Adventures in airline travel

It feels like I have several topics to catch up on from the past 2 weeks so I'm trying to break them down into manageable short stories instead of one big novel!  So, with that in mind, here are our stories from our flights to and from Rochester.

As I may have mentioned before in previous posts, we traveled from Houston to Rochester, NY ON Christmas day.  The airports weren't jam-packed with people but they weren't exactly quiet either.  Thanks to Delta and their itinerary change, we had to bounce twice to get there instead of the usual once.  We bounced through Atlanta then Cincinnati before hitting Rochester 2 hours later than what we had originally planned.  We knew about this change well ahead of time but we were still very annoyed by it.  We had some compensation though when we flew from Houston to Atlanta with no incident, took off from Atlanta with no problems and were treated to an incredible view of a Christmas sunset that lasted for a really long time.  It went from brilliant yellow to bright orange to blood red over about 30-45 minutes time.  I just now am asking myself why one of us didn't grab the camera and try to get a photo of it.  We were just too tired I guess.  

Our landing in Cincinnati was a bit out of the ordinary for us.  The female pilot brought us in rather quickly with many turns and steep drops.  Even the flight attendant who was hanging out just behind me made the comment, "wow, this is some crazy flying tonight!"  Our only disappointments for the day were that Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream was closed in Atlanta and many of the food court restaurants were closed or nearly out of food when we had our short layover in Cinci.  Besides that, we landed on time, received our luggage without having to wait forever and headed out into the snow!

Our return to Houston was much more exciting.  First, we started the day out by taking off nearly an hour late from Rochester.  It seems they had to fill the plane with extra fuel and in doing so caused the plane to be overweight.  They needed 10--that's TEN--people to give up their seats so that they would be within the weight restrictions of the FAA.  I had never come up against that one before!  Ten people over weight??  Seriously??  That must be 1500-2000 pounds!  I guess between the number of kids (obviously not weighing what an adult weighs) and 7-8 passengers who gave up their seats we were back in compliance and we took off for Atlanta after getting de-iced.

Atlanta was incredibly foggy.  Thank goodness for flying by instruments because that was the only way we were landing there.  Visibility was poor and the runway had just barely popped into view about 2-3 seconds before we landed!  It was still foggy when we took off but it didn't seem to slow us down any.  Between Atlanta and Houston we hit some bad turbulence.  Fortunately C and the kids were all fast asleep and they didn't even stir.  I was fine as it was more of a rough dirt road kind of a bounce instead of those quick falls and climbs that get your guts all churned up.  The flight attendants had to sit in their jump seats for about 20-30 minutes but then things seemed to calm down.  As we were landing, however, we were getting hit by some pretty strong cross winds and the pilot was having one heck of a time keeping the plane level.  I was thinking to myself "I will be so impressed if he lands this thing."  Just as the image came to mind of that famous 1989 plane crash footage from Iowa where the landing plane goes cartwheeling down the runway in a ball of flames (I couldn't find footage on the internet but I've seen it numerous times on t.v. programs)...  Now where was I?  

Oh, yes, as that image came to mind roughly 150 feet above the runway at Hobby Airport, the pilot revved up the engines, brought up the landing gear and we took off again without touching down.  I looked back at C and said, "I guess we got waved off!"  It took a good 5 minutes before the Captain came on and said that we were doing a come around or something like that.  The winds were hitting us at 20 knots and they weren't comfortable landing so, in the interest of safety blah, blah, blah...  I was perfectly happy with with their decision.  So, as we did our 15 minute tour of the city we did a little rockin' and rollin'.  Again, it wasn't consistent or extreme enough to get my guts churning so I didn't think much about it.  M started crying complaining that she really wanted to get off the plane.  I was trying to calm her down and encouraged her to look out the window to see that we were indeed coming in for another attempt at landing.  About 200 feet above the runway, she threw up.  I couldn't get a barf bag fast enough.  She was a mess, the seat was a mess, I was gagging.  It wasn't pretty.

But, we managed to get cleaned up, get home and, needless to say, momma was DONE.  The kids went off to AB's to play while C and I showered and got some food.  Then we both just crashed on the couch.  

We are always so happy to see our far away family and friends but it is so very nice to come back home.  And that is my story about our travels.  

