The trip...

I guess there is no better place to start than the beginning. For a little background, a few days before we were leaving we saw that our flights were changed. So instead of leaving at 4 PM we were going to be leaving at 7 AM with an 11hr layover in LA. I had the same thoughts you are having now, that is not cool. After a few not successful attempts to contacting Delta (and me freaking out even more) Caleb spent and hour or more on the phone with a surprisingly nice and helpful lady. We got our flights fixed and were planning to leave Greensboro at 1:49 PM on Wednesday July 14th. Packing and getting ready to leave went pretty smooth. Mainly because Caleb's parents had the kids for a few days. That was a huge help and I know they loved every minute of it too. Wednesday morning came and went and we headed to the airport around 11:30 with both sets of grandparents. We had the back of Caleb's dads truck packed full. Wish we had a picture. I do wish we had a picture of all our stuff. I thought about it, but digging out our camera did not sound like fun. Our complete count of stuff for Sydney was 2 adults, 2 kids, 7 checked bags,5 carry-ons, and our double stroller. It was a lot of stuff. I have to say real quick that all of our big bags but one were 47-50 lbs execpt the one Caleb packed. We moved a few things around and our 6 big bags were all 49 and 50 lbs. I was pretty impressed by that. Anyways, when we got to the airport to check in we had a little trouble with Caleb's visa. When they looked him up it said "do not let board". Which honestly was a little bit funny and stressful at the same time. After a lot of phone calls (2 agents on 3 phones at one point) all was straightened out and we were put on a plane that was to leave at 1:00 for Atlanta, instead of our 1:45 flight. Going through security and getting on the plane went extremely well. The kids were doing great! We waited about 5 minutes then started getting on the plane. A few minutes after pulling away from the gate we were told that ATL would not let us leave for another 20-30 minutes. Why didn't they tell us that before we got on the plane??? So, we sat on the runway for a while then had a smooth flight to LA. It was a small plane so Aaron and Caleb were in one row and I was behind them. Caleb had Lydia in his lap for most of the flight too. I got to sit by myself and read some. Something that didn't happen again but I did enjoy and really appreciate Caleb handling the kids. They did great on that flight. I was a little worried about ears since it was a small plane (but not too much since they did so good going to Miami) but we had no problems with that. But once we got to ATL we sat on the the runway for another 15-2o minutes waiting to pull up to the gate. I don't know what is up with ATL airport, but it really does stink. And of course, while we are waiting to pull up to the gate, Lydia has a huge stinker. Thanks lady. So, we get off and get Lydia cleaned up, into outfit #2 and enjoy a nice little layover (about 2 hrs I think). Lydia fell asleep in the stroller after a little ride and we enjoyed a nice Chick-fil-a dinner before the flight. I'm glad we had some time in the airports though. Our flight was late leaving ATL for LA but it was no big deal to us because we had another longer (4 hr) layover scheduled for LA. The flight to LA went well. Honestly at this point I can't even remember that one much. I know Lydia didn't sleep any, but they did real well.

So, I'm going to end here for now. We are going to wake the kids up from their naps so they will sleep more tonight. I'll finish soon.