Friday, December 11, 2009

Wild time at the airport...

It seems there is never a dull moment with us. Every day has an adventure or something absolutely hilarious or exhausting. Well, our trip to the airport was extremely exciting and terrible at the same time.

Shae got a call from work that he had to fly to Oklahoma City for some training. Now, if any of you from his work is reading this, hello, we love you, and we would like a raise, Just Kidding, kind of. So, off we go to the airport, 15 passenger van, 6 kids absolutely sad that dad is leaving for the very long 2 days, and 1 wife excited for the field trip to the airport.

We found the parking garage and attempted to pull in. I opened my door and peeked on the top of the van to see if we would clear the 6' 10" sign at the entrance. To our dismay, our van is too high. We have added a rack on top for our kayaks and it put us just over the height for the garage. We all envisioned us pulling in there and getting wedged in, tight. I slammed my door shut so we could hurry up and back up before someone came. A very calm voice came from behind me, saying, "Mom, you slammed my hand in your door." I looked next to me and saw most of Cody's hand shut tight in the door. I screamed as I attempted to open the door quickly. I seemed to grab everything but the door handle as I scrambled to open it as fast as I could. He just stood there waiting patiently. "Cody, why on earth would you put your hand in my door!?!?" He had peeked out the back sliding door to see if we would clear the sign, too. I didn't even notice his hand in the door. He said, "I am fine. I can move all of my fingers!

So, now what? We saw a sign for parking for high clearance vehicles. So, we drove around the loop to Terminal 4, but could not find the entrance for the lot. We made the loop around Terminal 2, 3, and 4 again, but still no entrance to the high clearance lot. Finally, Shae said, "I'll just jump out at the departure doors. You'll just have to drop me off." Of course, I was disappointed to not be able to walk him in. The kids would have loved it. But, we couldn't find anywhere to park! Shae jumped out of the van and grabbed his bag. He shouted his goodbyes and took off into the airport. We had to hurry since we were parked on the curb that was for unloading. All the kids were so sad as daddy disappeared into the terminal. I got in the drivers seat and headed out. Gabriel said, "I already miss him." All the kids said they agreed.

Now, I have never been to this airport, much less this particular city! I did not want to get back on the freeway, it was too busy. After looking at the map, I decided to go a side road back to the intersection we would take north. I had seen a Best Buy near there and needed to stop at one, desperately.

I got turned around a couple of times, really wasn't sure where I was going, but after 15 minutes, I was on the right road. I happened to glance down,  and saw Shae's cell phone sitting in the cup holder next to mine!

Oh No!!!!

He has to have his cell phone!

In the rush to get out at the curb and all of us wanting his attention, he forgot his cell phone! I knew I had to get it back to him. He never forgets anything. In fact, he usually remembers things for me! I was not happy to have to turn around and head back to the maze I had finally found my way out of, with six hungry kids in the van! But, daddy needed his phone, and we had to get it to him, somehow.

I have to run, baby just woke up.... I'll write more later....it involves, paging, soldiers, strangers, driving for 1 1/2 hrs around the airport...grouchy lady at curb.... did Shae ever get his phone???

a cliff hanger...check back later....he he he he he

I am finally getting back to finish this entry. Baby is back asleep and the other kids are happy.

Well, I knew Shae had to have his phone. He was flying into Oklahoma City to meet a lot of his co-workers and boss for the first time. I didn't think it would look too good not having his phone. And, Shae would never forget his phone. This was so unlike him!

I turned the van around, thinking in my head, "Oh, he owes me big time." But, I knew that was not the right attitude. Here he was flying across the country to work so we can eat and live comfortably and I'm complaining! So, I gritted my teeth as I turned around and attempted to smile. I told the kids, "It's like we are Dora and Diego! We are going on an adventure to see what we can find. Down the freeway, to the airport and on the plane! Watch out for Swiper!" As I said that, my two year got very silent as she contemplated whether or not Swiper would really be there.

