Away. 1-17-14

We took a sort-of vacation. Mom and I found a cheap flight; so we went for it. Boop was under 2 so she got to fly free as a “Lap Child”. Sounds very tragic, like a latchkey kid or a forlorn child wondering around aimlessly and alone in the Laplands. Mom drove up to my house, and we went to a nearby airport the next morning. Of course, I forgot to get cash, and there weren’t any restaurants near the muni airport. We wound up scrounging lunch at the snack bar with what little change we found. The flight was pretty uneventful, until the last 20 minutes of the descent. Then, Boop was hysterical that we had to turn off the Wiggles, and it only got worse from there. Then, as we were about to leave the plane, Mom couldn’t find her phone; so I went back to our seats and found it. This was just the beginning of our phone mishaps.

I got the cheapest possible rental car on the Internet a few days before we left, and we were Jonesing for an upgrade at the check-in desk, even if it was a few more dollars. I checked in. No offer. So we headed out to get our matchbox car. The fellow outside said that they had plenty of mini-vans if we wanted one. I was wavering, not wanting to drive something that big and having the extra cost of gas. Then, he said the magic words: “Some of them have DVD players.” SOLD. I hate for Boop to watch so much TV, but the car seat is so hard on her, and I knew we had a long trip.

My cousin was nice enough to email us directions before we left, but she used a different mapping program than I do, and we weren’t exactly sure where we were or where we were going. When we got the car, it took us a little while to find the road. Then, we didn’t have any cash for the tolls. So we had to get off and find a cash machine. Mom realized that she lost her phone again, and we*turned*the*mini-van*UP*SIDE*DOWN and finally found it.

So glad we got money because it felt like we had to pay a toll every 15 minutes. So, getting turned around, losing the phone, stopping for tolls, and fighting the rain, it took us forever to get in. It was so late by the time we saw my great uncle J and cousins. And I wasn’t in the best mood after driving for over 4 hours to get there. We got to see more family than we had initially planned. Luckily, we had a nice visit, and I had some nice sushi and sashimi after eating junk food all day. Boop made it a bit tricky to visit as she had lots of energy after being cooped up in cars and planes all day.