We made it!
Our space-a journey has come to an end and I can't call it anything other than a complete success! Now, there were some snags along the way, but in the end we made it to and from our destination with minimal delay.
The trip in a nutshell:
October 30: celebrate Riss's birthday in Va, drive 1 hour north toward New Jersey and return home due to misplaced paperwork and canceled flight.
October 31: Matt back to work, kids in school, depart in the late afternoon with plans to overnight in Jersey and catch an early AM flight to McChord. One hour into the journey (very close to the same spot we were in the night before) we find out the am flight changed to a pm flight and proceed as planned. Upon arrival in Jersey, we find out the flight is canceled all together. We settle in at the hotel and pout for an hour or so.
November 1st: drive 30 minutes into Philly to see some sights and eat a real cheesesteak. We head home early to miss traffic and end up causing our own traffic jam when Gabriel has a seizure on I-95 (see posting below for details).
Nov 2: Arrive home from the ER at 3am, get some rest, and leave for Norfolk NAS where we were the only space-a passengers on a flight bound for Whidbey Island, WA. We made it! Tom and Mika picked us up and we headed to their house.
Nov 3: Mika impresses me with her crafting skills at the local Holiday Craft Fair, Matt surprises me with a delicious feast of Round Table for lunch, we hang out for the day and I pass out at 8pm.
Nov 4-6: We drive up to Blaine to visit family.
Nov 7: Stop in Seattle to walk through Pike's and grab some clam chowder and sourdough bread, then on to see April, Trevor and Morgan in Puyallup. We topped off the day with dinner a Mika's parents' house. We feel like we know them since we know Mika so well, but this was a great chance to actually sit down with her family and put faces to all those stories!
Nov 8: We spent the morning with Maureen and her boys William and Lucas in Issaquah. We also had the chance to have lunch with her mom and had a video conference call with her husband Stacey who is currently deployed to Kuwait.
Nov 9-10: We hung out with Mika, Tom, and Madison, and Tom's parents Ken and Cyndi also joined us for a bit too. Tom and Matt played NASCAR at a go cart track, Mika and I did what we do best - shopped, an then Mika's sisters watched all the kids so Tom, Mika, Matt, and I could go on a date. Wee!
Nov 11: Off to Port Orchard to visit Matt's cousin Gabriel (the original) and ended the night in Renton with Tom's parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and Tom and Mika for a lovely Mexican feast followed by a jam session at Jamie's house.
Nov 12: up and out the door around 9am for a noon departure to Dover. No competition at the terminal and we were comfortably seated and in the air without much ado. Upon our arrival to Dover a really nice guy "Mike" gave us a ride to the hotel, where we stayed the night because the car rental company was already closed.
Nov 13-14: We sleep in . . . a lot and then drive down to Va without anything exciting along the way. On Wednesday Matt drove the rental car down to Norfolk to pick up our car, had lunch with Tim, and then drove our car back home.
It was busy and not at all relaxing - but we had a really great time!! We were so blessed to be able to go visit family and friends and our friend's family. We had a great time, made memories to last, and look forward to our next adventure.
The trip in a nutshell:
October 30: celebrate Riss's birthday in Va, drive 1 hour north toward New Jersey and return home due to misplaced paperwork and canceled flight.
October 31: Matt back to work, kids in school, depart in the late afternoon with plans to overnight in Jersey and catch an early AM flight to McChord. One hour into the journey (very close to the same spot we were in the night before) we find out the am flight changed to a pm flight and proceed as planned. Upon arrival in Jersey, we find out the flight is canceled all together. We settle in at the hotel and pout for an hour or so.
November 1st: drive 30 minutes into Philly to see some sights and eat a real cheesesteak. We head home early to miss traffic and end up causing our own traffic jam when Gabriel has a seizure on I-95 (see posting below for details).
Nov 2: Arrive home from the ER at 3am, get some rest, and leave for Norfolk NAS where we were the only space-a passengers on a flight bound for Whidbey Island, WA. We made it! Tom and Mika picked us up and we headed to their house.
Nov 3: Mika impresses me with her crafting skills at the local Holiday Craft Fair, Matt surprises me with a delicious feast of Round Table for lunch, we hang out for the day and I pass out at 8pm.
Nov 4-6: We drive up to Blaine to visit family.
Nov 7: Stop in Seattle to walk through Pike's and grab some clam chowder and sourdough bread, then on to see April, Trevor and Morgan in Puyallup. We topped off the day with dinner a Mika's parents' house. We feel like we know them since we know Mika so well, but this was a great chance to actually sit down with her family and put faces to all those stories!
Nov 8: We spent the morning with Maureen and her boys William and Lucas in Issaquah. We also had the chance to have lunch with her mom and had a video conference call with her husband Stacey who is currently deployed to Kuwait.
Nov 9-10: We hung out with Mika, Tom, and Madison, and Tom's parents Ken and Cyndi also joined us for a bit too. Tom and Matt played NASCAR at a go cart track, Mika and I did what we do best - shopped, an then Mika's sisters watched all the kids so Tom, Mika, Matt, and I could go on a date. Wee!
Nov 11: Off to Port Orchard to visit Matt's cousin Gabriel (the original) and ended the night in Renton with Tom's parents, his sister and brother-in-law, and Tom and Mika for a lovely Mexican feast followed by a jam session at Jamie's house.
Nov 12: up and out the door around 9am for a noon departure to Dover. No competition at the terminal and we were comfortably seated and in the air without much ado. Upon our arrival to Dover a really nice guy "Mike" gave us a ride to the hotel, where we stayed the night because the car rental company was already closed.
Nov 13-14: We sleep in . . . a lot and then drive down to Va without anything exciting along the way. On Wednesday Matt drove the rental car down to Norfolk to pick up our car, had lunch with Tim, and then drove our car back home.
It was busy and not at all relaxing - but we had a really great time!! We were so blessed to be able to go visit family and friends and our friend's family. We had a great time, made memories to last, and look forward to our next adventure.
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