Utah Trip
Ok, back and settled in enough that I finally feel up to trying to type up everything.
I spent most of the night of Tues. Jun. 1st packing up the suitcases for me and LilBit for the trip. I also discovered quite late in the night that we were nearly out of printer paper. Had "fun" trying to cram the driving directions on the backs of old papers we didn't need anymore.
Got up early the next morning, got Conrad up, got LilBit ready, and we headed out the door at 8:30 - according to Google Maps that would hopefully get us to the airport 3 hours ahead of time. Several hours, much construction and traffic later, we arrived at JFK airport with a little less than an hour to spare. Conrad was a basketcase from being crammed in the car with us for so long by then, so he dropped us off in the parking lot and took off, leaving me to haul the 2 suitcases, 3 bags, and LilBit into the airport. There was a tunnel connecting the parking garage to the terminal, which turned out to be much longer than I thought it would be (or else I would have attempted to find a way to pick up LilBit and hurry along, rather than going at her walking pace) and we ended up arriving at the ticket counter about 3 minutes past the check-in deadline. The ticket counter persons called the authority persons, who declaired that with bags to check and all, we were definitely too late to get on the plane. The next flight to SLC was at the same time the next day, and they gave us stand-by tickets for that one at no charge. I asked the ticket counter lady where to find info on hotels to stay at, and she directed me to the welcome station in the arrivals area. Went there, found a hotel to call, had a hard time hearing what the hotel clerk was saying over the phone but finally gathered that there was a shuttle coming around to take people to the hotel in about 20 minutes, called "Federal Circle." Asked where people wait for shuttles and was told out front by the taxies. Went and stood out front, called family on my cell to let them know we wouldn't be coming that day after all. Had much trouble keeping LilBit by me, she was tired of all the sitting and waiting and wanted to run around. After about an hour I'd seen several shuttles go by, but nothing called Federal Circle. Went back to the welcome station, talked to another lady who told me that Federal Circle was the name of a stop on the airport train system rather than the name of a specific shuttle, and that many hotels send their shuttles there to pick people up. She'd seen me and LilBit waiting out there for so long and called the hotel for us and arranged for a special shuttle pickup for us there at the terminal. The special shuttle arrived within a few minutes and we were taken to the hotel where I got a room, then ordered a pizza from a local pizza shop, and finally crashed.
After a couple hours Conrad called (I hadn't called him yet because I figured he'd be driving and not in a good situation to talk on the phone, and there wasn't anything he could do for me at that point anyways) - he'd stopped and called his department to find out the results of his big review that he was suppost to get that day. He passed the review, which was great news. :) I let him know what'd happened with the plane. Then I called around to his family to let them know the review results, as they'd be interested to know as well. About 8:00 that night (a couple hours after he should have gotten home) Conrad called again. He'd gotten really lost, and was in New Jersey somewhere. He told me the street and town names, and I was able to find him on google maps. He was only about 40 minutes away from NYC, and had several more hours to drive to get home. I talked him through until he got back on track, on the main road that led to home. About midnight he called again and said he was very tired and about 100 miles from home, but needed to get home that night as his meds were at home and he wouldn't be able to drive without them in the morning, and would I talk with him to help him stay awake. We talked for about 20 minutes and then the phones went out. I hoped and prayed he'd make it home alright. About 3:30 AM he called to say he'd finally made it home.
