All in a Weekend

**This is a very detailed account of our weekend, but I just had to remember all of these details!**
We went to CA to spend the weekend with Bill's family. When the trip was planned 2 months ago, Bill wasn't able to take any extra time off work so we decided to fly to cut down on travel time. Our plans were to leave on Friday night at 6:40 & arrive in LA at 7:45 p.m. Spend 2 days with Bill's family & fly home on Sunday evening at 7:00, arriving in Vegas at 8:00. A Perfect Plan! And it almost worked. Here's how our weekend went.... {Side note: It was a rainy Friday evening in Las Vegas & other cities as well.}

*Bill got a phone call around 4:00 saying that our plane was delayed until 7:15.
*30 minutes later he got a call saying our plane is delayed until 7:45.
*15 minutes later he got a call saying our plane is delayed until 8:00- please arrive at the airport by 6:40.
*So we enjoyed a leisurely Valentines dinner & played a game.
*We arrived at the airport where Bill dropped off the girls & I with our 2 car seats, 2 duffel bags, 2 shoulder bags, & stroller while he went to park the car. I got our car seats checked in & received our boarding passes. The girls, bags, stroller & I managed to get up to the security gate where we waited for Bill.
*We got through security without a hitch & played Old Maid by the gate while we waited for our plane.
*We boarded the plane around 8:00, so we're just a little behind the latest schedule.
*After everyone was seated on the plane we waited 20 minutes at the gate while the people below loaded our baggage.
*Then we taxied out where we waited for 20 more minutes to take off. It was now 8:45.
*When we arrived at LAX we waited 15 minutes for a plane to leave our arrival gate.
*We made it through the airport & out to the curb where the girls & I waited for grandma & Bill waited at the carousel for our car seats. It's 10:00.
*Grandma loaded up our bags & stroller but we still needed our car seats. I went in to tell Bill that maybe we should check the oversize luggage area. No car seats.
*Grandma did a few more laps around the air port while we, kids included, talked to the people in baggage claim about our missing car seats.
*Then she parked the car where she took the girls to read books & have a snack while Bill & I worked with baggage personnel.
*They offer us booster or infant seats. Neither works for our girls; you must be 40 lbs. to sit in a booster & under 20 for the infant seat. The lady looked at me & said, "What do you want me to do? That's all I have." I politely refuesed to use either option!
*After MUCH deliberating {It's now 11 pm & NO stores are open, no rental car companies are open, & our airline couldn't borrow from any other airline b/c when they had done that in the past they hadn't returned the seats so no one would lend to them anymore} we came up with a solution: the airline company let us borrow the car seats of another passenger who had lost their luggage. Their delivery service would meet us at our house in 1 hour to pick up the car seats- yes the car seats of some unknown passenger- they were, expensive (Britax) & barely used car seats! On Saturday morning we could go buy new car seats that the airline would reimburse us for because we needed something to get around in since ours wouldn't be delivered until sometime between 2 & 5 pm on Saturday afternoon.
*We arrived at grandma's house at midnight. Sergio & his buddy picked up the car seats 20 minutes later.

Saturday was a blast! The weather held out beautifully (no rain & pleasant temperatures) & so did our children (who only had 6 hours of sleep) .
We went miniature golfing,
rode the tea cups,
had lunch at Wahoo's, played at a quaint park where we were the only patrons,
played at the cousin's house,
& then left the kids with a babysitter while the adults went to dinner.
On Sunday we went to church where we were greeted by many familiar faces. (Bill & I lived in that ward for 1 year, right before moving to Vegas 4 years ago.) After church we put our girls down for early naps while we prepared a Sunday dinner that resembled a Thanksgiving feast. We were lucky that Bill's grandparents, who live up the street, were also able to join us! After dinner we visited while Christy & Tyler entertained the children, & the kids decorated cookies until it was time to leave.
This adorable couple chauffeured us to the airport. (P.S. Tyler won a lot of points when he surprised Christy by flying in to spend the weekend with us! So sweet!)
And the girls wanted a picture in their 'new' car seats before we had to return them.
{For the rest of the story it's important to note that the LAX airport is HUGE! It's shaped like a U- think terminal 1 at one end of the U & terminal 7 at the other end.}

*Our flight to LA had been on American Airlines- terminal 4- so that is where we got dropped off because we figured that's the airline we were flying out on.

*We arrived at the check-in counter at 6:00, ready to trust them with our car seats. The man asked where we were going, I answered Las Vegas. He asked us how we were getting there. I said, "The 7:05 flight. I checked on line & it's on time." His response was, "Oh that must be a United flight. They're in terminal 7- you're going to have to hurry to get there on time." Picture this: Bill & I (7 months pregnant) have 4 car seats, 2 duffel bags, 2 personal bags, 2 kids, & 1 stroller. I ask with pleading tone, "Sir is there anything you can do to help us? We have to return these 2 car seats & get reimbursed from your airline & catch that flight?!" His response was, "No I'm sorry you have to go downstairs to the baggage claim office to return those seats & you'll have to walk to terminal 7."
*So Bill & I are off. Me carrying 2 shoulder bags & the 2 car seats to return downstairs while he took the rest of the stuff to terminal 7.
*When I caught up with him at terminal 7 he was on the phone talking to the 'help' desk at the self check in kiosk. The sign above him was flashing; 45 minute cut off time for all luggage.
*Something was wrong with the kiosk & he had spent 7 minutes trying to get it to work- just enough time to miss the cut off for check bags.
*So we printed the boarding passes & were off- with everything in tow.
*Once we got through security- which was no small feat, I might add!- we hurried to our gate where the plane was being boarded. As we handed the man our boarding passes we realized that we were all sitting on different rows. NOT going to work. So he had to go in the computer & change our seats- while a whole line of people patiently waited.
*We boarded the plane & sank into our seats as we praised our children for being so WONDERFUL! They were absolute ANGELS!!!!
*After we arrived in Vegas & made our way through the airport we headed outside to the curb so we could wait for Bill to get our car. As soon as he left Madisen informed me she needed to go to the bathroom. I looked at my load of stuff & told her she'd have to wait until daddy got back. She started sobbing b/c she just couldn't wait. I tried to help her see that we didn't have any other options. After about 10 minutes Bill called, he was at the car but I HAD THE KEYS IN MY PURSE. So he had to ride the shuttle back to us. He arrived after another 10 minuets, waited while I ran Madisen back into the airport for a potty stop & then he boarded the next shuttle to get the car.

We are relieved to be home, happy to have created memories with our family, and armed with the knowledge that when choosing an airline you should choose Southwest!