Quiz

These two handsome young men are in first grade.  Can you tell which one is O and which one is C?  Ok, so they aren't identical but it is fun to see them side by side.  Thanks to Grandma (and her amazing gift for storing photos so she knows right where to go in her house to find whatever one she needs at the moment) we got the chance to compare!

We are still alive and well on this last day of 2008

Whew! The past 2 weeks have been a blur. Between finals and holiday parties/gatherings, shopping for gifts, preparing to travel...well, it has just been overwhelming. To say the least. Let me see if I can summarize it all without writing a novel!

Finals: I can only blame myself if I fail to pass those. I studied. I studied hard. But, not LONG enough. I took a class years and years ago when I was a freshman in college on study skills. I KNOW what I need to do for long-term retention and understanding of any class content. I have been able to squeak by without doing that though through all of my adult education. As a result, I have decent grades but no real retention of the subject matter I've covered. If I've used the information then I remember it. If I haven't used it, then it is pretty much gone from my brain.

Anyway, with that said, I feel pretty confident that I did well on my Acu 2 final. Herb 2 and Physiology.......I'm hoping for a miracle. I need at least a C to pass and not have to take the classes over again. Of course I'm hoping for that but at the same time, I'm wondering if having to spend the money again to repeat a class will encourage me to make better use of my study time. I will need that skill as I get to the more advanced classes. Something to work on for next semester I guess.

Christmas: We shopped and planned everything down to the minute to fit it all in to the time we had. We traveled on Christmas Day so we opted to open our gifts from my family and from us on Christmas Eve. That worked out well. Christmas morning the kids slept in and barely had time to see what Santa had brought them before we were running out the door to the airport. It was chaotic, frustrating and exhausting but we made it through all of our flights without incident and landed safely in Rochester around 9:20 in the evening. It wasn't snowing at the time but there was lots of snow on the ground and the kids could hardly wait to play in it.

We were big slugs for the first 2 days. C's dad, TM, had been very sick with upper respiratory issues. His mom, KM, had been fighting her own bug but took such good care of us those first few days as we were so wiped out. We slept and ate, and ate, and ate some more then took naps. It was much needed rest and relaxation for all of us. However, now we have all strongly returned to our night owl ways. We are rarely in bed before midnight and it is often an argument to get the kids to go to bed even then. Then we sleep most of the morning away often getting up no earlier than 10am. It doesn't bother me as much as it bothers C. We had a big discussion about it the other night. He kept saying that it isn't normal for kids to stay up as late as our kids do. I say they are just doing what their bodies naturally want to do. They are getting enough sleep just at a different time of the day. If we were to homeschool the kids (which would definitely push me over the edge!) I would keep the same schedule because it just suits us. Yes, when we get up earlier we get more done, I agree. But when we sleep when we are tired and wake when we are not, we are all much happier people. It is difficult finding a happy medium between the two.

Anyway, just know that we are for sure getting our R&R covered while we are at T&KM's. I've seemingly fought off a cold virus and C seems to be doing the same. TM is doing much better but still has the cough that keeps him from sleeping well. KM seems to be losing her fight with the bug as I found her this morning sitting in the recliner to sleep. You know how it is when you are coughing and congested and it is so much easier to sleep sitting up. The kids have been totally unscathed by the cold virus. Amazing. We have all also avoided some rampant strain of pink eye that has been going around the area. Knock on wood we will continue to avoid that for the rest of our trip. Hopefully we can get back to Houston without bringing any bugs with us. Now THAT would be amazing.

So, we have taken full advantage of C's sister's in-laws when it comes to food. Her mother-in-law got together with some friends and relatives and had a baking day before Christmas. They made a ton of cookies and a huge variety of them to boot. It seems that no one wanted to take them all home so she brought a huge box of them to us. Well, we certainly took care of them! And they were good! I had forgotten how much I love 7 Layer Magic Bars with the graham cracker crust, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and coconut. I leave off the nuts and so did KF which made them all the more irresistible. I think we sustained ourselves in those first few days here on 90% cookies and 10% "real" food.

The remainder of our trip involves visiting several family members and friends. We are having a great time here. This morning it is snowing and that is a welcome sign for us. Over the weekend it warmed up and rained and literally washed the previous snow accumulation away. Now we have a few inches on the ground and it looks beautiful. Ask me later how beautiful I think it is when I have to go out in it!

Happy New Year to all of you. Here's to health, happiness and all the best in 2009. Kisses all around.

