The (almost) disastrous trip

This picture has nothing to do with this post.

I went to visit Mom last week. We had a great time. Everything went well at the doctor's visit except for Camille laughing at the doctor's Chinese accent. (It was rude, but how do you keep a baby from laughing?) We got to see Joanna, Ben, and Russell, Dad, and Ben, Shannon, Macey, and Sadie. Camille became an expert roller while we were there. When she wasn't rolling around, she enjoyed being held more than usual. And she enjoyed waking up about 30 times a night before I would finally bring her to bed with me. I picked up a little virus while we were there, but by Thursday when we left, I felt a lot better.

Camille modeling her winter hat in Wisconsin

The disaster part was the trip home. It started with a storm that rolled in the morning I left. At the airport, we ran in from the parking lot in pouring rain, so I was wet for the next few hours. We boarded the plane, and we sat on the runway for about 20 minutes because of the weather in Minneapolis. Then we deboarded the plane, and we sat in the airport for about 30 minutes. Then we got back on the plane and went to Minneapolis. By then, most of us had missed our connections. The flight attendant told us we would automatically be booked for the next flight to our destination. That was fine--there are flights to SLC every 2-3 hours. At Minneapolis my gate-checked bag didn't show up on the cart. A guy said the pink tag had come off, so they couldn't give me my bag, but they would send it to Salt Lake City. There went the extra diapers, extra clothes for both of us, and Camille's blanket. Then they gave me my new flight itinerary. They booked me for a flight to Atlanta the next morning at 5:30, then to SLC at noon. And they gave me hotel information to stay the night. Ahhh! I couldn't stay the night with Camille in the airport, and going to a hotel would be ridiculous since I would have to get up at 3:00 AM to get to the airport. And I didn't have my carry-on bag, so all I had in the diaper bag were two diapers (we had already gone through four), some toys, cheese curds, and a cracker pack. Thank goodness I am nursing Camille! After waiting in line for an hour to talk to someone at the help desk, the agent said to hurry to the gate the next flight to SLC was leaving from. I ran through the airport with Camille in the front-carrier, where the desk agent for that flight laughed at me when I asked if I would be able to get on the flight. Several hours later, the last flight to SLC that day started boarding. A kind agent spent five minutes on the phone working his magic to see if a frazzled mother with an infant could get on the overbooked flight. I was glued to the monitor watching the standby list, where I was fourth. Somehow after everyone else had boarded, the agent paged me to tell me I could have the last seat on the plane. What relief! Camille was great on the flight and we made it home. My carry-on bag went to Atlanta, but it was delivered the next morning.

I put in a compliment on Delta's website for the gate agent that got me a seat on the flight home. The next day I received a $50 voucher from Delta :)