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!

hard drives, potty stops, Mt St. Helens, I love my hubby!

It sure is cold up here. We are in lovely Oregon. I think I like it here. The people seem friendly. There is no sales tax and they don’t allow you to pump your own gas…it is against the law! The campgrounds are friendly, not so strict that we are afraid to move. We stayed at one in Washington that was ridiculous. It was a state park and they charged us about $36 a night! And, it cost $1. per 3 minutes in the showers! This was in Yakima, WA. The drive over there from Idaho was horrible. We took hwy 90 west from Couer D’ Alene, ID. The dust was terrible. The wind was ferocious! It was the worst drive of my life! I will hopefully never have to drive on that road again!

We had to go for over 4 hours in wind and dust. What a mess. At one point I turned around and saw some air coming out of the tire on the camper Shae was pulling. He saw it too and called me on the walkie talkie. He said, “I have a problem, pulling over.” I told him I would drive ahead to the next exit and find somewhere to park until I heard from him. I didn’t want to pull over on the freeway with a van full of kids while he changed a tire. We have been fortunate enough to have not blown a tire so far on the trip.  I was very concerned about Shae and Cody out on that dusty, windy freeway with semis flying by them. I just started to pray. I found the next exit and pulled off to the side of the on ramp. I have to be careful where I pull because I am not good at backing up. I can get myself in a real pickle if I’m not careful, like I did two days ago, but that is another story! I was getting the kids a snack, changing diapers, and helping Gabriel pee on the side of the road, when Shae and Cody pulled up behind me. Thank goodness the tire hadn’t blown after all. It was a big dust cloud that went around our tire that looked like air coming out. We were all so relieved. I did the usual. I went potty on the side of the road. The kids are always mortified when I do that. I would much rather pee there than on some nasty toilet in a gas station or rest area. Who knows who sat on it before me? I need to write a book, “Peeing on the back roads of America.” By Sheri Smith Ha ha ha ha ha ha

We did go to Mt. St. Helens. It was amazing. We went on the east side, just didn’t have time to go around. With bad weather on the way, we knew we needed to get south and fast. It's freezing up there on the mountain. To see the devastation…astonishing.

 The trees are still laying there on the ground. 

 Spirit Lake has thousands of dead trees floating around it. Shae and Cody hiked down to the lake. It was too cold for the rest of us.  Gabriel enjoyed dressing up like the Lone Ranger.

 It was a really long day. It ended up being a lot longer drive than we thought. It took us about 3 hrs from Yakima. We stopped at a really great veggie and fruit stand on the way. We bought tons of great food that is grown in Yakima. We found a used American Girl doll there. I picked it up for the girls for Christmas. It isn't in the best shape, but they will be happy.

The drive back wasn’t the best. We were all hungry. There was a little grocery story on the way back. I picked up what I could and we ate the best we could. Shae has always liked to drive fast. Now, the last 7 years he has really slowed down. Now when he owned his Evo, it felt like we were taking off at every stop light! He sold that 5 years ago and now we drive an awesomely cool 15 passenger van! He doesn't even complain. I am so proud of him. For him to drive a “van” is a miracle! So, we are winding down these mountain roads leaving Mt. St. Helens. I was getting car sick and so was Gabriel. I didn't feel safe. I know I need to trust my husband. I just don’t trust the roads, mountains, or other drivers. I was dealing with many emotions as we hustled home. I had to pee real bad and was not about to go in the grocery store. After I got the food, we headed out again. I asked Shae to stop at the next side road so I could go potty. I really had to go. Well, all I see is the speedometer at 60 mph and 5 side roads flash by as I attempt to not pee my pants. Oh how I wanted to yell, “If this had been you, you would have stopped a long time ago! Plus, you are making me car sick…slow down!” Well, I have learned over the years that yelling at my spouse does absolutely no good. It would not help me, him, or the situation. So, I prayed. I said, “God, please put it in Shae’s heart that I need to pee. “ No joke, 30 seconds later Shae slowed down and pulled over so I could pee. I got out of the van and went right on the ground next to it. Sure enough, a car drove by. I don’t think they saw me. I was so thankful I didn’t react to Shae’s insensitivity to me. I sat there and thought about the flowers he gave me earlier and how he took the kids up the trail and spent time with them. It is a choice. I chose right this time. I don’t always. I chose to turn to prayer and then think of the good things my husband has done.

Keeping my mouth shut is proving very difficult!

My husband and I have a really great marriage. Oh sure, we have our hard times. But, most of the time it is good. Well, lately we have been disagreeing on a few things. One of them being his driving. If you read an earlier post about his driving at Mt. St. Helens, then you have a clue about what I am talking about. His driving has always been an issue for us. His driving and money are the two main things we have argued about. Of course there have been other topics, but money and driving seem to be the most frequent. Now, I must mention again, we really don't disagree very often.

Well, driving around the mountains can get scary. I was very daring before I had kids. I'll tell those stories another time and some I can't tell because they are illegal. Since I have had kids, I have no desire to die! So, when I see those mountain corners and deep ravines fly by me, even at 45 mph, it freaks me out some. Also, I sit in the back seat with the baby. I nurse him a lot while he is in his car seat. When Shae takes a corner a little fast, my breast feels like it is going to rip off! Now, he would tell you he drives fine. He does not go fast at all and purposely drives slower for me. He really is an excellent driver. He has gotten us out of many potential accidents. I totally trust him, just sometimes I guess I get scared. Now, who is wrong? I guess we both are. I need to trust him more and he needs to be more sensitive to my concern for my feelings.

Now, let me make something clear, he is not a bad driver.  In fact, he is an excellent driver.  I just get a little scared sometimes.

The other day we kind of got in a fuss about this subject. He said he is trying really hard to drive slower for me. He is sick of my griping about his driving. He wants me to keep my negative comments to myself. I feel like I should speak up if I don't feel safe or need him to slow down when I am nursing the baby. He said I just need to say it different. So, I want to change and please my husband. So, I have been silent. Not too silent so I am being a smarty pants, just trying to keep my comments to myself. I have to try to chose my words more carefully. So, yesterday we decided to go to the lake near where we are camping. We were driving down the road and passed at little side road that led to the lake. Now, up ahead there are numerous roads to the lake, but Shae wanted to turn around and go back to this particular one. That is fine, nothing wrong with that. He is driving back the way we came when suddenly he cranks the wheel and we start to race towards a little dirt road. Now to me, all I see is dirt, a ditch, and our van flying off the road. To him, he saw the road and turned the wheel. We made it. It just scared the pants off of me! I yelled, "Shae!" That is it. I didn't say another word. We made it fine. We drove down the rough dirt road for quite a ways when suddenly, the van stopped moving. We were stuck in the dirt. Our big ol' 15 passenger van was stuck in the dirt by the lake. I tried to control the thoughts I was having, like, "He deserves this. He shouldn't of gone down here." I tried to just laugh and hope he could get us out of this mess. Otherwise it would be a long walk back to the camper to get our huge truck to pull us out. He hit the gas and then would stop and put it in reverse. Forward, Reverse, Forward, Reverse. I had Cody get out with the video camera. Shae didn't give up and finally got that van out. We weren't stuck anymore. He said, "I hope we can make it out to the main road!" That was reassuring. We parked it and hiked the rest of the way to the desert beach. It was beautiful. We had a great time. I tried not to laugh or make a negative comment, after all, we were alive and not stuck anymore. Shae drove us out of the sandy road and to the pavement. We made it out with out any damage to us our the vehicle. He is a good driver and I am going to be a better "not griper" while we travel.