I don't have a whole lot to say in tonight's post since it's late and I am bushed, but I thought I'd include a couple of photos from our trip. Oh yeah, but first . . . our flight today was scheduled to depart at 11:40 a.m. We were staying with my brother and sister-in-law, Brian and Jamie, and their kids Chandler, Christian and Carson, out in Argyle, Texas (if you don't know where Argyle is, then you'll understand why I usually just say "We're going to Dallas"). Jamie said it would take about 45 minutes to get to the airport so she said if we left by about 8:30 a.m., that would give us plenty of time to turn in the rental van, check our bags, get something to eat and get to our gate with plenty of time to spare. Ha.
Problem #1: Brian told us that the quickest way to the airport was to take 407 about a quarter of a mile to 377, then go about two miles (?) to 114 and straight on to the airport. So we whipped it on to 407 and drove the two and a quarter miles and . . . stopped. Just stopped. We'd barely passed Cross Timbers (where B & J worship), which is about five minutes from their house--if that--when traffic slowed to a standstill. Time to go to Plan B. Randy "did a U-ey" and headed back toward 407 while I called Brian on his cell and asked for alternate directions, which he provided. Long story short, we got to the airport at approx. 10:00 a.m. after stopping quickly to fill the rental van with gas. Remember, our flight is at 11:40.
Now anybody who's flown through DFW knows that place is humongo-gigantic; I wasn't really sweating at this point because everything was so straightforward in terms of turning in the van and all that, but not everything was within our control. For instance, we had to catch a shuttle to get from the rental parking lot to the terminal, and the shuttle wasn't exactly waiting to pick us up. We also had to catch a train to go from one side of the terminal to the other (though, to be fair, we walked up just as the train arrived). But then Randy decided that we should stop to eat right around Gate 14 when our flight was leaving from Gate 21. In my mind I was thinking, "We're practically there--let's just go to our gate, make our presence known and then we can grab something." But I acquiesced--can you believe it?--and we stopped to eat. Then of course there were the requisite pit stops in the restroom and FINALLY we made our way to the gate. By this time it was roughly 11:30. No, you don't have to say anything because yes, I know!!!
I think I mentioned in my last post that we are all moving just a little bit slower because all the late nights were catching up to us, and Sawyer, bless his little legs, was dragging. I should interject, though, that he was such a trooper--all the kids were--and he shouldered his backpack and rolled his suitcase every inch of the way from start to finish without complaint (even when Randy mistakenly loaded his backpack down with several of MY books). We were all staggered at this point--Tyler was in the lead, I was a few feet behind him, the girls were about 15-20 feet behind me and Randy and Sawyer were not even in sight. And then I heard the dreaded words: "American Airlines flight to Columbus paging Todd mumble mumble mumble . . . ." I had just sort of been sauntering along, not really concerned now that we were on our way to the gate, but the announcement over the loudspeaker caught my attention. At first the way it was worded sounded like they were asking for Passenger Todd _______, but in my mind I was thinking, "AA, Columbus, Todd--what are the odds?" And as my mind was forming those words I came into view of the ticketing desk and three gate agents were all looking with an inordinate amount of interest at ME. "Are you the Todd Family?" Oops. "You were supposed to have been on the plane ten minutes ago." Feebly I offered, "Well, you see, there was a traffic jam in Argyle, which is where we were coming from . . ." and the gate agent sort of frowned at her computer screen and said, "Then when did you check your bags? My computer shows that you checked them in earlier this morning." BUSTED! Thank goodness, right at that moment Randy and Sawyer arrived on the scene and we beat a hasty retreat away from Mean Gate Agent Lady. No, seriously, she wasn't rude or anything, but I guess she wanted me to know that she didn't come to the airport by way of the turnip truck!
Opening pitch at the Ranger game
Enjoying a night at the ballpark
A little R & R is just what the doctor ordered
Fun in the sun
Do you see what I see? Peyton's as tall as Darcy!
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