Travel Trials

I took a quick trip to Michigan last week for a planning meeting.  When I travel to the States, bad things usually happen with my flights (like this, & that, & don’t forget this!) & this trip was not exempt.

I had heard that the US had eased their regulations on flying with small pocket knives, so I opted to bring my ever present  small Swiss Army Knife.  In Charlottetown, I put the knife in the x-ray bucket & it was returned to me, no problem.

I had a nice itinerary, a 6 am start, followed by a 9:30 flight landing at 11.  My meeting started at 5, so that gave me plenty of time to do a little Stateside shopping first.  When I was given my boarding passes, I noticed that my second flight was a 17:55 departure.  I brought it to the gate agent’s attention, she said the 9:30 flight had been taken off the schedule & that was the only one from Toronto to Grand Rapids.  I’d have to check in Toronto for an earlier flight through another hub.

Toronto’s security took my knife away.  I asked about the new regulations, but they said that only applied to flights within the US, not international flights.  When I told them that it hadn’t been a problem in Charlottetown, they couldn’t verify other airports’ policies, but for Toronto, knives are not ok…  Good to know.

In Toronto I was given a flight to Chicago, & was told there were 2 flights to Grand Rapids.  One at 11:30, & one at 14:00.  The 11:30 flight was full, but they told me to try for standby.  I would land around 10:45, so it would be cutting it close.  We started the flight by sitting on the runway for 30 minutes for our turn to take-off.

During this flight I was told that since I was flying so many miles in one day I qualified for a free snack item!  I had never had that before, so I was quite pleased to get my free bag of trail mix.  I ended up not eating it since I was full, but PChad & the kids seem to really enjoy it!

Of course when I landed in Chicago, it was in a different terminal & I had to wait for a shuttle to take me b/w terminals.  Once I arrived in the right terminal, & found the gate for the 11:30 flight, the plane was just backing away from the gate.  I just missed it by minutes!

I walked around choosing the best lunch option…  An Auntie Anne’s pretzel & Dr Pepper.  It helped soothe my wounded spirit.

I arrived in Grand Rapids around 5 & met another member of the team at the airport who had been on the same flight.  At least I wasn’t the only one arriving late!  We made it to the hotel only about 25 minutes late, & it wasn’t a problem, but I sure missed all the shopping time I had planned on!  After the meeting wrapped up that night I did have a chance to nip out to the grocery store next door & grab a few essentials like Pay Days & Milky Way Midnights!


Day 2 was full meeting day…  and I got the stomach flu.  It was joyous.  One of the perks of the trip was a Chinese meal at one of the best restaurants in Grand Rapids, but instead of going, I went to bed as soon as the meeting was over & slept 14 hours straight.  I awoke in the morning feeling a bit better & wondering what my travelling day home would end up entailing.

In Grand Rapids I was treated to a full body scan & they found the penny I had neglected to remove from my pocket.  The flight was on time with no problems to Cleveland.

I got a message from PChad’s cousin, who was also at the meeting, that her flight from Grand Rapids had been cancelled & she had 3 hours to kill.  I guess I must have passed on my bad luck to her!

Cleveland to Montreal, no problems!  But surely I’d be held up in the long lines at customs & miss my next flight…  Boy, was I surprised to find that our flight was the only flight in customs, & my little detour to the washroom meant that everyone ahead of me had already cleared out & I had a choice of which lane I could go through!

The Montreal to Charlottetown flight was super exciting, as we got to fly on a propeller plane, which is something I do not enjoy in the least.  It’s bumpy & noisy, but it was on time.  I also sat next to a fairly famous DJ, & despite having a conversation with her, in which she told me her name was DJ Kiss, & that she was coming to Charlottetown to spin at one of our top clubs, I had no idea just how famous she was until I saw in the newspaper that she’s quite the celebrity!  Well, I hope she enjoyed the anonymity I afforded her as I treated her as just another gal!

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6.5 years

Chancery – 4.5 years

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Asher: “This is a great story, right, Chancery?”

 

Chancery: “It’s pretty good.”

 

Asher: “It’s called ‘Give That Back, Jack’.”

 

Asher: “Jack steals things from people, & he never gives them back…”

 

Asher: “Then at the end, there’s a very funny part!”

 

Chancery: “We’ll keep it as a surprise, you’ll have to read the book for yourself!”

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6.5 years

Chancery – 4.5 years

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Chancery: “I’ll play some music for our photo shoot today.”

 

Asher: “The main attraction is my motorbike!”

 

Chancery: “No it’s not!  We are the main attraction!”

 

Asher: “But look at the cool jumps my bike can do!”

 

Chancery: “I think people come to see the pictures of us, Asher.”

 

Chancery: “We’re so adorable, how can they resist?”

