Getting there is half the fun

These pictures represent our flights to the Midwest in December.

1-- We waited for an hour on the runway in Anchorage. We were split into 2 seats and 2 seats so we kept passing Phoenix back and forth. Neither person sitting on the aisle wanted to trade and allow us to sit together to handle Phoenix.

2-- Upon late arrival in Seattle, early departure of our flight to Ohio allowed us the opportunity to spend the night in the Sea/Tac airport. As you can see, the kids actually slept.

3-- At 3:00 a.m., Phoenix decided that he had had enough sleep. He played "can't catch me" for about an hour and a half before we moved closer to the ticket counter where we would try to catch a stand-by flight.

4--Phoenix was still full of energy.

5-- We finally caught a flight out of Seattle to Atlanta. The ticketing agents in Seattle were not so helpful, but they were certain that if only we got out of Sea/Tac we would be fine. Seattle, afterall, was where the problem was. They had gotten the fallout from Denver closing the airport. So here is Kira making friends in the Atlanta airport while we wait for our flight.

6-- Our flight from Atlanta to STL has been delayed. An hour later a flight across the hall is going to STL, but we are assured that our flight will be leaving shortly. We don't need to get on that flight. The other STL flight boards their standby people. We need a distraction, a real meal and a comfortable chair (or any bed). Now our flight is one hour and forty five minutes delayed. Mechanical problems that they assure us will be fixed. A flight to Bloomington is boarding in 10 minutes, maybe we should try to get standby on that. The ticketing agent tells us our flight will be leaving shortly. The flight leaves for Bloomington without us. 15 minutes later... our flight has been cancelled due to mechanical issues. The next flight out to STL is tomorrow at 1:15p.m. It is 5:00 p.m. and we have been in airports and on planes for the last 25 hours with 2 small children and 3 tired adults.

7-- The guy next to us is entertaining Phoenix with his cell phone, and Kira is sharing Teddy Grahams and crackers with their son.

A few hours later we finally catch a flight stand-by to STL. When we arrive, Delta has lost our luggage and we can't leave the airport with no car seats. We stay at the airport trying to convince Delta that they need to give us loaner carseats until our luggage is located. They had one for Phoenix, but none for Kira. Every Delta employee that we had dealt with up until now had been just a plain attitude of "sorry you're out of luck, and it it time for my break so... see you later." We convinced the guy to beg, borrow or steal a seat from a partner airline so we could leave. After being in airports and on planes for 30 hours, it seemed that driving 4 hours to go camping in Homer wasn't such a long trip. The rest of the trip was excellent. We had a great time seeing family and spending time together. On the flight home, Delta cancelled another flight and lost our luggage again... of which we are still missing some. So now we have a new catch phrase. If something has been lost or is just plain going wrong, "It's gone Delta."