The boys were excited to be home and have "boy" adventures, and they informed me that they were going to eat when and what they wanted, drink out of the jug, and wear "crunchy" underwear. Yep--it was bound to be an adventure for all of us.
We left very early on a Wednesday morning, and after getting up at 3:45am, I knew it was bound to be a long day. This would be Miss Caroline's first flight, and I was a little worried about keeping her entertained, but I packed enough snacks to last a month of Sundays, just in case! Our flights went really well--the first leg the girls met friends that were right in front of them. They talked to each other the whole time, and even were taught how to make a new kind of friendship bracelets! We had a three hour layover in Chicago, which meant we had to time to eat breakfast, and time to play on their super cute mini airport play area. Caroline slept the entire second flight--she fell asleep five minutes into the flight, and woke up five minutes before we landed. Perfect timing. I actually got to read a book for three solid hours in the middle of the day, which is my kind of heaven!
This view...it makes me homesick every time I see it.
My sleeping beauty!
The fabulous play area in Chicago--it definitely made a long layover with kids so much easier.
Garrett's Popcorn....the absolute best reason to have a layover in Chicago!!
On our way!
Ready to take off, and she wasn't quite sure what to expect. She did great!
Their new friends...
Mom and Ben picked us up from the airport, and it we didn't stop going from that moment forward! We were busy busy the entire week, as we were trying to pack in as much as possible into a relatively short time period.
The first day really needed to be a shopping day. :) We headed out to get the girls new scriptures and scripture bag, which were supposed to be for their eighth birthday, but we were waiting until we went to Utah. The scriptures were easy, and after getting their names embossed on them, we headed to a different store to choose scripture bags. After much decision making, they each finally decided on the bag they liked best, which happened to be the same bag but in different colors! We stopped next at City Creek mall, and spent the rest of the day shopping, as the girls looked for what they wanted to spend their birthday money on. After a late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, we were ready to head home and relax!!
Saturday morning the Easter bunny came, and the girls were thrilled that he found them at Gramme's house. He was short on time and materials, but was able to get something together for the girls. They loved them! Before conference, we headed out to the Bountiful Park for an Easter egg hunt. We didn't bring our baskets with us, so we grabbed grocery sacks and headed out. They met the Easter Bunny (of whom Caroline wasn't too sure about), and talked strategy while they waited for their turn to hunt. Caroline went first, and she wasn't too sure about things at first, but it didn't take her too long before she got into it, and started stuffing her bag as fast as she could. After 20 minutes, it was the girls' age group that went, and they were both ready to go. Kate took off like a shot, and was really racing the boys across the field. Emma took off in a different direction, with her own strategy in mind. They all got a ton of eggs, and it was a really fun hunt.
After the morning session of conference at home, we ate quickly, then got ready to head down to the conference center to attend the afternoon session. Ben took us down there so we wouldn't have to worry about parking, and we quickly found our seats. The girls loved just looking around, and taking in everything, and comparing it to what they see on tv. The session started, and although they got antsy toward the end (we had been sitting for a very long time), they did a great job and really enjoyed it. What an opportunity--I'm so glad we were able to take them.
Outside the conference center, after conference!
My pretty girls!!
In our seats, waiting for it to start!
Sunday was a low-key day as we watched conference, made a yummy Easter dinner, dyed Easter eggs, and frosted sugar cookies. It was a good day!
This is a girl after my own heart...she sure loved that frosting!!!
Tuesday was our last day in Utah, and we were lucky that Brittany took her boys out of school to hang out with us! We went to Boondocks, where they have things like bumper boats, race cars, laser tag, mini golf, batting cages, bowling, and more. We were there for FIVE hours. The kids absolutely loved it, and I can't tell you how many rounds of laser tag we played! Gramme hung out with the two littles, and they had a great time playing in the toddler area. It was a long day, but a really fun day. We drove over to Jaron and Brittany's new house afterward, and got to peek inside the windows and see their awesome new yard. We ordered pizza that night, watched movies, and just hung out. It was the perfect ending to our trip!!!
And then our adventure really began. We left early Wednesday morning, and didn't get home until late Friday night. We missed our flight on Wednesday morning, due to incredibly long lines at both our airline and security, then I was held up at security because my hands tested positive for explosives. I found that there are quite a few household products that can cause it to test that way, and I was fine to go through security, but it did make us miss our flight. We were able to take the next one, and got into Chicago that afternoon, but things just kept going wrong. Due to storms and high winds, our flight that night was cancelled. We didn't find out until after 10:30pm, so by the time I found a hotel and took a shuttle to get there, it was nearly midnight by the time we crawled into bed. We had no luggage, and it had actually already arrived in Buffalo and Rick had picked it up. We had no pajamas, no toothbrushes, no deodorant, no brushes, no clean underwear--nothing. We did get a couple of things from the hotel, but it was pretty rough.
We had been booked on a flight at 7am the next morning, so we were up at 4:45am to get back to the airport in time. We sat there for almost seven hours until they told us our flight was once again canceled, and there would not be another one that day due to weather. Later we would find out that an F4 tornado was making its way through the state, and that's what was causing so many delays and cancellations throughout the airport.
I couldn't drive home, because the storm was headed that same direction, and even down at Memorie's house, it was the same way. The customer service lines for our airline were massively long--at least three or four hours--and there was no way I was going to be able to do that. Rick called customer service for me while I fed the girls, got us a flight for the next afternoon, and then I was able to go to a gate agent to get boarding passes and verify the flight. I was panicked for diapers, because after two days, I was out. I scoured the airport, and finally found one pack in a smaller size, and paid $16 for only 14 diapers. I gladly paid it. Then once again, we headed to a hotel, and went out to dinner to a restaurant across the street before going back to our room to crash. The girls snuggled in bed eating popcorn and watching movies, but by 6:30pm, they were all asleep!!! We had been going long and hard for several days, going to bed late and getting up early, and they had had it.
We got to sleep in the next morning, and we walked to a Target across the street to get something healthy to eat for breakfast and snacks. It was so good to have fruit and yogurt after so much airport food! We had been in our clothes for three days, we stunk despite our best efforts at staying clean, but we were happy and counting our blessings. We were safe!
When we got to the airport, we found out that our afternoon flight had been delayed. Again. The airport was out of control with people, packed in every corner and space. With so many people affected by the previous days' cancellations, it was a madhouse while everyone tried to find their way. We found a little corner, and hunkered down there for awhile. The girls were SO good, and they played games, watched movies, and kept themselves entertained. Kate & Emma helped with Caroline, and even she handled it just about as well as possible. Finally we made it onto our flight, and a couple of hours later, we were HOME!!!! It will definitely be a long time before we forget that experience!!
Now the boys...they had a fabulous time together. The Easter Bunny came, they watched conference, made a yummy Easter dinner and homemade cinnamon rolls, went on adventures, and visited the museum. We came home to a sparkling house, and it was SO wonderful to see them--we all missed them like crazy!!!
The end. :)
