Doug and Tavin left for the airport in our rental car around 10am. They had to get to the airport early because they were flying on buddy passes, so they were trying to check in for a flight home through Nashville that was to leave Austin at 1:30pm because it had the most open seats. Well, after a quick drive to the airport and easily returning the rental car, the boys tried to check in on that flight, but no such luck.
Koen, Penn, Jansen and I stayed back at the house until noon. Abbie was there with us enjoying last minute fun in the pool and lots of last minute packing and cleaning. After we locked up the house, we headed to Chick-fil-A for a filling lunch before getting to the airport. After our lunch, we piled back in Abbie's little car and headed to the airport. On the way there we heard from Doug that it was out of the question that they were getting any flight out from Austin, so they were renting a car for four hours, driving to Houston and taking a 9pm flight out from that city instead!! Not only that, he and Tav would meet us at the airport and help us get through check-in. That turned out to be very helpful for Abbie so she could take off and for me since I needed to feed Jansen before getting through check-in and it was nice to have Doug around so the other boys didn't get crazy while I nursed.
Once through check-in, Tavin and Doug took off for Houston. Crazy!! The drive was supposed to take 2 hours and 45 minutes. Unfortunately, traffic around the Houston area made it take 4 hours instead! Thankfully they had tons of time, but that's a long car ride for Tavin on a day when he's already been in an airport for several hours and then will spend the rest of the day and into the wee hours of the morning in another airport and on an airplane.
While Doug and Tav were having their adventure, Koen, Penn and Jansen and I were off to a slow start. Well, except for the epic speed of Jansen's poop explosion within our first 30 minutes at the gate. There goes diaper number 2 (I had just changed him) and outfit number one (only had one spare). Perhaps I should've taken this as some sort of sign as to what our day would hold? But no, I'm not one to be superstitious. Our first flight of the day was supposed to take off at 3:05pm, but it was delayed until about 4pm. Thankfully we had a good layover in Midway (where we were headed), so I wasn't worried. But I did get worried when after flying for 2 hours and 20 minutes we were outside of Chicago and the skies were dark and the plane made a sharp turn. And then the inevitable crackly announcement from the cockpit...Midway airport was closed due to weather and we were flying to St. Louis to refuel and await instructions. I'm thinking, "ok, stay calm, no big deal." Koen, on the other hand has enough fuel for the whole plane with his dramatic "what!?!?, the airport is closed? we are never going to get home!" I kept my cool and explained how it all worked, all the while praying for stamina and a quick resolution. We landed in St. Louis about 45 minutes later. We were on the ground for about another 45 minutes and then Midway was open and we flew back there (another 45 minutes). Penn was oblivious to what was going on, Jansen was just doing his normal daily routine...eat, wake, nap, and then there was Koen who was intensely interested in how this would affect our plan for getting home. Again, I just played it cool as my mind raced as to what we would encounter at Midway.
