So it was my birthday on Saturday, I am 28 now.
It was a day... it had some good parts, but many bad, unpleasant parts. It is a good thing that when you get older birthdays aren't that big a deal, cause if I were 10 it would have been horrible! That being said I am pretty sure it was my worst birthday ever.
I woke up in Washington DC, we were there for the KAUST orientation and relocation meeting. The morning was the good part. We got to meet Belky and her husband Dave, Belky found our blog about 2 months ago when searching for things about KAUST, she sent an email and we have been emailing and blogging together since. We also got to meet many other couples who will all be moving to KSA this summer, many of whom have young kids similar in age to Marin and Corban, as well there are about 3-4 other babies who are either already born or will be born this year as well, so lots of little friends for all our kids. :)
The meeting went well and we got some of our questions answered and found out a bit more on how this whole moving to KSA process will work.
We had lunch with some of the new people we had met, but had to leave earlier than we would have liked to head to the airport to catch our flight.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and got to where we were supposed to be, we boarded on time, but that is where things went down hill. This flight was supposed to take us to Chicago for a short lay-over, less than 2 hours, and the flight itself was supposed to be less then 2 hours. Also on this flight Ian and I were not able to get seats together and so... Thankfully the lady next to me was totally lovely and we chatted the whole time.
We didn't leave the gate on time, we sat there for a 1/2 hour, then once we got out onto the tarmac we sat there for another 1/2 hour, apparently there was bad weather in Chicago. When we finally took off we got there in the time that was expected, but had circle in the air for another 1/2 hour because we weren't able to land. This was all because of continued bad weather and so there was some turbulence. My tummy does not handle that so well so I got to re-"enjoy" the apple juice I had had during the flight. Nice. Thankfull again for the lovely lady next to me she held my hair and got me tissues to wipe my face with.
When we finally could land we could not get to the gate because of lightening strikes, the glowing wand controller guys were not able to come out and guide us in.
Um wear rubber soled boots and live a little people!
Anyway, we of course missed our connecting flight which had been canceled anyway due to the bad weather. Many other flights were also canceled so there was nothing leaving that night that would get us anywhere close to home. So we stood in line up after line up and finally got to a hotel at 11:30pm Chicago time.
Our flight out the next morning left at 9:49am and we were on stand-by, thankfully enough people didn't show, so we made it, and we even got seats together!
Once we arrived back in Vancouver (which by the way in our opinion has the nicest looking airport, we are on the look out for one better but so far not happening) it took a hour and a half to get through customs, many other flights had arrived around the same time. This was made worse by the fact that some over eager airport line up director guy thought it necessary to send us and others to the slower moving line up. Gerr!
I also must rant about the fact that we will do whatever we can to NEVER fly with United Airlines again! The flight attendants we had left much to be desired in the whole customer service area and their seats are totally more close together than those of Air Canada for example. We were not impressed!
When we finally did walk though the door into our house we were greeted by the 2 cutest kids in the world though, they both came running for hugs, hugs, kisses and more hugs. It was wonderful! We missed out kiddlets.
Speaking of kiddlets, I am in week 13 now! We are finding it difficult to get a weekly belly pictures in this 3rd time round though. To say there is a lot going on would be an understatement. So I don't have a belly picture to share with you yet, but I do have a few of these bright and cheery flowers the Michael and Blair brought us in celebration of Baby Foulds #3. :)
It was a day... it had some good parts, but many bad, unpleasant parts. It is a good thing that when you get older birthdays aren't that big a deal, cause if I were 10 it would have been horrible! That being said I am pretty sure it was my worst birthday ever.
I woke up in Washington DC, we were there for the KAUST orientation and relocation meeting. The morning was the good part. We got to meet Belky and her husband Dave, Belky found our blog about 2 months ago when searching for things about KAUST, she sent an email and we have been emailing and blogging together since. We also got to meet many other couples who will all be moving to KSA this summer, many of whom have young kids similar in age to Marin and Corban, as well there are about 3-4 other babies who are either already born or will be born this year as well, so lots of little friends for all our kids. :)
The meeting went well and we got some of our questions answered and found out a bit more on how this whole moving to KSA process will work.
We had lunch with some of the new people we had met, but had to leave earlier than we would have liked to head to the airport to catch our flight.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and got to where we were supposed to be, we boarded on time, but that is where things went down hill. This flight was supposed to take us to Chicago for a short lay-over, less than 2 hours, and the flight itself was supposed to be less then 2 hours. Also on this flight Ian and I were not able to get seats together and so... Thankfully the lady next to me was totally lovely and we chatted the whole time.
