Day 1 - We left Des Moines (Wednesday, May 29)
Brian we were running a bit behind getting to the airport, so Brian dropped us off at ticketing and went to park the car. I got all the girls settled on a bench with our carry-on's and a granola bar (breakfast) and stood in line with all of the car seats to check in. Just as I reached the front of the line Brian got there - perfect! - and we checked in together. After the guy checked my ID, I asked if I could leave and go feed the baby and sit with the kids. He said, "sure" and Brian stayed and got our boarding passes. I fed Becca and we went up to security. Thankfully, there was a short line, but we found out that the guy had only printed three of the boarding passes! So Brian went down and got the other ones. Then he came back up, but my boarding pass still wasn't printed!!!(Even though I had given him my ID!!!) @#$%#$ So I ran down and got my boarding pass. I was not pleased.
But...the silver lining was that we were the last ones to board, and as I was hurrying to get everyone seated, I just looked at the top boarding pass. It said row 8 and I quickly got everyone sat down in the empty seats there. Only after we had taken off did I realize that we were all in business class and that our real tickets had us seated in 6 different rows! I am soooo glad that the business class ticket was on top!
Aleah threw up on that flight but caught it pretty well and took some medicine. But nothing else extraordinary happened. My mom picked us up in our rented minivan and we hung out at home the rest of the afternoon at her house.
Day 2 - Seattle (Thursday)
The next day Brian had a presentation at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, so he and I decided to do a Seattle date - we knew this would be our last day "alone" before the siblings would arrive. :)
We drove up, parked at the Gates Foundation near the Seattle Center and took the Monorail to Downtown. We walked around Pike's Place Market, had a great french sandwich and pastry, bought some flowers, fish and a baguette and hurried back for Brian's presentation.
They had an amazing taco bar and presentations on using/paying for marker research organized by Brian Love (aka Dr. Love). Becca was well behaved but we left when the formal presentation ended and they started a question/answer/discussion group.
We stopped by Costco on the way home to pick up some stuff (plates, food, drinks) for the weekend. As we were leaving it rained cats and dogs. I love that phrase. :)
When we got home we found that the girls had had a fun day at the park and were enamored of Josh, my Navy brother who was there visiting. Kate thought he was the greatest thing ever and Colleen called him Jericho (like Joshua fought the battle of...). She kept saying, "I didn't know you had a brother named Jericho!" Yeah, I don't. :)
My brother Eric shared how he was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the people there. "It was bad enough with just you here Josh, but all these people..." Brian, Josh and I exchanged knowing looks. Little did he know the masses that were about to descend on his quiet organized home and life.
That night my dad said that he might not be able to take Friday off to go to Anderson Island with us as planned. All of the rest of my siblings were going to show up on the ferry to the island and he needed to be there too! Brian pulled him aside and asked him if he could keep a secret. My dad went off on a Stonewall Jackson story, chuckled and walked away. Later that night I told him that he had to go tomorrow and was about to tell him why it was so important, when he told me he had just gotten an email from someone and the problem was solved and he could go. Yea!
Brian we were running a bit behind getting to the airport, so Brian dropped us off at ticketing and went to park the car. I got all the girls settled on a bench with our carry-on's and a granola bar (breakfast) and stood in line with all of the car seats to check in. Just as I reached the front of the line Brian got there - perfect! - and we checked in together. After the guy checked my ID, I asked if I could leave and go feed the baby and sit with the kids. He said, "sure" and Brian stayed and got our boarding passes. I fed Becca and we went up to security. Thankfully, there was a short line, but we found out that the guy had only printed three of the boarding passes! So Brian went down and got the other ones. Then he came back up, but my boarding pass still wasn't printed!!!(Even though I had given him my ID!!!) @#$%#$ So I ran down and got my boarding pass. I was not pleased.
But...the silver lining was that we were the last ones to board, and as I was hurrying to get everyone seated, I just looked at the top boarding pass. It said row 8 and I quickly got everyone sat down in the empty seats there. Only after we had taken off did I realize that we were all in business class and that our real tickets had us seated in 6 different rows! I am soooo glad that the business class ticket was on top!
Aleah threw up on that flight but caught it pretty well and took some medicine. But nothing else extraordinary happened. My mom picked us up in our rented minivan and we hung out at home the rest of the afternoon at her house.
The next day Brian had a presentation at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, so he and I decided to do a Seattle date - we knew this would be our last day "alone" before the siblings would arrive. :)
We drove up, parked at the Gates Foundation near the Seattle Center and took the Monorail to Downtown. We walked around Pike's Place Market, had a great french sandwich and pastry, bought some flowers, fish and a baguette and hurried back for Brian's presentation.They had an amazing taco bar and presentations on using/paying for marker research organized by Brian Love (aka Dr. Love). Becca was well behaved but we left when the formal presentation ended and they started a question/answer/discussion group.
We stopped by Costco on the way home to pick up some stuff (plates, food, drinks) for the weekend. As we were leaving it rained cats and dogs. I love that phrase. :)
When we got home we found that the girls had had a fun day at the park and were enamored of Josh, my Navy brother who was there visiting. Kate thought he was the greatest thing ever and Colleen called him Jericho (like Joshua fought the battle of...). She kept saying, "I didn't know you had a brother named Jericho!" Yeah, I don't. :)
My brother Eric shared how he was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the people there. "It was bad enough with just you here Josh, but all these people..." Brian, Josh and I exchanged knowing looks. Little did he know the masses that were about to descend on his quiet organized home and life.
That night my dad said that he might not be able to take Friday off to go to Anderson Island with us as planned. All of the rest of my siblings were going to show up on the ferry to the island and he needed to be there too! Brian pulled him aside and asked him if he could keep a secret. My dad went off on a Stonewall Jackson story, chuckled and walked away. Later that night I told him that he had to go tomorrow and was about to tell him why it was so important, when he told me he had just gotten an email from someone and the problem was solved and he could go. Yea!
2 comments:
Yes! I love posts with sequels to come! Sounds like you had a fun time. And I love baby "Mecca" ;)
Fixed! :)
And we never got our wheelbarrow back but Brian found one at a garage sale for $2.
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