The Yates' 2007 Family Vacation, Part I
(To ensure that there is no "century"* in this story, I am splitting it into parts)
(*private inside family joke)
The good news: I lost 10 lbs while on vacation
The bad news: I had to endure pneumonia the entire time (well, most of the time)!
Oh it's a long sorted story, ready?
We were so efficient in packing our bags and stuff that by Wednesday evening, we had nothing better to do than to head off to Brock's favorite Japanese Steak House, Liki, for dinner. First, we stopped over at the good next door neighbor ER Doc and asked him to take a look at me, as I had started coughing on Monday and it was getting to be annoying. Good ER Doc took a look and said I may just have a little virus, the cough was really the only symptom, no noise in my chest and my throat looked fine. He prescribed me a cough medicine with codeine to be filled before we left and some other scripts to fill IF, while on vacation, I got worse.
Off to the Airport we went at 4:45am in the morning - unbelievably, Leda was so excited and so happy to go anywhere with us at 4:45 in the morning. Anyway, parked the car, got in the van to take us to the departure gate and WOW, did we hit traffic. AT THE AIRPORT! All the gates were just jammed and the traffic going through the departure area was just as jammed. We got to our gate and due to having checked in the night before, all we needed to do was get into the line to check our bags with the Skycap. Now, when I say line, I mean LINE - we waited approximately 30 minutes to check our bags! And there were lines EVERYWHERE, so we weren't alone. Turns out, the bad weather we had had the night before canceled some flights and thus, the airport was crazy. Little did we know!
So, we get our bags checked and head for Security so we can get through and get some bottled water and some milk for Leda and leisurely make it toward our gate for our airplane. I mean we had 40 minutes to spare! So upstairs we go and we are directed to the line to the left. Okay, so we go toward the line to the left. And we go. And we walk, and we keep going and soon I am freaking out - the line for security was longer than ANY LINE I HAVE EVER SEEN! It goes all the way back to the parking garages! That's a long way at the Phila. Airport! I am freaking, there is no way we are making our flight.
Turns out they were calling out flight times - if your flight was 7:10 or sooner, follow me, the guy says. So we follow him (along with the 10s of other people who were in the same boat as us) and we are directed to the line to the right of security. Which turns out to be JUST AS LONG AS THE ONE THEY JUST PULLED US OUT OF!
Unbelievably, we did make it through security by 7:10, ran to our gate and the plane had been held (we were not the only one's in that line for our flight, there were about 10 people behind us as well). So we got on the flight and got settled and all along, our child was the most well behaved child ever!
So finally, we take off for Salt Lake City, our short 1 hour layover before heading to Portland. Leda was perfectly happy to wear her headphones and watch her DVDs (until the batteries died - but I had my laptop for back up!) and was very well behaved on the long flight. In Salt Lake, we had a chance to sit and relax before our next flight. We had brought Leda's car seat for the airplane, but also because we needed it for the car in Portland, and Delta had told me that it was required. In Salt Lake City, the attendants told us we could check it. So we did - bad move!
Anyway, onto the plane we go. We get settled, we start to taxi out to the runway and then, the pilot tells us that there is something wrong with the plane, they are working on getting it to work, and if they can't on the tarmac, they will have to go back to the gate. Can our trip get any worse? We end up having to go back to the gate, maintenance has to come onto the plane and fix the little monitor in front of the pilot which is required by law (the pilot was really great, he kept us REALLY informed as to what was going on). Eventually, about an hour or so after we were supposed to leave, we get under way!
Leda was good, but she was all over the place. She didn't want to sit still in her seat. Thus, wrong idea to check the car seat - no more checking the car seat!
So we get to Portland and Uncle Bobby and Sarah and Scotty pick us up and take us to our hotel. We get checked in and Leda and I are going to attempt a nap (since she fell asleep for all of about 20 minutes on the plane) and Brock's off to the Kingsleys to help prepare for the Rehearsal party later that evening.
