It All Went Well Until The End - PART TWO

 I had no interest in writing another story about not being able to make it home as planned, but that repeated itself - a few blogs down tell our tale of getting home from PA. All was good yesterday morning as we again rose at 3:00 a.m. in San Diego to be on the first flights out of the day. We turned in our rental van and JD and Elijah dropped the bigger boys and me off at United and headed to their own flight at American. Six hours later, I landed in Newark, NJ and got a text from JD that he and Elijah had cleared the Chicago airport and were on their way to LaGuardia in NYC. I was supposed to have a five hour layover, but only an hour into it, it bumped up to over a seven hour wait. I had previously inquired about an earlier flight, but they told me that I would have to pay $75 per ticket. At the point of the delay, I asked again and they told me that there were no seats available due to two other cancelled flights to Richmond. At about two hours before boarding, they cancelled the flight completely. I hustled to the United line to talk about my options. I waited over an hour with only four families in front of me; there were about 100 in line behind me by the time I made it to the front. Having been given the scoop from an adoptive family that they were on their second full day of trying to get out, I knew that just because I was put on a paper flight did not mean the flight would actually leave. Once I got to the front, there were no tickets available to even the three DC airports that day. They offered me a flight out the next day, but it was not even directly to Richmond. JD was able to get his bags pulled from his final leg, skip his flight, rent a car and we drove home together today after spending the night at the Newark Ramada Inn, in the city. It was really a pretty smooth drive, but another day of travel and another expense which we didn't plan. To make matters worse, JD still had to make the trip to Richmond in the opposite direction to get our car back. 

After three trips in less than a month, I have no interest in going anywhere for quite some time! The problem with that is, the auto repair shop called and Red's new engine is in. It's a 12 hour trip to go get it and they are hoping we will come quickly - fat chance! They said two weeks and they are going to wait TWO WEEKS.

Elijah has spent some time at airports N,S,E and W this week. He and JD did Virginia, New York, Chicago, Dallas, L.A. and San Diego airports this trip! He is a really good little traveler.

Coronado Beach

 We spent Monday afternoon at Coronado Beach. It was warm, but windy, and while I had no interest in the cold water, the boys got right in. It was the first time they had been in the Pacific Ocean.

 Since we didn't fly sand toys, they buried James and Ben in the  sand for entertainment.

I'm a few blogs behind because we are heading back to the beach today, but the next blog is the San Diego Zoo.

USS Ronald Reagan

 Gabriel gave us a serious up close tour of the USS Ronald Reagan, which is one ship in the largest nuclear aircraft carrier class in the world. When deployed, there are 5,000 service members on board.

Alayna and I on the flight deck

 The ship is 10 levels high.

James

Gabriel and JD were the only ones even able to close the exterior doors, although James, Ben and Alayna tried.

The boys all had a turn trying out Gabriel's rack. 

 This is just one view down a passageway. The ship is the length of three football fields.

  
Elijah is loving the time with his oldest brother and is so proud of him.

Elijah with his Dad

Our partial family photo with one of the jets on board. 

Ronald Reagan's actual WWII uniform in the on board museum.

 

 The USS Ronald Reagan's view of San Diego. We looked at the price of houses with this view and they ranged from 6-14 million.

 

Old Town

Our first night in San Diego was spent in Old Town. We started with some authentic Mexican food.

 I got the table to pause for a smile -

And then they dug right back in -

Here's a shot of my Five Guys with some local law-enforcement.

 Then we walked around Old Town; this tree is in an old cemetary and James has never met a tree that he didn't want to climb.

We went to bed early for California time after getting up at 3:15 Virginia time.

Clue #2 - The Sign

We had not seen Gabriel in nine months and thought we wouldn't before he deployed unless we made the trip to San Diego. JD had two free tickets that we're expiring at the end of the month, but honestly I couldn't bear to come without Elijah who asked almost daily to come see his big brother and sister-in-law. I ended up cashing in my credit card points and getting three other tickets, so we could bring the three boys.  The funeral ended up being an unplanned bonus Gabriel and Alayna visit, but I'm thankful it provided the girls the opportunity to see Gabriel before he leaves.  So, we told Gabriel and Alayna good-bye in PA three days ago and hello in CA today. This is our boy adventure and we have plans for a girl adventure trip next year....or the next once the points build up again.