We didn't leave the gate on time, we sat there for a 1/2 hour, then once we got out onto the tarmac we sat there for another 1/2 hour, apparently there was bad weather in Chicago. When we finally took off we got there in the time that was expected, but had circle in the air for another 1/2 hour because we weren't able to land. This was all because of continued bad weather and so there was some turbulence. My tummy does not handle that so well so I got to re-"enjoy" the apple juice I had had during the flight. Nice. Thankfull again for the lovely lady next to me she held my hair and got me tissues to wipe my face with.
When we finally could land we could not get to the gate because of lightening strikes, the glowing wand controller guys were not able to come out and guide us in.
Um wear rubber soled boots and live a little people!
Anyway, we of course missed our connecting flight which had been canceled anyway due to the bad weather. Many other flights were also canceled so there was nothing leaving that night that would get us anywhere close to home. So we stood in line up after line up and finally got to a hotel at 11:30pm Chicago time.
Our flight out the next morning left at 9:49am and we were on stand-by, thankfully enough people didn't show, so we made it, and we even got seats together!
Once we arrived back in Vancouver (which by the way in our opinion has the nicest looking airport, we are on the look out for one better but so far not happening) it took a hour and a half to get through customs, many other flights had arrived around the same time. This was made worse by the fact that some over eager airport line up director guy thought it necessary to send us and others to the slower moving line up. Gerr!
I also must rant about the fact that we will do whatever we can to NEVER fly with United Airlines again! The flight attendants we had left much to be desired in the whole customer service area and their seats are totally more close together than those of Air Canada for example. We were not impressed!
When we finally did walk though the door into our house we were greeted by the 2 cutest kids in the world though, they both came running for hugs, hugs, kisses and more hugs. It was wonderful! We missed out kiddlets.
Speaking of kiddlets, I am in week 13 now! We are finding it difficult to get a weekly belly pictures in this 3rd time round though. To say there is a lot going on would be an understatement. So I don't have a belly picture to share with you yet, but I do have a few of these bright and cheery flowers the Michael and Blair brought us in celebration of Baby Foulds #3. :)
Anyway so that was my disjointed post about my birthday. We did enjoy the very little bit of Washington DC that we did get to see, it seems to be a very nice and architecturally interesting city. I think I'd like to check it out more at some point.Oh so I just have one more thing to say. We should all start praying for Ian now...
This trip made us aware that I do not fly so well, especially when in economy class, airports are not my favorite place, my patients wear thin very fast and I am sure this is all exaggerated a little by my being pregnant. But the next time we fly I will be even more pregnant, 5 months, and we will have the kids with us, and we will be flying to the other side of the world, that is a long time on airplanes and in airports... I may just flip my lid people, and I am not kidding...
:)
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11 comments:
Hey Happy Birthday!!!
I can't believe you didn't tell us!!!
I am so so very sorry for the rest of the day. I can say I sympathize with you, Ill write about it on my log later today.
I am glad you are home and I hope you feel better for your big move. It will be business class so,some improvement.
David is flying out of Vancouver on Thursday night, he thinks he might be with Ian in with flights. When is Ian flying?
Oh I forgot, you are 28 a perfect number, that just means you are perfect!!!! (the things I learned married to a mathematician)
and sorry about the misspelling on the previous post, this laptop and I don't do well ;-)
On the very last part I meant David thinks he might be with Ian in both flights.
Oh girl, we are peas in a pod when it comes to airplanes. I hate them, the whole process, and I am a wreck until we are off them. We got stuck on an 8 hour layout in Chicago because our flight in was delayed due to weather. I was newly pregnant with Ariel and needless to say, it wasn't pretty. Haha.
As for long flights with kids, I will be praying for you all. We did have friends that flew with their little guy, and had a bag of dollar store treats wrapped up, and he got to open one every hour, as they were on a 9-10 hour flight. We had a portable dvd player for Ariel, was awesome (just bring extra batteries)
Happy Birthday again! 28 was a wonderful year for me, I am sure it will be the same for you.
Oh dear, what a miserable day! But think of the adventures this new year in your life will bring!?
Happy Birthday, regardless...
I will be praying hard for ALL of you when you travel :)
Eek. I'm sure all will be better, next time. Happy Belated and I'm thinkin' about you.
Oh boy! Yikes. Does not sound like a very fun birthday. I'm totally with you - I wouldn't do too well with that either. I do hope that when you move, it will go a lot smoother!!
Happy happy birthday!!!!!
I hope things work out better the next time around! =)
Happy Birthday! Not the best though eh? I am with you, I hate travelling in airports, I flip my lid too and is it just me or is customs the most ridiculour process EVER? I just shake my head and then the officers are all, so what do you do for a living? WHAT? How is that your business? I am a Canadian citizen and you are Canadian customs officer...let me go home!
:)
Oy on the spelling, I was getting all riled up! I am praying that your flight over with the kids goes smoothly. Have you considered Gravol? Seriously, we used for Hawaii. If they sleep, life is good.
Happy Birthday! What an ordeal you went through. I pray next time is smoother. At least you will have some cute kids with you!!
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