ALASKA PART 1

I lied. I told my Dad that I would have these posted last weekend and I didn't.

I'm sorry, Daddy.

Here we go~~ I am sure it is going to take me a couple of posts to get the whole story on here. Hence the Part 1 in the title.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Shelby, Me, and Abby in the Nashville airport before our very first plane ride.

Mike and I woke up 4:30am. We were too excited to sleep. We didn't have to be at the airport until 9 so we could have slept but we couldn't. Finishing packing and weighing the bag we were going to check was the most important thing on our minds. Mike said we were right at 50 pounds so we were good to go:) We packed the car with all 5 of the backpacks and the bag we were going to check~or so we thought.

When we got to the airport we started unloading at the curb and saying goodbye to Trevor~ one pink backpack for Abby, one light blue backpack for Shelby, one red backpack for Mike, and one navy backpack for..........what the hay~~ WHERE is my backpack?????????? The one with all the important stuff in it like our travel journal, lip gloss, and ipod touch!!!!

Mike didn't even say a word. Bless his heart, he just loaded everything back in the car and we drove off~back home to retrieve the VERY important bag. Someone , who shall remain nameless but has the initals TCK, sat it down in his room to get something for his Dad. Ok~2nd trip to airport was a go. Said our goodbyes to Trev for the 2nd time~I may have shed a few tears:), got our boarding passes spent $15 for our checked bag and $15 for an error in seat change, went through security without a hitch, and found our gate.

Wendy's for breunch~that is breakfast and lunch together. I was rethinking that choice when I sat down on that plane!! I'm just sayin'!

Shelby and Abby

Shelby on the first flight

Shelby sat with Mike on exit row and Abby and I sat a few rows back. There was a little girl and her Mom sitting in front of us. The little girl had to be like 2 or 3 yrs old. There is a point to this info:) The little girl fell asleep on the way to Minneapolis and between Nashville and Minnesota she must have been dreaming about waterfalls or something because she peed everywhere!! I was unaware of this until I went to get something out of Abby's backpack from under the seat and it was drenched. I mean soaking wet!! I thought at first that someone must have spilled some water or something but when we were getting off the plane the little girl got up and she was soaking wet from head to toe. The mom tried to play it off but it was obvious what had happened. I tried not to gag as I carried the backpack into the airport. Abby kept asking why she couldn't put it on and I knew if I told her she would flip out. I mean, come on, I wouldn't want to wear something that has been soaked by someone else's pee. She doesn't know to this day~let's keep it that way, shall we? Did I mention this was the first flight for me and the girls?? Oh yes, it was! It was cool. We all liked it~except for the pee incident:)

Abby just hanging out

Shelby, Abby, and Mr. Moose in Minneapolis airport

One of the girls took this picture of Mike

Okay, we get to Minneapolis and find our gate for the flight to Fairbanks and I go buy Mike a $249.99 sub sandwich, a $149.99 bag of combo cheezits, and 2 $99.99 drinks. Of course I'm exaggerating but not by much. Our flight was delayed about 30 minutes but no worries. We finally got in the air on our way to Alaska. This flight was 5 1/2 hours and not bad at all. We were all on the same row, Abby slept, and Shelby read, talked, and ate.

Shelby, Abby, and I on our way to Alaska

The views over Canada were amazing. We tried to take pictures but they didn't do it justice.

We flew through wildfire smoke which was real freaky~ one minute it is daylight and the next it was dark. I was scared because~1) this was only my 2nd flight in my WHOLE life, 2) the song by Alanis Morrisette kept playing in my mind~"Isn't it ironic, don't ya think?" haha (jk) but I was a little concerned:)

When we arrived in Alaska there was no one, I mean, NO ONE in the airport until we went down the escalator to baggage claim. Then we saw Pastor Ron and Janice waiting on us. It was so cool to finally meet them. Mike and Pastor Ron went to get our bag and we walked out of the airport I wanted to cry. I don't know why but I loved it instantly and as we were sitting in Denny's (the northern most Denny's in the World) I had a surreal moment.

My cell rang and it was Trevor saying he had been in a car wreck. I'm not going to lie I thought I was living a nightmare at that exact moment. Here I am farther from my child than I have ever been (over 4,000 miles!!) and he has been in an accident. He was trying to explain it to me and I just had to hand the phone to Mike because I couldn't even hear what he was saying for the blood rushing in my ears. We managed to finish our meal and get to the Wallace's house. Mrs. Janice showed us to the RV and it was just perfect. We loved it. After they had gotten us settled it was after 9pm and we were exhausted. We called Trevor back and by that time, I'm not going to lie, I was mad (we knew he was alright and that he had ran into a bulldozer~yeah, you read that right) After we got as many facts as we could we settled down and went to bed. But, not before I had an UGLY cry and I'm talking about a full on, can't breathe much less talk cry. I cried because I wanted to see Trevor and that this had happened the first hour we were in Alaska. I was also crying because I was so grateful that he wasn't hurt or much worse. I was thankful that it was just the car that got smashed, that God had protected my son. See, that was a BIG fear of mine~that something would happen and we would be so far away that we couldn't get to him. And, it came true, and the Lord provided peace. I was able to fall asleep and leave it in the Lord's hands. His was big enough to handle it when mine were too little and too far away.

The RV

Whew~that was a long day and a looong post. I promise the other ones won't be so long:)