Leda did not want to nap at all. So, I sat her in front of the TV with a bowl full of Oreo cookies (yeah, I expect that Worst Mother Ever award on my front doorstep any day now!) and I jumped in the shower. Well, at least it was a clear stall because the Oreo cookies lasted about as long enough as I could lather the shampoo into my hair and the child was sharing the bathroom with me. So, while I showered and tried to keep an eye on the kid at the same time, Leda tried to give her Baby Diego a bath!
Aunt Claire and Sarah picked us up to take us up to Aunt Joan and Uncle Wayne's for the Rehearsal dinner for the Wedding of the Century (oh my, there IS a century in this story after all!) and we had lots of fun meeting everyone and seeing Grandpa and playing with Scotty and Sarah and feeding Finnegan (Finnie), the dog, crackers.
When Grandpa arrived, Leda ran yelling, "Poppa, Poppa" and threw herself at his legs and grabbed on for dear life. It was the cutest thing ever. Brock Sr. was moved, we could all tell! Leda was just so happy to see her Grandpa! (unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of that and apparently Claire didn't either (I checked her photos!)
Dan and Maggie arrived and mingled among the family and friends at the party. I got to speak with some of Dan's fraternity brother's wives. We all got to meet Maggie's family - well most of them. It appears that we got the heck out of Dodge at the right time Thursday morning because EVERYTHING started to shut down. Three of Maggie's siblings didn't make the trip due to canceled flights and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Todd didn't make it due to a canceled flight. Apparently the weather on the East Coast that Thursday wasn't at all cooperating with the Wedding of the Century plans on the West Coast!
Other than my cough that I was trying to keep at bay with the cough syrup, I felt fine on Thursday night. We did leave the party a bit early (around nine) because we were all pretty tired (technically that was Midnight our time!) We weren't sure how Leda was going to handle sleeping between us in a King size bed, but she did just fine! She did curl up to one or the other of us all night, so we had our little heat box! Besides we all had to get lots of sleep to prepare for the next night's Wedding of the Century! ;-)
More in the next installment. I'm tired, need to go rest! Oh, it gets better, believe me!
Read Part II
(*private inside family joke)
The good news: I lost 10 lbs while on vacation
The bad news: I had to endure pneumonia the entire time (well, most of the time)!
Oh it's a long sorted story, ready?
We were so efficient in packing our bags and stuff that by Wednesday evening, we had nothing better to do than to head off to Brock's favorite Japanese Steak House, Liki, for dinner. First, we stopped over at the good next door neighbor ER Doc and asked him to take a look at me, as I had started coughing on Monday and it was getting to be annoying. Good ER Doc took a look and said I may just have a little virus, the cough was really the only symptom, no noise in my chest and my throat looked fine. He prescribed me a cough medicine with codeine to be filled before we left and some other scripts to fill IF, while on vacation, I got worse.
Off to the Airport we went at 4:45am in the morning - unbelievably, Leda was so excited and so happy to go anywhere with us at 4:45 in the morning. Anyway, parked the car, got in the van to take us to the departure gate and WOW, did we hit traffic. AT THE AIRPORT! All the gates were just jammed and the traffic going through the departure area was just as jammed. We got to our gate and due to having checked in the night before, all we needed to do was get into the line to check our bags with the Skycap. Now, when I say line, I mean LINE - we waited approximately 30 minutes to check our bags! And there were lines EVERYWHERE, so we weren't alone. Turns out, the bad weather we had had the night before canceled some flights and thus, the airport was crazy. Little did we know!
So, we get our bags checked and head for Security so we can get through and get some bottled water and some milk for Leda and leisurely make it toward our gate for our airplane. I mean we had 40 minutes to spare! So upstairs we go and we are directed to the line to the left. Okay, so we go toward the line to the left. And we go. And we walk, and we keep going and soon I am freaking out - the line for security was longer than ANY LINE I HAVE EVER SEEN! It goes all the way back to the parking garages! That's a long way at the Phila. Airport! I am freaking, there is no way we are making our flight.
