Chicago Airport

I had no pictures to capture this lovely event but it can't go undocumented. You think I would learn by now that traveling by myself with 2 or more small children is not a good idea. I guess I'm a slow learner because I keep doing it but I sure have some fun stories. The plan was to fly to Chicago, have a 1 hour lay over, and fly to Salt Lake by 10:30 PM. Well....it was all of 2 degrees in Chicago and snowing so there were some delays. We were an hour late leaving Cleveland but the airport people said it was okay because the next flight was late too and just in case I didn't make that one, they had me on another back up flight.

The plane ride was surprisingly well. We had the usual battle of Braden kicking the seat in front of him about 95 times and dirty looks from the people in front of us. I have learned to get over that...it is an hour and a half of your life, you'll live! We land in Chicago and I feel relieved...now I just have to get to my next gate and we'll be fine.

We sat on the runway waiting for a gate to open up...and waited...and waited...and there goes the first flight...more waiting...lots of wiggling and screaming from 2 restless boys...waiting...still no gate open...some sweating and panicking - they have turned the cabin air off because we have "arrived" in Chicago...waiting...waiting...no standing up with your screaming children - we will be moving any minute...more dirty looks from people in front of us...waiting...waiting...back up flight is now boarding...waiting...still no gate.

Finally after an HOUR of sitting on the runway, a gate opens up. I run through the airport in high heeled boots carrying Bennett and pushing Braden in the stroller. Don't forget about the 5 carry on bags that I have, too. I run across the airport to a different terminal....the flight is gone and that was the last one out tonight. After getting shuffled around and being sent from airline to airline and back again, I realized I was stuck. They don't do anything for you if it is related to weather. SO here I am with 2 very tired boys in a strange city with no idea what to do. I pulled it together long enough to get a hotel (which I had to pay for), find a shuttle to take us there, and rebook our flight for the next day. Then I remembered that I was so smart to pack our coats in our luggage which was on its way to Salt Lake. So it had now dropped to -6 degrees and we had no coats. I bundled Bennett in the tiny blanked I had and gave Braden my sweater and we headed for the hotel.

It all turned out to be okay. The hotel people were nice and gave us toothbrushes and things to get us through the night and we were able to get on the plane the next morning but that was not the funnest day of my life. Braden called Grandma Judy & Grandpa Mike from the hotel and said, "Grandma, we didn't land on Utah." He was sad but the most stressful thing to him was that he had to sleep in his shirt and underwear because we had no jammies for him to wear. He cried about that but not about being in a strange, freezing city stuck in a hotel without coats. Go figure!

We arrived in Salt Lake at 11:00 the next morning and headed straight for Target to buy a clean outfit to change into because our luggage was still missing. It was delivered late that night. It could have been worse...they could have lost our luggage in the process!!!

Rude Awakening

Don't you love it when your 4-year-old drags his 1-year-old brother out of his crib? Don't you especially love it when it is 1:30 in the morning and they both come running in your room saying, "we're done sleeping...get up!".

I DO!!!!!!