While in St. Louis I got a slew of texts from Southwest saying our flight to Pittsburgh had been cancelled and that there was another later flight to Pittsburgh departing at 10pm. With that my fears were calmed. But when we arrived at Midway and I turned my phone back on, I realized that the texts had instructed me to click on a link in order to rebook on that later flight with a special confirmation code. Oops? How had I missed those instructions? Perhaps it was how hot it was on the plane parked on the tarmac? Perhaps it was the fact I was holding an infant (and he had another explosive poop that I thankfully caught in time before he blew through his last outfit, but I did have to change him on my lap because we weren't allowed to stand up on this stop...yeah, I got this)? Or answering the needs of the 2 year old or the 8 year old? And to be clear, I didn't notice this until after I took all the boys to the bathroom at Midway and also quickly looked at the quickly closing restaurants (the boys and I had not eaten dinner and it was closing in on 10pm). Then all the sudden, my heart sank, my stomach flopped and I double-checked my tickets and the texts. I had assumed for some reason we were on that later flight, but no, it was this rebooking business. OH NO!!!! Did I just mess up us getting home tonight?? We booked it to the gate agent. Unfortunately we were about 15 people back in line. And that meant about a 30 minute wait (which was nearing the original boarding time of that flight). I'm sweating, holding back tears and trying to act like all is fine all at the same time. I tried calling Southwest in line, I called friends to check things online (including that rebooking code which just came up and said that we had to see a gate agent as modifications had been made to that flight...great!). Koen was at first full of questions. He couldn't believe that we might not make it home. He eventually got the picture that I could not handle any more questions because I didn't have the answers until we could talk to someone. Penn was just sucking his thumb in the stroller and Jansen was asleep on me in the Ergo. At one point, as we neared the counter, my anxiety level was at an all time high and my eyes were filled with tears, Koen just gently started rubbing my back. I'd go through it all again for the comfort of knowing I have a son that cares, that can reach out and be compassionate. The women behind me were just gushing about how sweet. In my moment of being overwhelmed with concern about getting my babies home, I was also overwhelmed by the sweetness of my Koen. Finally it was our turn at the counter, I was sure our flight was full. Every person in front of me had been given a hotel voucher. I couldn't even fathom. It was already past 10pm. To get to a hotel (with no car seats) and get everyone to bed would take at least an hour or two. I only had two diapers left and Penn was on his last pull-up. I was praying so hard we would get home that night...SO HARD. The gate agent didn't even look me in the eye. I kept my story short and sweet. I needed to be on that Pittsburgh flight. My flight had been cancelled. Here's my ticket, there are 3 of us (I figured that was the worst of our story...how could there be 3 free seats?). And without a nod or a smile (maybe we she was intimidated by my shaking voice and my eyes filled with held-back tears?), she prints off fresh boarding passes and says, "here you go." What?!?!?!?! Are you kidding me? We made it on?! Praise the Lord! As we walked away from the counter, Koen asked if we were on the flight. I could barely speak. I choked out..."it was the Lord." And he just looked at me and looked down (this is the real deal when your mom can't even speak because she is relieved at what the Lord has done for her).
Our flight to Pittsburgh didn't end up leaving until 11:40pm, but then we sat on the tarmac until 12:10am. At this point, Doug and Tavin had already landed in Pittsburgh and we were able to text and let them know we were still on our way and they could wait for us (lucky them). I just kept praying and praying that we would take off and soon be safely home in Pittsburgh. I was terrified that they would pull us back into the gate and put off our return yet again (there were storms they were waiting out and re-routing around that was causing the delay). And I had heard back at the gate that the last hotel voucher had been given. All the hotels around Midway were sold out due to the craziness in the airport that day. Oh...my...goodness, get me out of here before I have to have diaperless children sleeping overnight in the airport terminal! Finally we were OK'd to take-off and everyone on the plane breathed a sigh of relief and I think mine was perhaps one of the greatest. Koen and Penn were asleep before we hit crusing altitude. Jansen was overtired slap-happy and then crashed hard. I tried to stay awake, afraid in my utter exhaustion I would drop Jansen on the floor. My head nodded, my eyes ached. We made it. The wheels touched down in Pittsburgh. All 3 boys kept sleeping. When we were at the gate and could unbuckle our seatbelts I had to wake up Koen and Penn. Koen was fine, but Penn just cried a sick, sad cry. The poor baby wanted to be asleep. It was 2:30am. No one could blame him. We made it out to the parking lot to meet Doug. We had all made it. Finally. What a reunion (and a weird experience being awake and at the airport at 3am!). The highway home was under construction, so we had to take the long way, but at that hour we still made good time and joked that we were probably just missing the morning rush hour! We got home around 3:40am and got the boys down as quickly as possible and sank into bed around 4am. I was just so thankful to be at home, in bed, safe and sound.
What a day...one of those that will go down in my book as feeling like THE LONGEST DAY EVER!
Oh, here are pictures of my troopers (Tavin was just as much of a trooper on his long drive and flight with Doug and even stuck it out waiting for us at the airport in Pittsburgh too). These pictures were taken in St. Louis where we were sweating it out on the tarmac waiting to see if we would fly back to Chicago or not. Fun times!
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