December 2005
Monthly Archive
The Joys of Travel
Posted by Administrator on 28 Dec 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise
We are back from our Christmas vacation! The time we actually spent in PA with family was a lot of fun, but the travel was not. It seems to me that holiday travel has been problematic since the very first Christmas. Mary and Joseph had to travel a long way from home on a donkey only to find their hotel reservations had been botched and they would have to spend the night in a barn. To top it off, Mary goes into labor, and they left all of her baby shower gifts at home. It was a mess but still wonderful and blessed. I think many of us can share that sentiment. So, I will share with you the story of our trip to the little town of Mainville.
Everything on the way up to Philly was fine, and there were no problems until we get to pick up our minivan from Hertz. Evidently they and most other rental car locations at the airport have stopped accepting debit/check cards as payment. We no longer have any credit cards. I have plenty of money, but it is no good at Hertz since it is not in the form of a credit card. Unreal…so much for those commercials about the Visa check card being accepted everywhere that takes Visa. So, at this point we are stranded out in the cold, and Brooke and I are both crying. We get back to the airport and find that Dollar accepts debit cards and has a car available for us, so we go get that and finally get to my parents house after a 2 hour drive. Actually being there was fine. We leave and get to Philly and to the check in line with plenty of time. But when we go to check in it says that Brooke and Scott have already checked in and checked bags, which they have not. We never really found out what happened, but they help us get checked in. We get to our gate, and the plane is late coming in from Orlando. I think by the time we backed away from the gate we were running an hour late. They flew very fast, and we got to Charlotte with less than 30 minutes to run across the airport to our connecting flight, which was scheduled to leave at 2:05 (picture pregnant lady racing across the airport carrying two bags and hauling the carseat behind her). We get there and the time has been changed to 2:15 and then 2:35. I think we were probably 45-60 minutes late by the time we left Charlotte. Then we get to Birmingham and find that our bags did not make it. They said we could wait to see if they came in on a flight from Charlotte that was coming in soon, but we had to race home to get Bella (made it with a whole 5 minutes to spare). Our luggage was found and delivered a little after 10 last night. Needless to say, it was some very hard travel, and we are thrilled to be home and find the house and Bella in one piece.
Tis the Season
Posted by Administrator on 21 Dec 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise
For sharing Christmas joy…
School ended about a week ago for me, and we have been in manic Christmas planning mode since then. That’s how it always is for me. School ends and I have about a week to do mounds of shopping, all the cards, all the wrapping, all the baking, etc. It is an annual tradition, but I handled it well this year. And hopefully everyone receives their cards and gifts before Christmas this year (well, other than my friend in Alaska who stands no chance and my one friend in Philly who just got me his new address).
For Christmas decorations…
We decided to take Brooke to see some Christmas lights earlier this week. We didn’t know how much she would like them but tried. She didn’t seem particularly excited until we started heading home. At that point she started crying and yelling “I want more lights”. I told her to wait until we get to Grandma and Papa’s house for Christmas. I think Papa may put out all the lights in Bloomsburg with his decorations this year. At home Brooke loves all the decorations on the tree she can reach. You try to re-hang them, and they are off the tree in under two minutes. I gave up and let her play with them as she pleases since we only put cheaper ones on the bottom anyway.
For Christmas carols…
A friend sent me the Clay Aiken Christmas CD as part of a Secret Santa gift. I love it, and I vow to play it until my family all loves it too this year. This is somewhat problematic because every time Brooke hears a slow song she makes fake cries and tells me how sad the song is. She is extremely sensitive to music.
For travel…
In the next few weeks we will be making trips to Pennsylvania and DisneyWorld. We are very excited! Brooke is a champion traveller already at 2.
For surprises (or not so much for some)…
Yesterday I had my big ultrasound to check on the baby’s growth. Everything looks normal, and he is measuring right on target for my due date. In case you missed that subtle hint or thought I was just using correct grammar, here is the more obvious clue for the rest of you: It’s a Boy!!
Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers!
Let’s Have a Parade!!
Posted by Administrator on 05 Dec 2005 | Tagged as: Random Noise
Tonight was our first excursion to the Tuscaloosa Christmas Parade, and it certainly was something worth writing about. We went for dinner at a pizza place near the end of the route and then went out to watch as the beginning of the parade reached us. An hour later, the parade still was not done! We didn’t know how much longer it was going to keep going, but it was getting late and Brooke was getting cold since the temperature was only about 37 degrees. So, we left. But not before we saw what seemed like every business and group in town march by us. I told Scott we were probably the only business in town not in the parade and that next year we needed a cool OpenSourceHost float. Really, the parade was enjoyable and quite a sight. I especially enjoyed pointing out that during the hour we watched the parade, there were about 25 churches that paraded by and 3 floats with crosses on them. I said that we really needed to e-mail Bill O’Reilly to tell him that religion is still very much a part of the Christmas celebrations in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Anyway, you can see some of the pictures for yourself here.
