Fall

Project 365 - Day 244

When we got home from our trip Ariel pointed out the changing colors of the leaves in the trees... then today it is September 1st... hello FALL!

So I finally fixed my blog posts, I was having uploading issues, blah! So today was the first 'real' day back to normal. Ken returned to work and I was on my own with the kids. We were all up pretty early, but that is to be expected as we are still a tad on the eastern time clock.

Our trip home was pretty good for the most part. We said our goodbyes to Grammy and the Uncles about 930am as they had an 11 hour drive ahead of them. Ariel was having a hard time with goodbye like she usually does, and wouldn't hug... she just went into a ball and eventually cried. It was hard and once they drove away both Ken and I joined her tears. So hard being far away. Sigh...

We went for a walk, packed and checked out of our room. We hung out with Ken's extended family and had a quick lunch before it was time to leave for the airport. We hitched a ride from Uncle Bob and Aunt Laura and cousin Eric and his girlfriend Teri as they were flying out from the same airport and even the same airline. Getting to the airport wasn't a hassle, however getting through the lines was. I will say this, the Delta counter at JFK was a JOKE! So unorganized, and we encountered the rudest security guy.

Long story short, we were in a HUGE line for security until we got pulled out to the family line, thank heavens, as Xander was going nuts because he was hungry and Ariel was still in a mood because of having to go home. I am balancing Xander in one arm and my passports and boarding passes in the other. I hand them over only to get barked at that I didn't separate them into the passports. I apologized and said I didn't know I had to (not that I really could with one hand). He proceeds to keep going on and on about how I am wasting everyone's time and that he doesn't know my family so why should he separate them... one word, BLAH! I hold back the tears and just gruffly say 'I said I was sorry!' We get through and Bob and Laura are waiting and seem just as disturbed by his behavior.

We went to lunch with them and Uncle Bob treated us which was nice. He also got carded for his drink he ordered, haha. He was blown away by that, but I guess its a complement right? They then left us as they had an earlier flight and we were on our own again. They had a big toy store within the shops so I took Ariel to get a little something for the flight. We also grabbed some burgers since it was a late flight and they never have food anyways.

On the plane we found we got live tv this time, yay! For a long flight its a must! Xander was nearly asleep when the captain said we were in line for take off, but 30 planes were before us. Apparently that is normal too for JKF. Crazy!!! Thank goodness for our burgers... only Ken forget to get Ariel one, ugh. So we had to share ours as she was starving. Finally we took off and the flight attendant came around with snacks. He asked Ariel if she wanted cookies and then how many she could like. She shyly said 2 to which he then said 'say the special word... NOW!' Haha, Ariel wasn't too sure but we laughed. He was very funny the whole flight and made travelling more relaxing for me as I am a nervous flier anyways.

We got to watch the Emmy awards as Ariel and Xander slept and then some food network shows, Legally Blonde and some of a Back to the Future movie. It made the time fly by and before we knew it we were landing in Seattle at midnight. The hard part was waking up Ariel as we didn't have the ability to carry her with all the bags and stuff. She was groggy and the flight attendants were a big help. We got our luggage, nothing lost this time, yay! Then caught the shuttle to our hotel for the night.

The continental breakfast the next morning was really good, they even had scrambled eggs and sausage! Woot! We took the shuttle back to the airport so we could take the other shuttle to get our car from the lot. Ariel was happy to see our car and we went off to have lunch at good ol' XXX Rootbeer. Ken decided he was going to try taking on the big burger... only to fail. Haha.

After a super unhealthy lunch, haha, we took a detour to see the Space Needle. It was fun to experience it as we had never been up it before.

When we came out Ariel spotted the rides in the kiddie park and so we bought her a handful of tickets to go on a few of them before getting on the road again.

Of course we hit the outlets on the way back, Ken was in need of work clothes, especially jeans. We went from shop to shop rather quickly. Finding 2 pairs of jeans, some sweaters, shirts and shoes. It wouldn't be until the following day that we realized we lost the bag with Ken's new jeans. Poopy! So annoying and sadly no one turned them in. We think that Ken left the bag in the bathroom... but the positive side is that it was the cheap jeans and not the nice things from Calvin Klein.

By the time we crossed the border it was 830pm and we were climbing into bed exhausted. When I awoke in the morning, all 4 of us were sleeping in the bed together. Not sure how that happened, but it was sweet. Ken was still jet-lagged and stayed home to rest and help to do the mountain of laundry sitting in the living room. We got invited for dinner to Brenda's place to discuss stuff which worked out perfectly as we have no food.

That leaves us at today and getting back into the swing of things. I was filling in the calendar with everything coming up, ballet classes, preschool, book club and animation events for Ken... so much coming up. Not to mention I came home to a cake order! However, the first event in line is Xander's birthday party with my family. He is excited, can you tell?