Friday, January 02, 2009

Honey, I'm Home!

We came, we saw, we are home.

I'll have to tell you about our adventures in pieces because there is so much to tell!

Long ago - okay, so it was last week...

We left for Colorado on the 23rd - Up at 3, left home at 4:15. Yes, it was really early...

We parked the car in long term parking, hopped on the shuttle bus that waited for us to unload our car, and headed for the Delta counter. We swiped our boarding passes and waited to get our luggage weighed. All the bags were under the requisite 50 pounds (except for one...) The agent at the counter put his foot on the scale when we put Gram's humungo suitcase on the scale. According to him, it weighed 84 lbs. We all turned and looked at her. She was mortified! He came clean and we all got a good chuckle. Then we headed off to drop the suitcases at TSA and make our way to security.

They scrutinized our passports and our boarding passes. They decided that we looked okay and sent us on to the metal detectors. As I was throwing my shoes, coat, and camera bag into bins, the security woman started listing game systems that needed to be out of the carry-on luggage. I asked about gameboy DSs - since we were carrying 3 of them. (Hey, I NEED my games!)
She was kinda snippy and curtly asked me if she had said DSs.
I told her "not yet, but I was waiting to hear them on the list."
She lightened up... I really wasn't trying to be difficult - honest.
Mr. was not happy with me for even talking to her never mind making eye contact.
Fortunately, I passed through the security without having to strip naked and dance on the pole, so I considered it a good start to the day.

We got to the gate - our flight was on time and uneventful. We actually got to Atlanta early - which was a very good thing because we originally only had 25 min. between flights. Because of our good fortune, we made our connection with time enough for Mr. to pick up a sandwich to bring on the plane.

Our flight from Atlanta to Denver was late leaving. We boarded the plane - boys in seats ABC and girls in seats DEF. Gram and Mr. were on the aisle, #1 and myself were in the middle seats. Grandpa and LLB had the windows. (I only tell you this because it serves to make the following even funnier.) Once we were in the air, the flight staff told us about the in-flight breakfast menu. Please note that we were originally going to wait until we hit Denver to eat, but the menu selections looked pretty good - and I was hungry. I decided on a turkey sandwich on cranberry nut bread - their description is: What a sandwich! A fantastic blend of Boar’s Head® Mesquite Smoked Turkey and Mild Cheddar Cheese with the unexpected surprise of Crushed Berries Cranberry Sauce spread across a Cranberry Nut Bread. Doesn't that sound yummy? Well, that sandwich caused all kinds of angst with Mr. It seems he thought that we had a deal that we wouldn't purchase food on the flight. I have no idea where he got that idea, but whatever. (Normally, I don't purchase food on a flight, but it really looked pretty good, don't cha think?) Mr. was irate! (He has never denied me anything - never mind food - so his behavior was bizarre! I think he must have been channeling his father, Aurelio!!!) At first I thought he was joking. BUT, since he was making such a stink - across the aisle - I quickly realized he was serious. I'm not one to roll over, so I decided to fix his boat. I purchased said sandwich with my Amex Gift Card so that I didn't use any of "his" hard earned cash - and I told him so -- from across the aisle. Then, I enjoyed every single bite! Our fellow passengers probably talked about that mean husband who gave his wife a hard time for ordering a sandwich for the next week. LOL!

FYI: Later that night, Mr. apologized for his wacky behavior. We still laugh about it - heck I was laughing on the plane! This is the stuff that memories are made of!!

We arrived in Colorado still married.

Nicole met us at the airport with Ella, the elephant.
She took Mr, the kids, and the luggage and left me with Gram and Grandpa to get the rental van.

We arrived at the car rental which smelled like old popcorn. Eeewww... We suffered through the rental agent spiel and headed out to customer service to get a car. The man told me I could pick any van in row E. I wanted a foreign car, since that's what I normally drive. I chose the Toyota - it was the 5th car in the line and I didn't feel like holding out for a Honda. It was an excellent choice!!

I hooked up my little GPS and headed out. Nicole had told me some directions when she left me, but I wasn't quite sure what she had said... I guess I am not the best listener... We called her and she repeated them for me. I made it to the rental house - not as quickly as she would have liked, but it was a new car in unfamiliar territory, I think I did pretty well. Just so you know, driving a van is like driving a living room on wheels. (I don't know how you people do it!)

The house she rented for us was very nice! John's parents were supposed to be there with us, but they got iced in in Seattle - all flights were canceled and tickets were refunded. This meant that we all had our own rooms - Mr. and I in the master suite and LLB next door upstairs. #1 and Gram and Grandpa in the rooms downstairs. It would have been nice if his parents had made it, but we really enjoyed the space.

We made our own little Christmas Tree:
You can't have Christmas without a tree!

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