still haven't felt any teeth. I hate the way teething is the universal excuse for fussy babies between 5 and 9 months. On Saturday we drove back to Raleigh and flew home with little excitement this time around. It sure is good to be home.