We made it!

Get some popcorn and settle in- this post is a long one.

In case you don't want to read the whole thing, bottom line is:
I traveled alone with the kids (they were amazing) from Sunnyside to Jacksonville, and it took over 25 hours!!

Our trip to Florida began more than 24 hours before arriving here yesterday morning. 8:00 A.M., (pacific time), I throw my kids in the car and set out on the road to drive three hours to get to the airport that will "officially" begin my long trip to Florida alone, with two kids. Yikes. the car ride is not bad, thanks to my cell phone, and my sister, who talked to me on the way (on speaker, right?). We got to Seattle and checked in our bags curbside and then found on park-n-jet to keep our car for the week. From there we were shuttled back to the airport. I was in charge of pushing the stroller with Ella in it, with the "food bag" draped over the back while Ethan was in charge of wheeling the little suitcase full of toys and games. Well, our flight got cancelled due to mechanical problems. They announced for everyone to hop in line so they could redirect us all to different flights. By the time I got myself, my kids, and my stuff gathered, we were about third from the last in line. It took us nearly an hour to reach the desk agent. By this time, I had missed any flights connecting to Jacksonville. The next flight would be the red-eye at 11:45. Which meant I'd have to sit in the airport with my kids for another 8 hours or so. Anyway... Kent was flying out the next night so I asked to get on his flight. They had to run out and see if my luggage had not gone yet. After about 20 minutes they found my bags and tried to get me on Kent's flight. It was sold out so they couldn't do that. They had to send my bags back to my original flight and then start over. Now it had been almost two hours since delay and the plane was almost fixed so they said the flight was not cancelled so they couldn't change my reservations. Two more hours and the plane was finally ready to go to Washington D.C. When we boarded the aircraft (I picked up some "airline lingo") there were only about 8-10 of us that stuck it out, so they put us in first class. Well, with two little ones, I thought I'd spare the other passengers and sit in the back. It was wonderful because the kids could run up and down the isles and not bother anyone. The flight attendants were so great- they were making blanket forts over the seats and calling it "Camp Ethan." They also served us the food that you would normally have to purchase and gave us a couple boxes to go! We had hot fudge sundaes and two free movies! I couldn't have asked for a better flight because when our tummies were full, we each got our own row to stretch out and sleep on. We got into Dulles airport at 1:00 in the morning.

Intermission

Okay. Now we are in D.C. at 1:00 AM. Obviously I have missed my connection to Jacksonville so they gave us taxi, hotel and meal vouchers. I took a taxi over to the Hyatt where they had reserved us a room. When I got there, they were sold out. They shuttled us back to the airport to get new vouchers and sent us to the Hilton. At 3:00, we were settled in our room with a 6:00 wake up call to catch our 8:00 flight to Jacksonville. We got up and got moving without a hitch and caught our flight to Florida. George came to pick us up at baggage claim. I was thankful to see my luggage was not lost. Then we drove 45 minutes home. Whew.

Now we are going to drive 2 1/2 hours to Orlando and go to Downtown Disney tonight and DisneyWorld tomorrow. We are so thankful that we are here safe and the Lord blessed us with many tender mercies on our trip.

Kent drove to Seattle last night straight into Orlando and is now at the hotel resting up! I can't wait to meet up with him today!