When my mom heard I was coming home ahead of Logan and with the kids by myself again she offered to come and fly back with me. Our flight home at Christmas was long and hard with the two kids by myself but I did it. So I told her not to waste her money, I could do it again. It wouldn't be fun but I could do it. She decided to come still and really I was relieved but it must of been divine intervention because this trip home was byfar the worst we've ever experienced. I don't know if I would have survived it alone! But Ill get to that in a minute.
My mom showed up and we treated her, or more she treated us but we took her, to pizza cono.
And she helped me finish a few painting projects. I didn't have the energy to do them but when I told her my ideas she said, "lets do it, I'll help you." It's so much easier to do these sort of projects when you have help and someone pushing you to not be lazy. We painted an accent wall in my bedroom on a whim, it's peacock blue and I actually really like it.
This is kindof the idea I had in my head. Peacock blue, light blue, white, green.
We also treated our wooden closet doors that were looking shabby with some teak wood oil, and painted over the red that was still in the play room with a grey.
That week we had a little birthday party for Jake. His wife Heather was already back in the states so I promised her we'd make him his favorite cake since she would be gone. It was also a little good bye get together since 3 of the other dental student/resident/optometry student friends were finishing up and leaving for good. We were sad to see them go!
The crew
We got a few swings in on hammock the Butlers gave us.
And made one last trip to El Morro to fly kites.
Then we packed up and headed to the airport. It was much much easier carrying the kids and all the luggage with help from my mom. We were excited for our flight because we paid a little extra this time to fly to through phoenix. Little did we know that was a terrible idea!!
We were just about 30 minutes from landing in phoenix when the airport shut down due to random storms. We circled the airport a couple of times before the pilot decided to head on to Albequerque New Mexico. As we were landing in Albequerque we noticed the flashing lights from fire engines and cop cars blocking off and lining our runway. My mom looked at me and said, "Somethings up. That's not normal." It wasn't. Turns out we were making an emergency landing in Albequerque. Unexpected delays, flying around storms, and winds had sucked the plane dry and we were out of fuel. I'm glad we found out after we landed.
We sat on the plane for an hour while the refueled and finally they told us we could get off but to not go far because as soon as phoenix opened up we were heading back to Phoenix. And of course like usual they tried guilt tripping us into not getting off the plane because it takes longer to get everyone reloaded blah blah. When you have little kids that are tired of being cramped on a plane not able to walk for 7 or 8 hours straight, you are getting off that plane!!!
We got off and the girls ran around a bit. Of course I forgot to take any ID or my ticket with me. So I ask a guy that was sitting next to us if he could let my mom know. He was really nice to help us and then he insisted on buying Afton an icecream for being so good on the plane. About 40 minutes after we got off the plane they announced the airport was open again and we were to get back on.
We got on, took off, and headed to phoenix. We were about 30 minutes from landing when once again the airport closed down due to random storms. This time they decided to fly on to LAX. We got to LAX really late. We were already supposed to be home. Of course there was only 1 more flight that night leaving for Fresno in 30 minutes and there were no more tickets. We were put on the list to get available seats. If we didn't get seats they would put us up in a hotel and put us on the first flight in the morning. Of course just 1 seat opened up meaning one of us to could go home but the rest of us had to sleep in the airport. I was so mad and they were unwilling to help because all our delays had been weather related.
We were out of food and diapers for Emery so we needed to get her home. It was so hard to get on the plane and leave Afton at the airport. She was so tired and crying for me to take her with me. I felt terrible. I had to tell she couldn't come with, there wasn't enough room. So I got on the plane sad and angry and crying a little that I was put in such a position.
Luckily she calmed down right away and my mom made it into a fun "sleepover." She made her a little bed to sleep in while the waited all night. Emery and I made it to my parents house around midnight exhausted but grateful we now had access to food and diapers.
Poor Affy sleeping in the tilted stroller in the airport.
then my mom made her a more comfortable bed on the ground in a corner. My mom didn't get any sleep because she didn't feel good about sleeping and not being able to watch afton and the people walking all around her.
The next morning the early flight was cancelled.... no joke. So finally they made it home around noon. Afton was so excited to be in Fresno finally! But she said she had fun. She still talks about the "sleepover" her and my mom had in the airport. haha. I just hope that never happens again. I'm glad my mom was there to help or I would have been stranded with the 2 kids alone.