Thursday morning LilBit and I got up bright and early, enjoyed the continental breakfast provided by the hotel, and then took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, arriving 4 1/2 hours ahead of time. They don't let you check backs more than 4 hours beforehand, so we had to wait a half hour with the suitcases before checking in. That was hard, as LilBit didn't want to sit around in that place again, she wanted to run around, and I had to chase her with all the bags in tow. Finally we were able to check in, and off went the suitcases, so that I only had the three carry-ons to lug around as I chased LilBit. We went through security and then inside the terminal bought some food and enjoyed a leisurely lunch, then waited another couple of hours until it was time to board the plane. There were several other kids about LilBit's age waiting for the flight as well, who she had fun playing with. Since we had standby tickets we had to wait for everyone else to get boarded before they knew if there was room for us. Finally they called our names and said we could get on, and gave us ticket stubs with seat assignments on them. I was glad to see they'd managed to place me and LilBit together. But when we got to our seats, there was only one open - there was a man sitting in my seat already. I showed him my ticket with the seat number on it, and he held up his ticket that had the same seat number on it. We called over a flight attendent, who sorted us out and eventually moved the man up to a single open seat further up the plane, allowing me and LilBit to sit together. The flight itself was pretty nice. Between the in-flight TV and the various new toys and flashcards I'd brought for LilBit to play with, and her fascination with the ice cubes that came with the drinks, she was kept pretty content through the majority of the flight. Finally we landed in SLC, got off the plane, and went to the baggage claim where my mom was waiting to pick us up. When I told LilBit that grandma was here, she looked all around and couldn't figure out where she was, despite Mom standing 2 feet in front of her - LilBit was used to grandma being a webcam picture on a computer screen, and that's what she was looking for. She really didn't know what to make of it when I told her this person here is Grandma. But she warmed up to her pretty fast. Utah didn't feel much different to me this time, despite having been gone for 3 years. At my parents house we were treated to home-cooked pizza and then LilBit got to open her belated birthday presents from my parents. They gave her a ton of stuff, but the biggest hit was the bubble blowing machine. I got LilBit to bed, who was so tired she went right to sleep and didn't do her normal crying routine.
Friday we set up a kiddie blow-up pool, and LilBit got to wear her new birthday Dora swimsuit, and my sister brought her kids over to play. They had a blast in the pool, and LilBit and I both got sunburned despite the sunscreen. Went and visted G & G Hill that evening.
Saturday we went to Aunt Lynn's house to visit G & G Ball, who happened to be in town (we'd planned to drive up to Idaho to visit them on Monday, but changed plans when we heard they'd come down). LilBit impressed them with her knowledge of colors and letters. Then we drove up to my parent's cabin they've been building (took my sister's kids with us) and spent the rest of the day there.
Sunday was church - it was awesome to see everyone again, I have so many friends there. LilBit was thrilled to go to nursery, and was plenty happy there despite it being a different nursery from home (she cried when it was time to go home), so I was able to go to all my meetings. Went to G & G Hill's again that evening to visit with Aunt Connie who'd come over.
Monday we picked up my sister's kids again and went to the new local aquarium, which was awesome. LilBit loved it. Her favorite was the sting ray petting area (she liked to splash in the water).
Tuesday my friend Jessica had off, so we were going to spend the day together, but by the time we met up in the afternoon I was feeling quite nausiated and had to lay down. We agreed we'd try again on Thursday, and I spent the rest of the day in bed while Mom & Dad watched LilBit for me. Talked to Conrad who let me know he was too sick with the flu (and too behind on his work because of it) to come out like we'd planned, so we canceled his tickets.
Wednesday LilBit got her first chance at ridding horses. Mom saddled up her new horse, a sweet palomino mare named Misty, and wow was LilBit excited to ride. Most kids go for about 10 minutes and are happy. LilBit just kept wanting to ride. Mom put LilBit in the saddle and then used the leadrope to lead her around while I hung on to LilBit to make sure she stayed on. Then I got on and put LilBit in front of me and we rode around for a long time. Then I took a couple turns around the pasture by myself, but it was clear LilBit wanted back on, so we put her on behind me and rode around some more. After an hour they called us in for dinner - LilBit cried her eyes out that we were done, so we left the horse saddled, ate a quick dinner, and came out and rode another hour before LilBit was finally ready to be done and not cry about it.
