Air Adventure

Our adventure starts a couple days before our actual departure when the Northeast Wisconsin weather guys started predicting a "blizzard" to hit the day we were set to travel. Weather guys are often wrong though, so I wasn't too worried about it until the day before. They were predicting up to 12 inches of snow and schools all over the area were calling snow days. Some flights were cancelled, but not ours.

We wondered what would happen if our flight got cancelled since the airline we were flying (Allegiant) flies out of and into smaller airports. They also only fly twice a week. The whole point of going was to go to Roz's graduation and, if by some chance, we had to wait for the "next" flight that would be Sunday... too late. We were able to confirm that if the entire flight got cancelled they would try and fly out the next day, so that's what we were hoping for. I did a little internet research and came across a post about flying during what Allegiant calls a "weather advisory". The author mentioned they could send you to another airport and not provide transportation to your original destination, but I didn't think much about that since I just assumed our flight would be cancelled.

I did the only thing I could... went on Facebook and asked everyone to say a few prayers for us.

We stayed up late continually checking the status of our flight. At one point it said our flight was "invalid" but it later returned to "on time". I was just hoping that if they were going to cancel they would do it before we went through the trouble of getting everyone up at 5am and going to the airport. I didn't sleep well at all and before long it was time to get up. We checked one last time on our flight status and it was NOT listed as cancelled so we got everyone up, dressed, and headed to the airport.

We were told as soon as we walked in the door that they were not checking in the Appleton flight. We figured that meant we were going to be cancelled any minute. We sat to the side in a hallway and waited. Finally, they said they were going to check us in. They handed out copies of their "weather advisory" rules. I wish now I would have kept our copy but we passed it on to a fellow passenger.

We had two choices. 1) Not get on the plane and take another flight within the next 7 days. [Not much of a choice considering their only other flight was Sunday the 23rd. What do you suppose the chances of getting 7 seats on a flight 2 days before Christmas with 3 days notice would be? Um. Zero. Plus we would miss graduation.] 2) Get on the plane knowing that we may not be able to fly into our original destination of Appleton and go wherever they took us. They would not be responsible for any travel expenses or hotel costs if we ended up somewhere else. [The couldn't even tell us what our possible other destinations were. They said that was up to the pilot.]

So, since option 1 was really a non-choice, we went with option 2 and got on a plane (with 6 six kids) not knowing where exactly we might land! A quick Google search for other Allegiant destinations told us we might end up in Rockford, IL or Rochester, MN. We were hoping for Rochester since that was closer to Eau Claire.

By the time we got through check-in and security we had to rush to get on our plane. We didn't even have time to fill the empty water bottles we had packed in our carry-on bags. It was crazy!

Here in Arizona, you walk out to your plane and board on the tarmac. It was a beautiful, sunny morning. We were walking out to our plane just as the sun was coming up.

The boys, always good sports, were ready for an adventure.

Everyone except JD had flown before, but since we don't fly often it was still pretty exciting.

When we got on the plane the pilot introduced himself. His name: Captain Kirk. He must know the reaction that gets in the main plane cabin when he says it because after a dramatic pause he said, "Yes, that's right, Captain Kirk." He joked we were heading to warm and sunny Appleton where the temperature was 0º and then paused and said "Celsius". Ha! Then he told us what we really wanted to hear. We had a 95% chance of getting into Appleton. He told us the stats he needed for visibility and cloud ceiling, I don't remember what they were exactly, and they were just barely what he needed.

The flight was great. Completely uneventful. The kids were perfect! All of them. We got several compliments from those sitting around us on their behavior. Annabeth snacked a bit and took turns sitting on both parents laps. She even napped for a little bit. The boys watched movies on our iPads and before we knew it was time to land.

We could feel the plane descending, but couldn't see a thing even though it was mid-day. Captain Kirk must have been flying using instruments alone because we couldn't see the ground until right before we landed! What a difference a few hours and 2,000 miles makes!

