Our vacation adventures...

In case anyone cares, our trip to PA was quite the adventure.  It's definitely something worth documenting on here for journaling purposes.  It was something you only see and hear about in movies.  I'll try to give you the quick version so I don't bore you too much.  

We were supposed to leave on Friday, December 16th.  As we were walking out the door, I decided to check the second leg of our trip.  Our flight from CA to Atlanta was on time, but I just wanted to check Atlanta to Pittsburgh.  Well, much to our surprise, that flight was CANCELLED!!!  We were never notified of this change.  We called Southwest right away and complained about not being notified.  They told us it was weather related and lots of flights were being cancelled.  They said the best they could do was put us on a flight the next morning.  We decided to fly to Atlanta as planned and just fly from Atlanta to Pittsburgh the next day.  So, we headed off to the airport.  

Once we got to the airport and to our gate, they informed us our flight was delayed.  Once we were finally able to board, they hurried us on and told us all to get settled, but not even 2 minutes later, they announced that we weren't allowed to take off due to high winds in Las Vegas (we had a brief stop there before heading to Atlanta).  So, we all sat on the plane for an hour.  Once that hour was up, they told us they just got word that we were delayed another hour.  This time, though, we were allowed to get off the plane if we wanted, which we definitely chose to do!  I think most of the plane got off.  While we were waiting in the airport to board, Jeff took Jackson into one of the stores where he saw a group of high school basketball players.  One of the kids stole something.  Jeff reported it to the worker, but she was just like "Oh. Well, ok."  She didn't seem to care all that much, so Jeff went after the kid and questioned him.  Of course, he denied it.  Jeff then found the coach and told him what was going on and also called the cops so he could report it to them.  (I'm not exactly sure why he was so persistent about this...maybe he just felt he needed to do his part to keep crime away.   I don't know.) 

Not long after that, we were allowed to board, and at this point, it was about 4 hours after our original departure time. 

Here we are before we knew we had to sit on the plane for a whole hour.  We were all smiles at this point because we were excited to get to our destination.

 The flights from there on out were pretty smooth and drama free, until we got to Atlanta.  (At this point, it was after midnight when we arrived in Atlanta.)  The Southwest people told us to ask for a distressed passenger voucher for a hotel room.  We were under the impression it was free, but it ended up just being for a discounted room.  I booked a room, and got an email confirmation, and we had to take a taxi ($25!) to get there.  Well, we were told at the hotel that the confirmation wasn't real even though I had the email to prove our reservation.  The hotel said it must have double booked the room because every single room they had was taken.  :(  The hotel shuttle guy said he could take us to another hotel, so off we went.  But, as we were driving, our surroundings got sketchier and sketchier.  There were rundown buildings and horrible roads, and I was terrified.  So, we decided to just go back to the airport to wait out our night.  

You're probably wondering why we didn't try to find another hotel room somewhere a little less scary, but I DID try.  I called a few places, but most places didn't have anything because there had been so many cancelled flights and people already booked the rooms.  I did find one room, but it was $154.  We only needed the room for like 6 hours because it was about 1:30am at this point, and we had to be back at the airport by about 7:30 the next morning.  So, that's why we decided to camp out at the airport.  

We found some chairs by the front of the airport and by the vending machines.  We were there about 30 minutes when this guy comes over to the vending machine.  Well, a few seconds later, another guy comes over and proceeds to ROB him!!!!!  Right in front of us!  Jeff said to me, "Get out of here!"  I said, "But, if we leave, he'll take our suitcases!"  We had 6 suitcases because we needed extra ones to bring home our Christmas presents.  So, we just gathered up our stuff as fast as we could.  The whole time, I'm thinking we're going to get a gun pulled on us or something.  It was pretty scary.  

We decided to move to this atrium area where some other people were camped out for the night.  We put our suitcases outside this little gated restaurant area.  Not even 10 minutes later, the robber walks by and is like, "Sorry you had to see that!"  Jeff said, 'It's all good, man."  I couldn't believe he apologized, but Jeff said he probably only did it since we had little kids.  Well, some other sketchy people started walking by, so we decided to move our suitcases inside the gated area for a bit more safety.  

As we were moving them, Jackson bumped into me and then smacked his head on one of the raised tables.  He started bleeding right away.  Jeff rushed him off to the bathroom to clean it up.  Well, a few minutes later, he calls and tells me that it's pretty bad and he's waiting for the EMTs to come take a look.  So, they meet up, tell Jeff that Jackson probably needs a stitch and maybe even a CT scan.  Jeff called me and asked what we should do, and I told him I had to see it first.  So, he comes over, followed by 3 EMTs and a homeland security lady.  As soon as I see Jackson's head, I know he needs to go to the ER.  It was pretty deep.  

So, Jeff leaves via ambulance with Jackson to head to the ER.  I stay with Collin and our 6 suitcases in the scary Atlanta airport because there was nothing we could have done with our suitcases.  It takes about 4 hours or so for Jackson to get taken care of and for them to make it back.  He didn't end up needing a CT scan, but they used two steri strips and some dermabond glue.  Thankfully, it wasn't more serious, although, now, he has a little Harry Potter scar.   

Here's Collin staying occupied at 4am.  There was too much excitement for him to even try to sleep.

Here's Jackson's head.  Poor little guy.

