Adventures in travelling

Well I have no pictures to post with this, but they probably wouldn't be good ones anyway. On Friday Mayson and I flew up to Michigan to Sam's parents' house. Mayson is going to stay with them while I go over to Germany and Sam and I travel a little in Europe.
I picked a flight at 12:10 pm arriving at two. Not too early not too late, we should be landing just before nap time. Anyway so we arrive at the airport and check in. Well I was only checking one bag (now they charge you for more than one) So I had packed and weighed it. Well it had to be 50 lbs or less. Mine....53lbs. Oh and they made me take out stuff. The only thing I could think to take out was the back pack that we were going to use in Europe. Luckily my friend Christine brought Mayson and I to the airport so she was able to take it home with her. So after we get that situated we get our ticket, I look at it to find my gate then we head off to security.
We get through, ride the train, find our gate, which is the next to the last one in the terminal, of course. Then we grab a little pizza to share. We eat our pizza and Mayson is looking out the window at the planes, it is about time for us to board, we are doing great, Mayson is happy everything is running smoothly. They come over and say...your flight has been delayed an hour due to maintenance. I'm like oh great, so I have a little more than an hour to entertain Mayson in the airport. I have her stroller, a backpack, and a little rolling bag.
So we play for a while then she wants to walk the concourse so I follow her around in the stroller. Fast forward to when we are going to board our plane. I go up and hand the lady my ticket to scan and she scans it and says "Not yet ma'am." I'm like "what?" This is one of the smaller planes so this particular gate is boarding about 3-4 flights. She lets other people through. I'll spare you some details but I keep asking when I can board. "Not yet ma'am" I said "But you said final boarding call" Finally I'm like "WHY are you not letting me board my plane???" "Because you don't have a seat" "WHAT??? I picked my seat online months ago" No one told me when I checked in that I was bumped to standby because they oversold the flight. Call me crazy but seems like info you would share with someone.
So this other lady finally starts to help me. Keep in mind I am a pregnant woman (hormonal) travelling alone with a toddler--we might as well say she's two even though she's 21 months b/c she has 2 year old moments. So finally I see that my flight is closed and I say "has my flight already taken off?" she says "Yes" I ask when the next one is. 2:50 but it's sold out.
So when's the next one? 5:15 but it has a connecting flight and doesn't get in until 8:30. Keep in mind it's like 12:15 now, so I'm looking at 8 more hours. So in my hormonal state I start to cry and have trouble composing myself. Finally I'm able to get a hold of myself and after about 20 minutes they confirm me a seat on the 5:15 flight and put me as the first standby on the 2:50 sold out flight. So we walk around more and find a family bathroom that I go in and lock the door and let Mayson play in the sink and call my mom and cry. So after about 15 minutes in the bathroom we venture back out and I chase Mayson around the airport. Which I've decided airports need family rooms or something b/c that was ridiculous.
Anyway we head to the gate for the 2:50 flight b/c it should be boarding soon. After a few minutes I go up and tell the lady that I am first on standby. She says there are about 10 minutes left and approx 6 people haven't shown up One by one the people come up. Three minutes left there are 3 people she is paging. Down to about 1 1/2 minutes and a couple comes up. So I'm praying please don't let this last person come. So the lady calls my name and says "Hurry and get on the plane, the person is probably running down the terminal, just go!" I'm like "Thank you God!!" So I take off w/ Mayson stroller and bags. Turn the corner and it's stairs. I'm about to panic and a pilot and Delta worker grab my stuff and help me. We run and are the last ones on a small -14 row, 2 seat on each side-plane. Of course we are all the way in the back. And you see the faces of every one like "oh great a toddler" Mayson wasn't bad on the flight just very active and not too easy to entertain, but I was so thrilled to be on that flight and not the 5:15 one that I figured I could live through that hour and a half. She was constantly moving and needing something. until the wheels dropped for landing and she fell asleep. I said "You've got to be kidding me" So I had to carry a limp baby my bags and get my stroller that I gate checked and she slept through it all, until we had been in the car about 45 minutes.
I so needed a drink after that flight but I couldn't so I had a Hersey bar. I did get a $400 voucher for a flight within the next year, but I can tell you it won't be for Mayson and I travelling alone!

The wonders of modern technology

We finally got webcams so that Mayson can see Sam while he is gone and visa versa. Also for me to see her while I'm over in Europe. She thought it was neat to see Daddy, especially when I made it so he covered the whole screen. (I'm not sure why the text is messed up below, I keep trying to fix it with no luck)
















Daddy making funny faces
















Giving Daddy a kiss

Before we got the webcams set up we just talked through Yahoo messenger. Mayson heard Daddy's voice coming out of the speaker and had to get close.

This week

LaLa is keeping Rex while Mayson is in Michigan and I'm in Michigan and Europe. We drove to meet LaLa this weekend so she could get Rex. Mayson didn't understand only seeing LaLa for about 15 minutes and then both her and Rex leaving. She wasn't very happy. She keeps saying Rexy go bye bye.
















Our friend Aaron (went to school w/ Sam in Texas) stopped by on his way from Little Rock to NC. He hadn't seen Mayson in a year so she had changed quite a bit.













Aaron and Mayson

Mayson feeding Gena (Aaron's great dane)

Random pictures

Mayson found new use for her swim floaties.....leg warmers...."Fame, I'm gonna live forever"

Where's Waldo....I mean Mayson? I was sorting laundry one morning and this is where we found Mayson.

Sam's Grandma and Granddad Ridge stopped by on their way to Florida. It was Mayson's first time to meet them.

Watching as Daddy left to go back to Savannah

More fun in Savannah

Practicing her "kick kick"

Having a poolside snack

I had to put this picture in, it was too funny not to. On the day Mayson and I were leaving, we went to the pool while Sam went into work for a little while. As we were getting ready I realized we had no swim diapers. Well Mayson was already aware that we were going "swimin" so there was no backing out. So I used one of her night time diapers. Needless to say it absorbed most of the pool water. She was in the water most of the time so it wasn't that bad. When I took it off it was nothing but the moisture absorbing crystals. No exaggeration the diaper had to weigh a good five pounds. As you can see in the picture she is ready to get it off.

Check out that booty!!

Crystallized dipaer

We took Mayson on base so she could see the plane Sam flys on. She loves airplanes right now so she really enjoyed it. It was about 110 degrees inside. She would have been happy to stay longer but it was way too hot!

Checking out the plane

Checking out where Daddy sits and does his Navigating

"Look at all these buttons and switches!"

"One of these has to start this baby up"

Checking out the back of the plane

It would get pretty cold in the room so we covered up with our beach towels

Mayson loves shoes, hers, ours, ones in the store. She also likes to put things on her feet socks or whatever she can find.

My girl wears combat boots

Walking in Daddy's shoes

Trying some socks on