Thursday I borrowed Mom's car, took LilBit and picked up Jessica, and we went to see a movie called How to Tame Your Dragon. It was a cute movie. It was LilBit's first time in a theater, and she did better than I was afraid she might, although it was still a fair bit of work to keep her happy in her seat the whole time. After the movie we went back to Jessica's, where LilBit had a blast chasing/petting her cats, parrot, and bunny. Finally we walked over to Melissa's. On the way we saw a momma duck in the complex's pool. Her 4 newborn chicks were too little to manage getting out of the pool on their own - they were deperately trying to follow the mother out, and couldn't, so we stopped and between a pool chair, a pool net, and a bunch of splashing around at the sides, finally managed to catch all the babies and get them out of the pool. Momma duck scurried away with them as soon as they were all following her again. LilBit was throughly excited about the whole thing, and I was rather nervous trying to both help get ducklings out, and keep her out of the pool.
Friday Mom watched LilBit, and I spent the day working with Dad up at the cabin - helped measure, cut, route, stain, and put up the last bits of siding, as well as relay a bunch of carpet squares in the basement. It was a fun day.
Satuday got up, got packed, went to the temple with Mom while Dad watched LilBit, then we all went out for dinner at a chinese restaurant, then Mom drove us back to the airport where we caught our midnight flight. LilBit didn't want to go to sleep and was very cranky. She slept about 3 hours that night. Arrived at JFK early in the morning, caught a cab out to the "bus station" where we had tickets for a bus home at noon. Turned out the bus station was a tiny little shop in the china town area of Manhatten, and it wasn't open yet when we arrived. There was another guy there waiting for the State College bus, though, and the shop's sign said it went there, so I figured it was the right place. Spent a difficult hour trying to keep LilBit there on the sidewalk in front of it, and then a van pulled up and the drive announced he was a bus to State College. He asked if that's where we were headed, I told him yes, but we had tickets for later. He looked at our tickets, asked why we'd come so early, I explained our flight had arrived at 6, he said he had room and it was ok, we could come on his bus instead of waiting for the later one, which offer I greatfully accepted. LilBit and I got the back bench to ourselves, and LilBit slept most of the ride home. Arrived in State College at noon Sunday, called Conrad to come pick us up, and finally we were home.
I spent most of the night of Tues. Jun. 1st packing up the suitcases for me and LilBit for the trip. I also discovered quite late in the night that we were nearly out of printer paper. Had "fun" trying to cram the driving directions on the backs of old papers we didn't need anymore.
Got up early the next morning, got Conrad up, got LilBit ready, and we headed out the door at 8:30 - according to Google Maps that would hopefully get us to the airport 3 hours ahead of time. Several hours, much construction and traffic later, we arrived at JFK airport with a little less than an hour to spare. Conrad was a basketcase from being crammed in the car with us for so long by then, so he dropped us off in the parking lot and took off, leaving me to haul the 2 suitcases, 3 bags, and LilBit into the airport. There was a tunnel connecting the parking garage to the terminal, which turned out to be much longer than I thought it would be (or else I would have attempted to find a way to pick up LilBit and hurry along, rather than going at her walking pace) and we ended up arriving at the ticket counter about 3 minutes past the check-in deadline. The ticket counter persons called the authority persons, who declaired that with bags to check and all, we were definitely too late to get on the plane. The next flight to SLC was at the same time the next day, and they gave us stand-by tickets for that one at no charge. I asked the ticket counter lady where to find info on hotels to stay at, and she directed me to the welcome station in the arrivals area. Went there, found a hotel to call, had a hard time hearing what the hotel clerk was saying over the phone but finally gathered that there was a shuttle coming around to take people to the hotel in about 20 minutes, called "Federal Circle." Asked where people wait for shuttles and was told out front by the taxies. Went and stood out front, called family on my cell to let them know we wouldn't be coming that day after all. Had much trouble keeping LilBit by me, she was tired of all the sitting and waiting and wanted to run around. After about an hour I'd seen several shuttles go by, but nothing called Federal Circle. Went back to the welcome station, talked to another lady who told me that Federal Circle was the name of a stop on the airport train system rather than the name of a specific shuttle, and that many hotels send their shuttles there to pick people up. She'd seen me and LilBit waiting out there for so long and called the hotel for us and arranged for a special shuttle pickup for us there at the terminal. The special shuttle arrived within a few minutes and we were taken to the hotel where I got a room, then ordered a pizza from a local pizza shop, and finally crashed.
