NY -- The Journey Home

We had to get around early to catch our flight. The same cab driver that brought us to the hotel took us to the airport. It was a fairly uneventful drive and we drove a bit through Connecticut, which was good because I had wanted to at least go into it to check it off my list of states I've been to and we'd been very close, but hadn't been there. We had planned to eat breakfast at the airport, but they didn't accept credit cards (seriously!). Luckily there was a snack stand that had cheap breakfast sandwiches and we spent the last bit of our cash. The flight from White Plains to Philly was very quick and we had a long three hour layover. We started by going to TGI Fridays for an appetizer and some of the worst service I've ever had. The other waitresses were good and came often to their tables, but we had to ask one of them to get our waitress to come by. She was at least nice, but obviously had better things to be doing. That was probably the worst tip I've ever left! We then walked through the shopping areas and then sat at the terminal until we were hungry for lunch. Aaron of course had to get a Philly Cheesesteak. I had a pretzel and juice smoothie. He loved the cheesesteak (the pretzel was just so-so). We noticed they were about to start boarding while we were wrapping up lunch, so we headed over to get in line to get on the plane. There was a mom with 3 kids, probably 7, 8, and 9 yrs, in front of us in line and they were obnoxious, but I figured the odds of us being by them on the plane were low. Guess what, they were right behind us! The mom had a speech impediment and spoke extremely loud. She made sure to point out loudly that she and her daughter had to sit by the window or else they would get sick...again. Ugh great -- I've had a weaker stomach during pregnancy and Aaron gets airsick, although he always takes dramamine and hadn't had a problem in a long time. The son sitting by her had lost his voice at Disney World and was speaking in a whisper (it actually sounded like he probably had his voice back, but was still talking in a whisper) and her other son realized how fun it was to play with the seat back tray. She kept yelling across the plane at him. It was really annoying! Something else annoying...while we were taking off, I happened to think that the keys to our car that was sitting at the airport were in my purse -- yes, the one that was in the safe in NYC! I couldn't have thought of it before we took off when we could have called someone to be at the airport to meet us! As soon as we landed we tried calling Brad because we knew it was his day off, but he was sick, so we tried Aaron's mom. It worked out great because she lives in Shawnee, which is a lot closer than Brad was and she was happy to come get us. It was such a lifesaver! She took us home and wouldn't even take any gas money. Of course that meant that we had to drive back to the airport that evening to get the car, but it could have been a much more painful experience. We had decided to board Portia during our trip and were missing her terribly and picked her up as soon as we got home. The last time we boarded her she was mad at us for a couple days, but this time she was very happy to see us. While we had her boarded they cleaned her teeth, cut her nails, and did other maintenance things that she's never had done before. I'm sure they did everthing while she was put under, so I doubt she even knows. She was so glad to be home that she hopped on the bed, fluffed up the pillows and crashed! I think that's pretty close to what Aaron and I did, too! :)