I tried to find the high clearance parking garage, but to no avail. I found one entrance to it, but it was blocked off by three orange cones. So now what? I see trucks in the lot, but how on earth did they get in there? I circled the airport attempting to find a place to park, but couldn't. So, plan B. Send Cody in. I explain to him that he must go to the Delta desk and tell them our situation and ask them to page Shae at the gate. Now, I don't know the flight number or gate, but I figure that there should only be one plane leaving for Minneapolis at 1:09pm for Delta. Cody took Shae's phone and mine. I kept the kids phone to communicate with him. He headed in, right for the Delta desk. The lady there instructed him to use the paging computer to get a hold of Shae. So, Cody filled out some form on a computer that is supposed to send a voice page over an intercom and also put up the information on TV screens throughout the airport. Cody headed to the security checkpoint to wait for Shae. While he is doing this, I am driving round and round the airport, keeping watch on the curb in case Shae realized he forgot his cell phone and came down to the drop off point to see if I came back. I just hoped he would think of that.

After a little while, I saw I could park in the cell phone lot. So, we sat there for a little while. After driving and sitting for over an hour, I knew we had to do something else. His plane would be boarding soon. I drove around again, for about the 13th time. I saw some soldiers standing on the sidewalk. I pulled over and told them our situation. I asked them to escort Hanna inside to the Delta desk to have the lady actually call Shae's gate and have them find him. Hanna took her cell phone and kept Cody on the line while I watched her walk off with quite a few soldiers, into the airport.

Now, I must admit. Panic tried to set in. Two of my kids are now in the airport. They have no way to get a hold of me or Shae. Hanna is with a soldier, which did make me feel better, until I drove around the airport and came back to where I had dropped her off and all of the soldiers were gone! "Ok." I told myself. "Breath deep. She is fine. I never should have dropped her off." I was praying quite feverishly now. I drove around a few more times, Tytus was still asleep. Josie, Naomi, and Gabriel were happy. Shae's plane would be off soon, and there was nothing I could do.

The kids were still not back out. Where on earth were they? I pulled up to the arrival gate, where I had dropped Hanna off. I waited a minute until security walked over. She said, "You can't park here! You're on my crosswalk! Just keep driving in circles." So, once again, I drive around the airport, no cell phone. I saw a soldier standing on the curb, so I pulled over. I told him I was looking for my daughter, who I had dropped off. He said the other soldier and Hanna were looking for me. He ran to get them. I could finally breathe. I looked out my rear view mirror. There came Cody, Hanna, and a soldier. Oh, I was so thankful. They got back in the van and shared with me their stories. Shae got the message from the lady at the gate. He ran to security to get his phone. Cody went down the escalator, got Hanna and began to look for me.

Shae called me from Minneapolis. That 3 hour flight for him gave me time to calm down. I was really trying to think positive and nice thoughts. He got on the phone and said almost the worst thing he could have.

 "I figured I would just go without it for a couple of days."

"WHAT! YOU BETTER TELL ME YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR CELLPHONE FOR ALL THE TROUBLE I WENT THROUGH!" I replied.

I knew he was just trying to be positive of his situation, which was the right thing to do. He didn't even realize his phone was missing until 15 minutes before his plane boarded! AHHHHH!

Well, we had quite an adventure. I like to say it was good until it was bad. I am sorry to say it got worse. I went to Best Buy to get broadband internet. I had them help me install it. It won't work wireless! I sat there for 2 hours trying to get this thing to work! The SIX kids were great until the very end. I finally let the little ones run circles around the equipment. I figured maybe they would give us a TV if we WOULD JUST LEAVE! HA HA HA HA HA HA

Hope you enjoyed the story! I'm off to bed soon. I am working on our website. It got messed up on our computer, so I have to re-do it! Yikes! It is a lot of work!

Check back tomorrow. I will write about the publishing company that contacted us about Hanna...... another cliff hanger!

1 comment:

  1. Cant wait to find out what happened! I just stumbled across your site and I love it! We are a family of 5 considering doing exactly what you are doing. I have a feeling I will enjoy this blog very much.

    Trina

    ReplyDelete

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