Our Family: To Boulder and Back

Well, our flight to Colorado made me love the airlines even more than before. The girls and I flew Delta and had to transfer in Atlanta. Our assigned seats were in three different rows. I got to the airport early in order to correct this problem. After seeking help from three different people, I was finally able to get us seats together on the first leg of the trip. We landed in Atlanta at Concourse “A.” Our next flight, which was about to begin boarding, was at Concourse “E.” I didn’t even bother to ask myself why the same airlines has to use multiple concourses. We arrived breathless and I explained our dilemma to the Delta representative. He looked at me and the girls and said, “You should have gotten here earlier. I can’t help you.” I looked right back at him and said, “In the past 10 minutes, I got off one plane and dragged my children across five concourses. I’m not sure how I could have gotten here any earlier.” He actually replied, “I’m sorry.” But, he didn’t help me.

I explained my problem to the first stewardess I found and seated the girls, Lacey in the row in front of me and Cassie in the row behind me. The stewardess announced over the intercom that there was a “young mother” traveling with young children who needed someone to trade seats so they could be together. I announced to all passengers within hearing distance, “Yes. That would be the young mother wearing reading glasses. And by the way, one of the children doesn’t speak English.”

I hadn’t yet sat down because I was leaning over the seat in front of me trying to keep Lacey under control. The woman seated to Lacey’s right offered to help watch her. But she had two small children of her own who had not been seated with her! The woman seated to my left was fairly bright. After about 10 minutes, she realized that she didn’t want to have my butt in her face the entire time and volunteered to change seats with Lacey. One down, one to go. Cassie was crying, so the stewardess tried to help us. The guy to my right didn’t want to trade his aisle seat for the middle and did his best to ignore our pleas. So, Cassie had to sit by herself.

Midway through the flight, Lacey got mad when I made her stop kicking the seat in front of her. She launched into a pretty good tantrum that lasted for about 20 minutes. The guy next to me kept cranking up the volume on his IPOD. I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Hey, Dude, bet that middle seat’s looking pretty good right now, isn’t it?” (Sadly, I didn’t really have the nerve to say that.) Anyway, we landed safely and were very happy to be met at the airport by Susan and Ken.

On Thursday, we visited Mt. Hope Lutheran Church. Pastor Hesse had invited us to hear a demonstration of the new sound system that was purchased with memorial contributions for my Dad. Pastor Hesse has the ability to make any occasion joyful. He selected some music from Vacation Bible School for the girls to listen to and he sang and danced as he demonstrated the new speakers and microphone. He let the girls play the keyboard. I think we all left believing that the music had reached Dad’s ears. Next, we visited Dad’s grave at the Green Mountain Cemetery. The setting is very peaceful and there’s a spectacular view of the Flatirons that lends strength to viewers. We planted flags on Dad’s grave.

Mom gave Lacey the American Girl “Bitty Baby” doll that she and Dad had selected. Lacey was a little overwhelmed with her new baby. So, Mom saved the doll accessories for a couple days. Lacey named her baby, “Joy” and carries her everywhere.

Jordan, Pam and KatyAnn came to visit on Friday. It’s hard to believe that KatyAnn is almost a year old. We all went for a walk and visited some horses down the block. We discovered that Lacey loves real babies as well as dolls.

Cassie and Lacey had a lot of fun getting to know Aunt Susan and Uncle Ken. Lacey was introduced to the game of “Doll Hide and Seek,” which Uncle Ken has taken to new levels. We managed to squeeze in a trip to our favorite yarn shop. We were sorry to say goodbye to Susan and Ken on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Peach Festival in Lafayette with Nicola and Erik. There were many different vendors and we saw some lovely crafts. That was probably our hottest day in Colorado!

On Sunday, Cassie played her violin in church. That was a meaningful way for her to remember her Grandfather.

Lacey got to visit some of Cassie’s favorite places in Colorado. We dropped off aluminum cans at the grocery store and the girls rode the ponies that still only cost 1 cent. We also went to the used book store in Louisville and the girls spent time in the children’s room.

Mom had surgery on her left arm on Tuesday. She still manages to do more with one hand than most people accomplish with two.

On Wednesday, Mom and I cooked a huge pot of green bean soup. Cassie helped make peach cobbler with fresh peaches. Mary Lee, Haley, Jayden, Ed, and Bronwyn joined us for dinner. Lacey really enjoyed playing with Jayden. I realized how fast her English was growing when she said to Haley, “Baby’s Mommy – Baby go outside? Shoes, please.” She can definitely make herself understood now.

We flew home on Thursday. Once again, our seat assignments had us in different rows. I approached the Delta clerk and very calmly told him that if we weren’t able to get seats together, I was going to seat the girls next to each other and myself in the back of the plane. Guess what? We got three seats together on both flights. Les met us at the airport and we are getting settled in at home.

Thank you, Beth, for continuing to send my Mom hard copy of the blogs!