Here is our plane in Appleton:

You'll notice you can't see much past the plane. Captain Kirk and crew were going to turn around and fly right back to Mesa. We watched them de-ice the plane for the return trip. The weather was so bad that by the time they got all the way around the plane they had to start over. We didn't know this until later, but apparently all but two flights were cancelled. Ours was one of the two that made it. Good thing we flew into Appleton and not Green Bay because Austin Straubel shut down completely.

I got a picture of JD by the plane since it was his first flight ever. And what an adventure it was!

Little did we know our adventure wasn't over! Since we didn't know if we were going to be leaving until the last minute and we weren't really sure where exactly we'd be landing (and since Grandma Linda doesn't like to drive in bad weather), no one was at the airport to pick us up! My dad was on his way when we landed, but his car alone was not enough to transport all of us. We asked about renting a larger capacity vehicle to just get us up to my parents in Oconto, but only one rental agency had one. A Suburban. They wanted over $500 for one day. No thanks! We ended up renting a little sedan for one day. (We returned the rental in Green Bay the next day on our way to Eau Claire.)

Then came the hard part driving from Appleton to Oconto in a blizzard. We split up. Wesley, JD, Annabeth, and I rode with my dad. Everyone else rode with Jerry in the rental car. It was slow going but we finally made it!

Christmas Ornament 2012

Every year we give the kids an ornament. When they decorate their own trees, I hope they enjoy looking back at all their ornaments as much I enjoy looking at mine. Some years I buy the ornaments, some years I make them. This year I made them.

Earlier this year I finally gave in and joined Pinterest. I have really enjoyed it. I have found lots of crafts and recipes to try out (some more successful than other). This year's ornaments are one of the projects I came across in my "pinning". I chose different colors for each child except the girls. I liked the brown and pink combo so much that I made two of those!

These were simple to make and very inexpensive (pretty much free). The hardest part was cutting out the little felt pieces! I hand stitched them with embroidery floss I already had on hand. I also had the ric rac trim and most of the felt. I think they turned out really cute.

I wanted to take a photo of all seven owls together, but Annabeth took a liking to hers and carried it off. I couldn't find it anywhere. Thankfully, it turned up later. Just use your imagination and pretend there is another pink/brown owl on the bottom right.

If you come across any cute ornament patterns, send them my way! I've already started looking for the 2013 ornament.

Queen Creek Holiday Parade 2012

Saturday, December 1st, was the Queen Creek Holiday parade. Despite my not-so-glowing review from last year, we were there again this year. This year we went to cheer on Wesley who was in the parade with his 4-H group. This year's parade was a lot more fun. Not only did we get to see Wesley, the weather was beautiful, we had great seats, and the candy tossers weren't stingy! (Candy throwing is technically prohibited in the official parade rules. Guess that explains last year's lack of candy tossing.)

Wesley and I made his costume on Friday. He was a big walking present. We just wrapped a big box we had from the move and added a big dollar store bow. He also wore a Santa hat and some of my Christmas socks. 

Jerry took him to the drop off area and then went to save us some seats. Grandma Molly and Grandpa John came out to our house and rode with us to watch the parade. Unfortunately, the prime parking lot was blocked off and inaccessible by the time we got down there. It worked out okay since we found a decent spot at the library, but next year I need to remember to go around the other way.

Annabeth rode in the stroller, but once we stopped she wanted to be a big kid and get out. As you can see here, she was crying to get out of the stroller.

We got settled. The kids on a blanket in front of the grown ups who had chairs. We were happy to see the side of the road was now paved and landscaped so we didn't have to sit in the dirt like last year.

The parade started. We caught candy and waved.

Annabeth enjoyed her first candy cane.

We saw the SRP light bulb guy and an Arizona snowman.

I took this picture of a pretty draft horse for my mom.

Annabeth was so good. She didn't run off even once. She just sat, or stood, and watched the parade go by.

We kept an eye on the entry numbers. Wesley was walking with parade entry #57 (aka at the very end). Finally, the moment we had all been waiting for!! Here he comes!

Look at that cheering section. The crowd went wild! :)

And there he goes!

We waved at Santa a few minutes later and then it was time to go home.

Once we were home, JD wanted to try on Wesley's costume. Actually, all the boys, and even Annabeth, took turns wearing it for several days after the parade. It finally fell apart and went out to recycling.