(Novel to begin........NOW)
Day 1: Wake up at 3:00 a.m. Texas time after going to sleep around midnight (Brian and me anyway). We woke the boys up around 3:30 I guess. We were loaded and out of the house by 4:00 a.m. Noteworthy because no one was crying, and we actually left on time. We are never on time as a family. Ever. We got to the airport around 4:30, did the security thing, grabbed some breakfast (although I'm convinced that airport food employees are instructed to go slow....even though people are probably in a hurry to make sure they don't miss their flights). Our flight was at 6:00 a.m. and left on time. The boys did GREAT! I was totally impressed that they were so good on the first flight and was sure it was a fluke. Next, we had a 3.5 hr layover in Phoenix. It was 6:30 a.m. there by the time we got off of the plane. I was ready for lunch, but all that was to be found in the airport was more breakfast food. Actually, that's not true. I wanted a burger, and we couldn't find any. The boys had pizza, and Brian and I had Burger King hashbrowns. lol! I was SO tired that I had to try to catch some zzz's. So I went to our gate with all of the bags, and Brian "ran the boys" in a terminal without much traffic and lots of moving sidwalks. I actually did fall asleep and felt refreshed by my power nap.
 |
| Andrew on our first flight. Happy boy! |
The second plane sat about 50 people. The flight attendant was hilarious, but she wasn't really trying to be. First, the lady never cracked a smile the entire trip. I am fascinated by people like that because a smile is so damn easy! It is a friendly gesture, and it makes other people usually feel good. I just don't get it, but I understand not everyone can handle being Ms. Smiley. But a flight attendant?! Crazy. Second, she was trying SO hard to talk in that flight attendant voice. Everything was very sing-songy. She had a couple of stumbles which made me giggle only because she was trying so hard. Then she had a couple of funny ways of saying things. The only one I can remember right now was "all personal items should be stowed away under the seat in front of you. Should you find your legs folded beneath you like a pretzel, your bag should probably be moved to the overhead compartment." She did the drinks, and had the same line for every freaking passenger: "Anything to drink?" Then if they didn't just tell her what they wanted, she snapped, "Which would you like?" When she was finished bringing the beverages, she sat at the front of the plane in front of the door to the cockpit. If I could've done it slyly, I would have taken a picture. She just stared at the floor, didn't talk to anyone, didn't look at anyone, and never smiled or showed any expression. I found this completely hysterical in my delirious state. I felt a little bad for her, but damn...she chose to be a flight attendant. We landed at the small county airport, and we got to get off of the plane on the ramp on the tarmac. Pretty cool!!
 |
| Jacob in Phoenix. He wanted to wear his headphones so that he could be a pilot, too! |
Then we had our first and only real adventure of the trip. It all happened at the rental car place which was located in the 2 Gate airport that we flew into in San Luis Obispo. Brian was completely exhausted by the time we made it to SLO, so he asked me to go with the girl to get the rental car and the car seats for the boys. So off we go, and she was friendly. I was making small talk because I guess I like it. lol! We get the car; get the car seats; and pull back to the loading lane at the airport. At this point, I turned off the van, picked up my purse, had the key in my hand, got out of the van, and hit the lock button. Then the girl told me that she would get my husband because you're not supposed leave cars unattended in that lane. (Thoughts and actions from that moment) No biggie. I'll just get the van ready to be loaded. Let me put my purse in the passenger seat, the key in the cup holder, and open up the back. (close the driver door). Walk to the back to open the back door, locked. Walk back to the driver door. Shit! Locked. Oh! I'm at the rental car place. Surely they have a spare key! Yeah..no such luck. First, the girl gave me attitude when I told her like I was a dumbass. And I just thought, bitch, I've been at this traveling thing for about 11 hrs now...yup, I messed up. Second, a guy with another rental car company tried to break into the car with a coathanger. It's just funny! Third, the girl comes back out to make sure there was no way to get into the van. As she walks around the back, she is explaining that she has to send someone to the main office (which was closed on Saturday) to pickup the spare key. She says, "so annoying!" in her outside voice as she's walking around. (Side note, in the hour and a half that followed, she played on her computer and talked on her cell phone - NO other customers came to her for a rental car - I guess we were interrupting the plans for Budget rental car as we just SAT in the waiting area). So yeah, it took an hour and a half for a guy to get the spare key - and he came back with a speeding ticket. I didn't ask anyone to break the law! He was quite upset, though, and I felt bad for like a minute. I was ready to get my hands on that burger!
We met up with the fam once we dropped everything off in our hotel room. They had just gone down to the pool. So we put on our swimsuits (the boys and I), and then we got into the pool....and froze our little tooshies off! I think it was 75-ish outside and there was a breeze in the air. Holy cow! It was so cold getting out of that pool. We all realized that it would be our only free night together in SLO. So we all got ready and had a big Paxton dinner together - just our little Paxton clan. I love those dinners! A band started playing after we were finished eating, and Jacob asked me to dance with him. How sweet! He wanted to practice for the wedding. He saw another couple dancing around the dance floor, and he was determined for us to dance the same way. It's just too cute!
 |
| Aunt Sarah and Jacob getting low low low. (All of the pictures of Jacob and me were blurry) |
We went back up to the hotel room after that, and Brian and I got the kids ready for bed. Jaime had planned a get together in the bar so that all of us out-of-towners could mingle for a bit. I went down just to say hi to Jaime and her husband-to-be, and I ended up staying out way too late and had way too much to drink. ha! Actually, Steve and I were drinking together. We work together everyday, and we never drink together anymore. So fun!
That wraps up Day 1 of California. It was a great start to a great vacation!
No comments:
Post a Comment