Stand-by Saga

We got to South Carolina on Thursday, early in the afternoon. We had some help moving in - I even impressed myself with all the boxes I lifted. We stayed up until 4:00 a.m. unpacking and then slept a couple of hours before heading back to the airport. (The apartment still resembles a war zone.)

Flying standby is great in that you have total flexibility to go anywhere at a moment's notice for little or no money - PROVIDED, there is a seat available. That's where stand by can be not so great - when there's not a seat. I was able to fly out of Columbia to Houston, but David wasn't. While I was flying to Houston, David was driving an hour and a half to Greenville to catch a flight from there. We met up in Houston.

In Houston the flight looked really full, but somehow we still got on. Unfortunately, a lady ran up at the last minute, so I got pulled off the plane.

And now a personal note - when you fly, PLEASE show up early and not at the last minute. It's so annoying when you get hope as a standby and then someone shows up right before departure. Technically, they can give away your seat if you're not there 10 minutes before departure.

I found a hotel and tried to catch flights again the next day, only to be bumped all day long (14 hours). On the third day - Sunday - I flew to Las Vegas and bought a Southwest ticket to fly the rest of the way to Salt Lake. Finally I was with my kids. I admit to getting teary eyed when I finally saw them again. A week was too long to be separated.

The kids had a blast while we were gone, although Baylie did have trouble going to sleep at night.

Baylie rocked it with her twin cousins Lauryn and Clara.

Jalen ate waffles - WHAT?!

Jalen had some face time with his little cousin Ava, who loves him.

Baylie helped Grandad haul wood.

And Jalen shared his clothes with Lauryn. (Note that Lauryn will be three in less than a month, Jalen will be seven months old next week. See below where they are wearing the same outfit. I think it fits Lauryn better than Jalen.)

And now, here we are on Tuesday morning, trying to fly back to South Carolina. We got bumped off the first flight, but still have two more to try for. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Thank goodness Salt Lake Airport has a play area for children and Grammy lent us some DVDs to watch.