Turns out they were calling out flight times - if your flight was 7:10 or sooner, follow me, the guy says. So we follow him (along with the 10s of other people who were in the same boat as us) and we are directed to the line to the right of security. Which turns out to be JUST AS LONG AS THE ONE THEY JUST PULLED US OUT OF!
Unbelievably, we did make it through security by 7:10, ran to our gate and the plane had been held (we were not the only one's in that line for our flight, there were about 10 people behind us as well). So we got on the flight and got settled and all along, our child was the most well behaved child ever!
So finally, we take off for Salt Lake City, our short 1 hour layover before heading to Portland. Leda was perfectly happy to wear her headphones and watch her DVDs (until the batteries died - but I had my laptop for back up!) and was very well behaved on the long flight. In Salt Lake, we had a chance to sit and relax before our next flight. We had brought Leda's car seat for the airplane, but also because we needed it for the car in Portland, and Delta had told me that it was required. In Salt Lake City, the attendants told us we could check it. So we did - bad move!
Anyway, onto the plane we go. We get settled, we start to taxi out to the runway and then, the pilot tells us that there is something wrong with the plane, they are working on getting it to work, and if they can't on the tarmac, they will have to go back to the gate. Can our trip get any worse? We end up having to go back to the gate, maintenance has to come onto the plane and fix the little monitor in front of the pilot which is required by law (the pilot was really great, he kept us REALLY informed as to what was going on). Eventually, about an hour or so after we were supposed to leave, we get under way!
Leda was good, but she was all over the place. She didn't want to sit still in her seat. Thus, wrong idea to check the car seat - no more checking the car seat!
So we get to Portland and Uncle Bobby and Sarah and Scotty pick us up and take us to our hotel. We get checked in and Leda and I are going to attempt a nap (since she fell asleep for all of about 20 minutes on the plane) and Brock's off to the Kingsleys to help prepare for the Rehearsal party later that evening.
Leda did not want to nap at all. So, I sat her in front of the TV with a bowl full of Oreo cookies (yeah, I expect that Worst Mother Ever award on my front doorstep any day now!) and I jumped in the shower. Well, at least it was a clear stall because the Oreo cookies lasted about as long enough as I could lather the shampoo into my hair and the child was sharing the bathroom with me. So, while I showered and tried to keep an eye on the kid at the same time, Leda tried to give her Baby Diego a bath!
Aunt Claire and Sarah picked us up to take us up to Aunt Joan and Uncle Wayne's for the Rehearsal dinner for the Wedding of the Century (oh my, there IS a century in this story after all!) and we had lots of fun meeting everyone and seeing Grandpa and playing with Scotty and Sarah and feeding Finnegan (Finnie), the dog, crackers.
When Grandpa arrived, Leda ran yelling, "Poppa, Poppa" and threw herself at his legs and grabbed on for dear life. It was the cutest thing ever. Brock Sr. was moved, we could all tell! Leda was just so happy to see her Grandpa! (unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of that and apparently Claire didn't either (I checked her photos!)
Dan and Maggie arrived and mingled among the family and friends at the party. I got to speak with some of Dan's fraternity brother's wives. We all got to meet Maggie's family - well most of them. It appears that we got the heck out of Dodge at the right time Thursday morning because EVERYTHING started to shut down. Three of Maggie's siblings didn't make the trip due to canceled flights and Aunt Stacy and Uncle Todd didn't make it due to a canceled flight. Apparently the weather on the East Coast that Thursday wasn't at all cooperating with the Wedding of the Century plans on the West Coast!
Other than my cough that I was trying to keep at bay with the cough syrup, I felt fine on Thursday night. We did leave the party a bit early (around nine) because we were all pretty tired (technically that was Midnight our time!) We weren't sure how Leda was going to handle sleeping between us in a King size bed, but she did just fine! She did curl up to one or the other of us all night, so we had our little heat box! Besides we all had to get lots of sleep to prepare for the next night's Wedding of the Century! ;-)
More in the next installment. I'm tired, need to go rest! Oh, it gets better, believe me!
Read Part II
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