Homeward Bound

Our summer West is in full swing. We  have already hung out on Newport Beach for a week, whizzed around and around on Disneyland's Space Mountain, baptized a child amidst family and friends, marveled at the beauty of Temple Square from the top of Hotel Utah and gathered around Grandma's dinner table for her "famous chicken tortilla soup." (More blogging to come regarding these fun events.) 

The first hurdle we always encounter in our bi-annual pilgrimage west is making it from our front door in Boston to our assigned seat on our airplane. The above photo illustrates that this is no easy task. There is a part of me that would truly rather drive three days with five children in the backseat than live through the stress and anxiety of this first step in our journey. This summer, the timeline went something like this: 1:00 p.m. -- Pack nine bags to be checked and eight carry-ons into the car. 1:50 -- Steve comments, "Now that I think about it, we have a lot less time than I thought. We could be in trouble" as he accelerates on the Mass Pike. 2:20 -- gentleman at skycap informs us that, unless we take our bags inside, we will have to pay $75 for extra bags plus three dollars per bag "and that doesn't even include the tip!" (Have you seen the Southwest commercial?!) 2:40 -- woman at Delta counter flatly states that she must physically see each child in order to issue a seat assignment. Is this another new policy? I explain that they are all in the car at the pick up curb with Steve, crossing their little fingers that the policemen will not shoo Steve away from the curb before their mother returns. Seconds later, Steve and I swap places as he races to the counter with Ezra in arm and four little ones in tow to be "physically seen." Now I am the one crossing my fingers that the police will not spot me. 2:50 -- Steve hands off the children and leaves to park the car as I race to Au Bon Pain to fill five hungry bellies in preparation for the "No more in-flight meal policy". 3:15 -- fourteen shoes are pulled off and sent through the scanner with watches, belts, blankies and our eight carry-ons. 3:35 -- Big sigh of relief. Boarding begins and we are there to tell about it. 

Last Christmas we were not there to tell about it. Despite leaving our friend's house in Las Vegas for the airport at 4:00 am and commenting that we had broken a family record for the most time allotted to make it from house to airplane seat, our travel experience home from Christmas was a disaster. It began with the woman in front of us arguing with the skycap for fifteen minutes over three dollars -- Steve offered to pay the bill. Skycap tagged our bags and then informed us that due to the number of bags, we had missed the cut off to skycap them by one minute. Steve hauled them inside and to his horror realized that two days after New Year's Day is still not the time to travel in Las Vegas. The police shooed me away from the curb --twice. Six of us waited in the security line while Steve returned the rental car, we met up with him and then ran,  OJ  style, through corridors, down escalators, past slot machines, onto the tram, off of the tram, and to the end of the terminal to see our plane backing away from the gate. Out of a Tom Cruise movie, Steve ripped off his jacket, crumpled it up and threw it into the seat next to the check-in counter. The rest of us fell onto the bench, close to tears. We were still for just a moment until Emilie sat straight up. "Mom! I think that our family goal for 2008 should be that we don't miss any more airplane flights!" Great idea. Hours later we sat in front of another check in counter in another terminal but at the same airport. I mentioned to Steve that our original flight was just landing in Boston. 

Despite the trauma of relocating seven people from the East coast to the West, as soon as we touch ground in Utah and are with our family and friends, we are reminded that our effort was well worth the trip. And so far, we are on track to meet our family goal for 2008. We look forward to the remainder of our vacation with hikes in the Uintah Mountains, explorations in Southern Utah, late nights with friends and unlimited family time.