After a couple hours Conrad called (I hadn't called him yet because I figured he'd be driving and not in a good situation to talk on the phone, and there wasn't anything he could do for me at that point anyways) - he'd stopped and called his department to find out the results of his big review that he was suppost to get that day. He passed the review, which was great news. :) I let him know what'd happened with the plane. Then I called around to his family to let them know the review results, as they'd be interested to know as well. About 8:00 that night (a couple hours after he should have gotten home) Conrad called again. He'd gotten really lost, and was in New Jersey somewhere. He told me the street and town names, and I was able to find him on google maps. He was only about 40 minutes away from NYC, and had several more hours to drive to get home. I talked him through until he got back on track, on the main road that led to home. About midnight he called again and said he was very tired and about 100 miles from home, but needed to get home that night as his meds were at home and he wouldn't be able to drive without them in the morning, and would I talk with him to help him stay awake. We talked for about 20 minutes and then the phones went out. I hoped and prayed he'd make it home alright. About 3:30 AM he called to say he'd finally made it home.
Thursday morning LilBit and I got up bright and early, enjoyed the continental breakfast provided by the hotel, and then took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, arriving 4 1/2 hours ahead of time. They don't let you check backs more than 4 hours beforehand, so we had to wait a half hour with the suitcases before checking in. That was hard, as LilBit didn't want to sit around in that place again, she wanted to run around, and I had to chase her with all the bags in tow. Finally we were able to check in, and off went the suitcases, so that I only had the three carry-ons to lug around as I chased LilBit. We went through security and then inside the terminal bought some food and enjoyed a leisurely lunch, then waited another couple of hours until it was time to board the plane. There were several other kids about LilBit's age waiting for the flight as well, who she had fun playing with. Since we had standby tickets we had to wait for everyone else to get boarded before they knew if there was room for us. Finally they called our names and said we could get on, and gave us ticket stubs with seat assignments on them. I was glad to see they'd managed to place me and LilBit together. But when we got to our seats, there was only one open - there was a man sitting in my seat already. I showed him my ticket with the seat number on it, and he held up his ticket that had the same seat number on it. We called over a flight attendent, who sorted us out and eventually moved the man up to a single open seat further up the plane, allowing me and LilBit to sit together. The flight itself was pretty nice. Between the in-flight TV and the various new toys and flashcards I'd brought for LilBit to play with, and her fascination with the ice cubes that came with the drinks, she was kept pretty content through the majority of the flight. Finally we landed in SLC, got off the plane, and went to the baggage claim where my mom was waiting to pick us up. When I told LilBit that grandma was here, she looked all around and couldn't figure out where she was, despite Mom standing 2 feet in front of her - LilBit was used to grandma being a webcam picture on a computer screen, and that's what she was looking for. She really didn't know what to make of it when I told her this person here is Grandma. But she warmed up to her pretty fast. Utah didn't feel much different to me this time, despite having been gone for 3 years. At my parents house we were treated to home-cooked pizza and then LilBit got to open her belated birthday presents from my parents. They gave her a ton of stuff, but the biggest hit was the bubble blowing machine. I got LilBit to bed, who was so tired she went right to sleep and didn't do her normal crying routine.
Friday we set up a kiddie blow-up pool, and LilBit got to wear her new birthday Dora swimsuit, and my sister brought her kids over to play. They had a blast in the pool, and LilBit and I both got sunburned despite the sunscreen. Went and visted G & G Hill that evening.
Saturday we went to Aunt Lynn's house to visit G & G Ball, who happened to be in town (we'd planned to drive up to Idaho to visit them on Monday, but changed plans when we heard they'd come down). LilBit impressed them with her knowledge of colors and letters. Then we drove up to my parent's cabin they've been building (took my sister's kids with us) and spent the rest of the day there.