Clue #1

We got up at 3:15 and boarded our first flight at 6:something. JD and Elijah are on a different airline with different stops, but their final destination is the same.

Any Guesses?

Tomorrow JD and I are taking our three boys that live at home on an adventure. Any guesses where? 

I'll blog some clues on our way!

 

It All Went Well Until the End

 The trip up to PA with the 10 kids couldn't have gone smoother. I cleaned and packed the van on Saturday, then the kids and I were on the road by 6:20 Sunday morning.

  
They all did great, even my one that is known for travel troubles. I fed them granola bars and bananas when we left, then we stopped at a rest stop and drive-thru after we made it around the DC belt-way. 7:30 on a Sunday morning is a perfect time to drive through there - one of the rare times we haven't encountered serious traffic challenges. I love this quick picture we took at the rest stop and was proud of my three big girls for not being embarrassed; they sometimes have this issue of being a spectacle in public.

We made it into town nice and early. We had a quick stop at Target to buy Ben pants and Tori a sweater and sandels. JD, Gabriel and Alayna met us there and we had a fun filled reunion in the shoe aisle - it had been about nine months since we had seen Gabriel! We then checked into our hotel rooms and changed for the funeral home.  We met some of JD's sisters at the Chinese buffet and I  thought I'd snap a quick picture of the 12 kids coming out of the buffet. Gabriel was stopped and questioned by a nice family that was interested in his military service. The other 11 stood and watched -
 

  
The family talked and talked and then JD got in the conversation. If you know JD, that's worse than if I get going.

  
When Gabriel made it back, we snapped one and headed for the van.

  
We were all so happy to see Alayna again also, although we have been blessed to see her a few times since her move to San Diego. She really is Alei's best friend and they are very, very alike which is sweet since Gabriel and Alei have also always been very close.  

After our hours at the funeral home, we let Gabriel take the kids swimming at what is normally bed time. This may have been more rational if I hadn't woken them up at 6:00 a.m., but we try to be fun parents sometimes.

 I, on the other hand, was exhausted and attempted to rest.

Here's my look if I hear the camera click and I've been half asleep -

  
The funeral itself was absolutely beautiful; JD and his sisters did a wonderful job. We were blessed to meet four little girls that have been born in the last few years that we had not yet met. This is Isa. We found her look at Selah to be most entertaining.

Gabriel gave her a napkin and she cleaned up Selah's greasy face, then she appeared pleased. 

We took all kinds of family photos that need some editing, but here's a sneak peek of just our family of 14. 

 We left PA a few hours later than I hoped, but I wasn't too worked up since JD was going to drive the van and Alei the red Escape. We were only about 45 minutes out of town and Red died on Alei. We were then forced to rearrange lots of car seats and LOTS of stuff from Grandma's house so that I could continue on with the children while JD waited on a tow truck and then checked into a hotel. Today's verdict is that the engine is completely gone and while the vehicle really isn't worth it, we don't have many options other than replacing it. So, JD rented a mini-van, reloaded again and is on the way home. We will have a 12 hour trip to go back for the Escape in two weeks and a $3,000 bill. It has been a problem for the entire time we have owned it - it may be time to sell it and recoup what little it's worth above it's latest repair bill. OR, it may run great now for a while - hard to know! I have been so tired and so stressed the last week, and feeling sicker and sicker during the weekend, that I just cried by the side of the road when it came down to me doing the whole trip again. I drove through the dark mountains and pouring down rain for the first few hours. We were then at a virtual stop on 95 at midnight due to construction and wreck caused by the construction. It continued to rain hard all the way home until I pulled in at 1:30 a.m. I told Alei that she was going to have to buck up and take a shift, but since she has never driven the van, it was raining, we were on the DC beltway and she forgot her glasses, that wasn't realistic. I was so, so happy to safely pull into home and I'm already trying to figure out how to get out of the 12 hour trip back!
 

The ten kids and I are heading out very early tomorrow morning for our 6-7 hour drive to PA. I find driving for hours challenging and Alei won't help me because she is too scared of driving the van. Please just prayer for safety and peace and harmony in the van! Thank you.

Elijah and Hunter