 

Asher: “I still think my motorbike has something to do with it!”

Explore

The weather has been warming up this last week.  By warming up I mean it’s up around 10° during the day.  After school today Asher & Chancery went out to play.  A short time later the front door opened & Asher asked, “Mum, is it ok if Chancery & I go on an explore all around?  We’ll just be gone for about 30, or 20 minutes.”

 

I gave them clear boundaries of where they needed to stay in the neighbourhood, & with strict instructions to stay together they were ready for adventure.

 

A little while later Asher came in the house, “Look what I found, Mum!  Someone lost this key!  It’s all muddy, can you clean it for me?  I found it in the neighbour’s yard!  Where the cat lives!  It was just under a rock!  Someone must have lost it!”

 

With strict instructions to put it back exactly where he found it & to stop digging in other people’s yards, he was off again, to find more adventure.

 

When the kids came back a little while later, Chancery told me that she found a tennis racket on someone’s lawn, but she left it there, even though she really wanted to play with it.

 

I love that we live in a neighbourhood that is safe enough for the kids to be able to wander freely in (within reason).  I remember having a lot of fun roaming around with my friends in my neighbourhood when I was younger, & I think it’s an important part of growing up & becoming independent.  Hopefully the kids remember to respect other people’s property & leave it alone!

Monday Morning Laugh

I spent a lot of time in high school driving around listening to Metallica's Black Album.  This brought back a lot of memories!

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6.5 years

Chancery – 4.5 years

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Asher: “We got new toys from McDonald’s yesterday, & now we’re going to play a game with you!”

 

Chancery: “It’s called ‘Spot the Shot’, Asher’s going to shoot his shooter, & you need to find the red part in the picture!”

 

Asher: “Here we go!”

 

Chancery: “Isn’t this a fun game?”

 

Chancery: “Everyone’s a winner!”

Chancery’s Car

After making Asher’s mode of transportation, Chancery felt like she needed something too.  It started as a box…

 

Then we cut out some wheels…

 

Tape, cut, repeat…

 

Decorate…

What was the front of the car became the back, since Chancery wanted to have a lot of trunk space to hold all the things she wanted to take with her.

 

One simply can’t drive around without a crown!

 

And we have two happy kids with many hours of imaginative places to travel to…

Yellow Day

Quite often in the mornings there is a lot of discussion about what everyone will wear.  Asher likes to match PChad, & if possible Chancery likes to get in on it too.  It’s not always easy to find 3 longsleeved white shirts, & 3 matching shortsleeved shirts to go on top, but we try our best.  I just like to be warm, so sometimes I might wear a matching hoodie, but more often than not, I just let them have their fun while I wear my cozy sweater.

 

Last week we had our friends Jack & Violet over & we noticed that yellow must have been the colour of the day in their house that morning too!

We decided to document this momentous occasion with some pictures…

Sunday Pictures

Asher – 6.5 years

Chancery – 4.5 years

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Asher: “I have a lizard.”

 

Chancery: “I see your lizard & raise you a leopard.”

 

Asher: “My snake seems to be a bit hungry today.”

 

Chancery: “Don’t let it eat my cat!”

 

Asher: “I won’t, Chancery, but I have a big surprise for you next!”

 

Asher: “It’s Daddy!”

Trying to Pull One Over…

Most mornings around here start with the kids joining us in bed for awhile before we get up.  Some days we read books, & on days when the kids don’t have school we allow them to play games on the tablet, or phone, or the DS.

 

Asher came into our room this morning & asked, “May I go get my DS?”

 

PChad: “No, it’s a school day.”

 

Asher hasn’t had school the last two Fridays, so he answered, “No, I don’t have school on Fridays.”

 

PChad: “Yes you do, & today is a school day.”

 

Asher: “But I had a dream that God told me I don’t have to go to school today!”

 

It was a valiant effort on his part, but we still made him go to school…

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School Project

On the last day of school before March break, Asher came home with a paper stating that he needed to make some sort of transportation he could drive, or would like to drive, & bring it into the class to show everyone.  Well, we read the paper, & then lost it, so we went with what we remembered from the sheet, & started making a big, huge project.  It was too big.  I said “This is too big!  It won’t fit in my truck!  This can’t be what the teacher meant!”  So, I emailed the teacher for some clarification, & was told that most students make a small model, or something along those lines.

 

Back to the drawing board we went.  Asher said he wanted to make a Banzai Bill.  We looked through the recycling bin & created a rocket ship, painted it, & decorated it.  It is smaller.  It will fit in my truck.  Asher is pleased with it.  I think we hit all the necessary criteria.

This is the front view

 

Bottom view, of course it had to have a flying Mario on it!

 

And the top view.