Sunday was church - it was awesome to see everyone again, I have so many friends there. LilBit was thrilled to go to nursery, and was plenty happy there despite it being a different nursery from home (she cried when it was time to go home), so I was able to go to all my meetings. Went to G & G Hill's again that evening to visit with Aunt Connie who'd come over.
Monday we picked up my sister's kids again and went to the new local aquarium, which was awesome. LilBit loved it. Her favorite was the sting ray petting area (she liked to splash in the water).
Tuesday my friend Jessica had off, so we were going to spend the day together, but by the time we met up in the afternoon I was feeling quite nausiated and had to lay down. We agreed we'd try again on Thursday, and I spent the rest of the day in bed while Mom & Dad watched LilBit for me. Talked to Conrad who let me know he was too sick with the flu (and too behind on his work because of it) to come out like we'd planned, so we canceled his tickets.
Wednesday LilBit got her first chance at ridding horses. Mom saddled up her new horse, a sweet palomino mare named Misty, and wow was LilBit excited to ride. Most kids go for about 10 minutes and are happy. LilBit just kept wanting to ride. Mom put LilBit in the saddle and then used the leadrope to lead her around while I hung on to LilBit to make sure she stayed on. Then I got on and put LilBit in front of me and we rode around for a long time. Then I took a couple turns around the pasture by myself, but it was clear LilBit wanted back on, so we put her on behind me and rode around some more. After an hour they called us in for dinner - LilBit cried her eyes out that we were done, so we left the horse saddled, ate a quick dinner, and came out and rode another hour before LilBit was finally ready to be done and not cry about it.
Thursday I borrowed Mom's car, took LilBit and picked up Jessica, and we went to see a movie called How to Tame Your Dragon. It was a cute movie. It was LilBit's first time in a theater, and she did better than I was afraid she might, although it was still a fair bit of work to keep her happy in her seat the whole time. After the movie we went back to Jessica's, where LilBit had a blast chasing/petting her cats, parrot, and bunny. Finally we walked over to Melissa's. On the way we saw a momma duck in the complex's pool. Her 4 newborn chicks were too little to manage getting out of the pool on their own - they were deperately trying to follow the mother out, and couldn't, so we stopped and between a pool chair, a pool net, and a bunch of splashing around at the sides, finally managed to catch all the babies and get them out of the pool. Momma duck scurried away with them as soon as they were all following her again. LilBit was throughly excited about the whole thing, and I was rather nervous trying to both help get ducklings out, and keep her out of the pool.
Friday Mom watched LilBit, and I spent the day working with Dad up at the cabin - helped measure, cut, route, stain, and put up the last bits of siding, as well as relay a bunch of carpet squares in the basement. It was a fun day.
Satuday got up, got packed, went to the temple with Mom while Dad watched LilBit, then we all went out for dinner at a chinese restaurant, then Mom drove us back to the airport where we caught our midnight flight. LilBit didn't want to go to sleep and was very cranky. She slept about 3 hours that night. Arrived at JFK early in the morning, caught a cab out to the "bus station" where we had tickets for a bus home at noon. Turned out the bus station was a tiny little shop in the china town area of Manhatten, and it wasn't open yet when we arrived. There was another guy there waiting for the State College bus, though, and the shop's sign said it went there, so I figured it was the right place. Spent a difficult hour trying to keep LilBit there on the sidewalk in front of it, and then a van pulled up and the drive announced he was a bus to State College. He asked if that's where we were headed, I told him yes, but we had tickets for later. He looked at our tickets, asked why we'd come so early, I explained our flight had arrived at 6, he said he had room and it was ok, we could come on his bus instead of waiting for the later one, which offer I greatfully accepted. LilBit and I got the back bench to ourselves, and LilBit slept most of the ride home. Arrived in State College at noon Sunday, called Conrad to come pick us up, and finally we were home.