Here he is all fixed up. 

Once Jeff gets back to the airport, the boys crash for about an hour on a bench once the restaurant we were near opened up.  Jeff and I didn't get any sleep.  After they sleep for an hour, it's time to check in for our flight to Pittsburgh.  The lady tells us everything is on time.  We told her about our trip so far, and she was nice enough to give us $200 in Southwest money for a future flight.  So, we check in, go to our gate, and find out the flight is delayed after all.  They delay it about 4 more times, and after about 4 1/2 hours of sitting at our gate, we are finally able to board and take off.  So, instead of getting into Pittsburgh on Friday, the 16th, we got in on the 17th.  One whole entire day later!!!  And, the craziest part is that they were prematurely canceling flights on the 16th.  The storm didn't even hit Pittsburgh until like 3am.  

Since we got zero sleep at the airport, we tried to sleep as much as we could on the 1 1/2 hour flight to Pittsburgh.  We were all exhausted!!!

Once we finally got to my parents house, things were great.  We went to Disney on Ice and had fun watching all the characters skate around...

We had a super fun family Christmas party full of yummy food, treasure hunts, and laughter.

One of the best parts of the trip was the fact that Jeff and I spent 3 fabulous days away from the boys while we went to Philadelphia and New York City with my brother, Dylan and his girlfriend, Moriah.  We NEVER get away, just the two of us, and it was FANTASTIC!!!

Here we are at the visitor's center and at Independence Hall.

Here's the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The Liberty Bell.

 We had some yummy chicken cheese steaks.  Obama even ate here. 

We had some yummy chocolate, although, I've had better.

We saw some cool Christmas decorations around the city.

We had to get some pictures in front of the LOVE statue.

We saw this beauty!  What a gorgeous site in the middle of the city!

We couldn't pass up posing with the Rocky statue, although, I pretty much made Jeff pose for this after telling him he's no fun anymore.  LOL!

These are the steps Rocky runs up in the movie.

That night, we found a theater and watched Collateral Beauty with Will Smith.  We all really liked it.  The next morning, we drove to Jersey, hopped on the Path subway and headed to NYC.

We wanted to see the 9/11 Museum, but my brother had already seen it.  So, he and his girlfriend headed to the Statue of Liberty instead.  The museum was very, I don't know what word to use...reverent or humbling or touching.  It's still hard to believe all that happened.

Here are some parts of the original building.

 Dylan took some neat pictures while he went to see Lady Liberty.

We had a little time to wait for Dylan and Moriah, so we took some pictures by the Christmas lights.

We went to the top of the Rockefellar building.  It's called Top of the Rock.  It was FREEZING but super cool.  The view was amazing!

 

And, of course, we had to see the Plaza Hotel.  They don't let people inside anymore, though.  :(

 We made a stop at the Disney store, the M&M store, and the Hershey store while at Times Square.

 It was a much needed, too short of a trip.  We walked over 20,000 steps each day, all bundled up, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.  Well, maybe if it were a little warmer.  :)

Jackson and Collin had a blast playing with the daycare kids and hanging out with Nina and Papa while we were gone.

Once we got back, we had more family fun.  We headed to Seven Springs, the local ski resort, for their Holiday in the Highlands.  The boys had fun painting crafts and riding the train.

 

They LOVED the snow!!!

 

 

My brother, Levi, and his wife, Ashley, came along for the fun.

My nephew, Triston, came, too, but he did NOT want his picture taken.  I was lucky to snap this one of him.

 

We got our pictures taken with Santa.  He was missing quite a few teeth!  Ha ha! 

We ate at all the local yummy places. (All three total.  LOL!)

We had fun seeing Dylan hard at work.  :)

We all got in the fun of making a gingerbread house.

 

 Christmas morning was interesting.  This is how the boys were acting when seeing what Santa brought before we headed off to church. This is typical Jackson and Collin.

Church was great, and afterwards, we opened the gifts.

Ok, so not all of the morning before church was bad.  Jackson was excited about the presents.

And, he was super excited that Santa and the reindeer ate their snacks and left a note.

 

We were hoping for LOTS of snow at Nina and Papa's house, but we only had one good day of snow. The boys loved it!

Uncle Logan kept getting them snowballs, and they loved it!

 

Jackson, Jeff, and Logan even ventured outside to play in the snow.

  

We had a great vacation, and the boys sure did get spoiled!  The day after Christmas, though, I got insanely sick.  I was super achy all over, had a super congested head, sore throat, threw up, my ears ached, and I felt pretty much like death.  This lasted ALL week!  I even had to go to urgent care.  They pretty much told me I had the flu, but since everything looked clear (ears, throat, etc.), all I could do was go home and rest.  I slept all week.  It was crazy.  I've never been that sick!  Towards Sunday when we left, I was still a little achy, but it was mostly just the congestion that I was dealing with.  That, and a cough and sore throat.  Jackson got sick a few days before we left, too.  He had a fever, just laid around, and had a cold.  Thankfully, none of this affected us on the flight back to CA. Jackson slept the whole flight, thankfully.  

Now, we are back in California, and I'm losing my mind.  Literally.  Jackson does not listen, no matter what I do.  No type of discipline works.  I'm thinking of shipping him back to Nina's house.  Seriously.  :(  

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!  2017 already!  Until next time.