sunshine state

no pics yet. sorry, babe. i'll get a cd mid week to update. but just in case you're bored.....

the story of ace and mommy's first flying solo adventure!

it was a rainy cold day in detroit. election day. aunt elaine's taxi service picked us up at 8:30a to take us to metro. when we got there, we headed to the curbside checkin....but i didn't have my confirmation number so i went into the desk instead. turned out aunt elaine's taxi service was full serve. she lugged my huge suitcase in for me....thanks!! we shoved it up on the scale and i was almost 4 lbs. over the free weight limit. the ticket lady was really nice and said, "well, you're over the free limit. so you can pay $25 or take something out. got any books?" thankfully, i had packed my small diaperbag/purse so i grabed it and filled it with 2 books and my bible. just enough.

next, it was on to security. i knew that wouldn't be an issue b/c i had packed my bathroom bag in my check bag....but i forgot about my lip gloss!!! totally forgot that it would be considered a liquid and not allowed unless in a ziplock. stink! it's my brand new, had to send my mom to get it, can't just run out to cvs, $13 mary kay lip gloss! my lips will be naked all week!! i was determined to figure out a way to take it-- even if i had to beg a ziplock off a stranger. well, good mommy that i am (it's a phrase not an acurate description) i had packed some graham crackers in a ziplock for connor. YAHOO! so i quickly took them out and crammed them into one of his sippy cups, since they were empty b/c of the no liquid thing. lip gloss in! i did lose a baby lotion. totally forgot that it would be one of the "no no" items. no big loss there.

so, then we were on our way. i stopped to get connor some apple juice. i just hit the first place i saw with cold drinks. they only had cranberry apple raspberry. hello? are we in america? where's the apple juice? i had no choice. i grabbed it and a water. $4!!! rip off. we headed leisurely toward our gate. halfway there was another juice place. this one had good ol' fashion apple juice. now that's what i'm talking about. ok so $6 later.......

we make it down to our gate. 40 minutes to take off, we're doing fine. i'll change his diaper now and grab a seat. i walked up to the gate and see "minneapolis/st. paul" hmmm.... lots of buisness travelers and families, tons of people, but what about sarasota. just then the desk attendant announces "those of you that haven't heard, flight 1410 with service to sarasota/bradenton has been moved next door to gate 66". i was sure that she did it for my sake. i was heading straight for her with a bewildered look on my face. she must have been really sick of that question.

you know how geese fly south for the winter? all together in a flying v? most migratory birds have similar habits. they follow the same flight path, travel together, stop at the same stops. well, apparently, "snow birds" do the same thing. i got up to the gate and saw a sea of blue domes. peppered hair, men traveling in suitcoats and ladies in dress pants. i could count on one hand the people under 50. a business woman, a young couple (surely florida locals), another mom with her two kids, and me.

let me say this.....i hate flying! i love the convenience, but i HATE flying. i get on the plane and a lady is in my assigned seat. the row ahead of her was empty so i said, i'll just stay here until someone moves me. well, about 10 seconds later.....you know. so three of us squished in a row. i noticed that there were three empty seats in the very last row. then the captain said the boarding door was closed. i jumped! connor and i had a whole row to ourselves. it was fabulous! he crawled on the seat. played with his toys. he even took an hour long nap. he wasn't scared of the noise (which was one big concern of mine), his ears seemed ok (two cups of juice helped big time), and he wasn't bothered half as much as mommy by the turbulence. it was pretty bad. probably what a seasoned traveler would call medium turbulence.......it was HORRID! we got up and the pilot said, "well, folks it's pretty bad up here and it's only going to get worse." thanks alot buddy! why would you say that? well, it got better...amazingly...during a good portion of the flight. but the landing was pretty shaky. i gave him a six on that....it was worse than my puddle jumper experience from escanaba with 40 mph wind gusts.

the whole flight i had a lady in the row ahead that kept looking back. i called her nosy rosy. she was a pain in the keister. kept looking back and "checking" on connor and apparently, my mothering skills. what a piece of work. i smiled at her the first half of the flight, but after that i just pretended not to see her. it was a little annoying at that point. we got off the plane and headed to the bathroom for a much needed diaper change. finally, we made our way to the baggage claim.....and then we saw them. two crazy fun grandparents waiving their arms to greet us. it was a lovely sight. the perfect pick up!

so today, we are just lounging. it's about 70 with a few clouds, but gorgeous. in keeping with apparent hairgrove tradition, poppa jo-g is going in for a cortizone treatment today. it's not a hairgrove vacation without a trip to the hospital! so he'll be out of it this afternoon. i'm sure we'll think of something fun to do. :) maybe another piece of that delish pumpkin pie we had last night!!! oh, yeah!