we're BAAAaaaack!

i've been gone.....did ya miss me? i knew it! the little man and i flew down to florida to see the fam for father's day. since everyone was going to be there (jo-g, steven & christy and the kids) nathan decided to come down friday as a surprise for his parents. it was GREAT! no one knew but jo-g (he was picking nathan up from the airport). and i successfully kept the secret all week. it was so fun to see everyone all together and i had a BLAST laying out with christy.....we are beach bums!

so i'll be telling fun stories and showing pictures for the next few days, but i'll start you out with the grand finale. the week was super fun and we couldn't have had a better time.....until...... airport.....yeah. 'nuf said. we had a 6:30pm flight out of ft. meyers. the plane was a little late, but they were determined to get us on it and away from the gate on time. they pulled up and the people from chicago deplaned....it was about 6:15 when they herded us on and we pulled away from the gate. we were pumped that there was an empty seat between us so connor could have his own spot. so we're sitting just past the gate and the pilot comes on...."ladies and gentlemen we are experiencing a slight problem. we can't get our #1 engine to start, so we're going to pull back to the gate and have our mechanic look at it."

ok....a SLIGHT problem? no, bud, that's a big one.

so they get the mechanic and he runs a computer diagnostic. the pilot comes back on, "folks, we're going to have more information in about 10 minutes. if this is a quick fix we'll stay on board, but if it will be longer we'll go ahead and deplane so you can stretch your legs."

10 minutes later.....

"alright, folks. why don't you go ahead and grab your personal belongings and we'll deplane. stay this side of security until we have a little more information."

now it's about 7:30 and at around 8 they told us it was going to be 3-4 hours until we could get back on the plane. there were four seats available for the same flight the next day. nathan was too far back in line to nab them. they offered us meal vouchers but pretty much the only things still open were the bars. thanks, but no thanks. so there we were, stranded, with a very tired little boy, and only 5 diapers (please hold out!).

so we went for a walk. and another walk. and another walk. i think connor ran about 5 miles total. we were pretty much the only people left in the airport so we had some serious wheelchair races. we watched a dvd, we read books, we walked some more. finally, it was getting to be too much on the little man, so i snuggled him and nathan pushed us in a wheelchair. when that got old we hid behind a gate desk and tried to rock the little man to sleep. that was the only place the lights weren't as bright and the stupid boring jazz wasn't blaring loud. it was about 12 or 12:30 by the time they got the part and about 1:45 when we got back on the plane.

connor slept on the plane, but it was rough. poor little guy. so it was about 5am by the time we got home and crashed. nathan had to go into work and i hit meijers while my mom watched connor ..... he finally got to snuggle in his bed.

so i'm waiting for my mom to get here this morning and i turned on a brian regan show that i had taped off tv. there's a segment about being delayed on a plane. i was laughing so hard i couldn't breathe! so i'm going to try and remember some of it.....

he started out by telling the audience that his plane was delayed 30 minutes. the pilot comes on and says, "folks, there seems to be a problem." and it's never a good problem. it's never, "we seem to have found a large bag of money on board and the tower has instructed us to pass it out to all the passengers. the problem is the stacks are quite large and they keep tipping over. and the rubber bands we're using are snapping. but we'll try and fix this soon as possible and be on our way." no it's never that. it's usually, "folks, it seems we have a problem, and there's only one tool in the universe that can fix it. turns out it's in madagascar. but we'll try and get it here and be on our way soon."

but can one bad airport experience wipe out the fun week/end we had? nah! but it came pretty stinkin' close.

just a few pics for now. more stories and pics later. :~)

and why isn't my stroller this luxurious?

on our anniversary!

love my family!

steven, christy, grace, faith, aiden, hudson....so cute!

watching the sunset.....or just playing in the sand

the whole fam

happy father's day!

getting all the kids set up

so kids are supposed to sit on laps, right?

we're so thankful the Lord allowed us to be together for father's day!