Weekly Recap

O got a new do.  He kept trying to make his too straight, too long hair stand up.  So, when he went for a haircut on Friday he asked for something "messy".  This is what he got along with a $12 tub of "Wacky Wax" for styling.  I think it is cute however, I'm disappointed that she didn't texturize it a bit more.  While his hair is fine it is heavy and I think it needs some shorter strands to hold up the longer strands.  But, he likes it and it looks great on him.  Now he needs a few more minutes in the morning to style his hair.  

The weekend was busy with social events.  O and C went with M to the birthday party of one of her dance class buddies on Saturday afternoon.  Sounds like they had fun.  It was at one of those places that has a food buffet, lots of games, golf, go carts...  A kid's dream and an adult's nickel and dime nightmare.  It is fun to do occasionally though so I'm glad they all had a great time.  

I was busy working.  It was a busier week for me at work than it has been in a little while.  And coming right before the holidays, it was much appreciated.  I have the best clients in the world!

Saturday evening found us in Galveston doing our annual Festival of Lights at Moody Gardens.  This year the set up was much different because they only have power to half of their property.  It was a bit eerie walking amongst the twinkling lights of Christmas happiness while across the canal there was nothing but dark, hurricane damaged buildings.  While the displays they use are the same every year (last year they did some updates), it is still a fun time for only $4 per person.  It rained on us a bit this year but we stuck it out and enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday was another party day.  O and C took off for the b-day party of one of his baseball teammates (the only girl on the team).  M and I attended a performance of the Nutcracker put on by older students at her dance school.  Her teacher danced one of the lead roles and M's eye's sparkled watching her dance.  She wanted to go up on stage and dance with her.  She was happy to go and give her teacher a big hug after the performance and LL was so excited to see her.  I just sat there wondering if dance would continue to be an important part of our lives as M grows or if it will be replaced by other interests.  Will M be dancing one of the lead roles 15 years from now?  Hmmmm...stay tuned to find out!

I think most every other major event from last week was covered by earlier posts so no more news there.  I have my last classes of the semester tomorrow evening, a final on Wednesday, a final on Thursday and my last final next Tuesday the 23rd.  We leave for Rochester in 10 days (on Christmas Day) so next week will be filled with packing along with studying and final Christmas preparations.  This is O's last week of school before the holiday break.  His class party is on Thursday and he is out as of noon on Friday.

So, lots of stuff coming down the pike at us.  Have a great week everyone!

Kisses to all.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...the Space Shuttle Endeavor??

C called from work yesterday right before noon.  He said sorry for the short notice but he just found out himself.  Seems the Space Shuttle Endeavor that was piggy backing its way from CA to FL would be flying over our heads at any moment.

I grabbed the camera and ran outside.  I saw the amazing thing twice through the trees (not picture material nor enough time to register in my brain fast enough to take a picture) the pilot was flying so low.  But I managed to grab these two lame shots on the one pass that I could see it.  They turned out ok once I cropped them.  It was an amazing sight to see!

Spacemonkey has great photos here.  

We have really been spoiled these past 24 hours with snow and a front seat to a shuttle fly by.  Wonder what else can happen this week?  

What a difference 7 hours makes

Without realizing it, C and I took similar pictures of the snow.  He took a set around 11:30 pm after the kids and I were fast asleep.  I took my set when I got up around 6:45 the next morning.  You can see the difference that 7 hours of warming Houston temperatures makes.  I was actually surprised that there still was snow on the ground when I got up.

The morning commute was terrible for many people but we were fine here.  I guess Mother Nature decided that since Hurricane Ike couldn't bring down Houston she would try the freezing route?!

Here are great pics from Spacemama and a pic from Spacemonkey.  

We Have Snow!!!

These pictures say it all.  First rain turned to sleet and I thought that was all we would get.  Then around 6:15-ish big fluffy flakes started flying!  I quickly ran around taking photos then uploaded them and planned on finishing this post later.  The kids and C were playing outside so I headed back out and realized that it was still coming down really hard and snow was accumulating so I took more photos and those are what you see below taken approx. 2 hours later.  It is now nearly 9 pm CST and the snow is still falling.  What a lovely treat for the middle of our week here in Houston!

C is now playing with the camera and the tripod out front so we'll see what he comes up with.  I'll post those later.

Hope you all are warm and toasty tonight and enjoying the magic of the season.