Day 7 and leaving!

On Saturday it was my classes family picnic where the kids were welcome to attend.  That morning the sun was shining bright and I knew it was FINALLY the day I got to wear shorts!!  

Tim and Cale playing on the rock wall!

We left the picnic early because we had to pack still and I wanted to hang one more last time with my family.  We picked up my mom and went to go pick up some flowers for my sisters and dad's grave.  This is the first time my kids had visited my sisters in the cemetery and my first time seeing my dad.  (we are still waiting on his headstone to be installed - he passed in 2012 and it's been one thing after another and my mom doesn't get around well.  I think we are FINALLY about to see it in the next month or so!)

I had two sisters pass before I was born.  One was 12 and died of a rare throat cancer and one that died at birth.  My dad is buried with them.

We finished our packing and then we went to one last dinner with my family.  One of my nephews fell asleep before dinner and my other nephew just couldn't wake him up!!

This girl, this girl right here!  My niece and me are very close she is only 7 years younger than me.  It was the hardest to say goodbye to her!

My mom took us to the airport after dinner.

He was cracking me up!

Finally got to our gate and these two just had to try these massage chairs out!

Kennedie let me do her hair cute that morning!

Finally a flight where we are all seated together!

Got to LAX at 5 am, we were starving and Dunkin Donuts was the only thing open.  She wanted to try coffee so Tim let her have a taste of his...she wasn't a fan!

We tried to go to the USO lounge but we only had 3 hours and LAX is huge (it was my first time in LAX!) and the signs weren't helpful at all and you had to go through security to get to it...so Tim was passing the Delta Admirals Club and asked if they let in active duty military and they said YES!  We got some more snacks and were charging our phones and relaxing waiting.

Then disaster struck.  First text I got said it was delayed 3 hours.  I went and spoke to an agent and he said he was still seeing it as on time...20 minutes later I get this and look up at the board directly across the seats from us - it confirmed CANCELLED!  I've never had a flight cancelled!  I went immediately to speak with the admirals club agents.  She was able to get us on a flight - but not for 17 hours later at 1020 at night.  I texted my boss and let her know I wouldn't be home until Monday morning at 6 am so I wouldn't be in to work like I thought I would!

We ended up moving to the "quiet area".  We settled in for the LONG haul!

Tired and irritated.

The gates were right below us.

They kept snacks going all day long. I think I had like 50 rice krispie treats!  I also ate a lot of snap peas!!

I mean we really made ourselves at home here!

I mean you can't deny free snack all day long!  I got through 2 complete audio books and had started another before we got on our plane!

We brought a bag full of Legos and they played with these for like an hour!

Made ourselves at home!  For reals ya'll!

He got our his new book from Barnes and Noble!

For being a ten year old rowdy boy - he did SO well in the quiet area. Only a hand full of times did I have to remind him there were people around us now and he needed to be respectful that they wanted to rest!

Tim's fourth nap of the day.  For the most part we were the only ones in this area!

He FINALLY took a nap.  He slept for a good two and a half hours!

She got a good little nap in too!

The TV area right in front of the "quiet area"

Our "quiet area"

This is the main waiting area.  There is a bar in here and it's quite a bit louder in this area than the quiet area.

SNACKS!

Tons of free drinks all day long.

This was about an hour before our flight was scheduled to take off.

More of the main lobby waiting area. Taken from the bathroom/shower area.

We were SO EXCITED to be on a plane!  We all four had aisle seats.  While not all together it was better than all middle seats!!!

Our fiasco at LAX didn't end there.  When we arrived in Atlanta one of our bags didn't make it on the plane.  No big deal it was still in LAX and would be on the next flight to Atlanta and delivered to us.  5:30 that night they attempted to deliver "my" bag.  There was a bag outside the car and it wasn't mine.  I told the driver "sir that's not my bag" he said "go ahead and open it, they may have destroyed your bag and put all your things in this bag" - I opened it.   Definitely wasn't my kids stuff.

Ya'll my kids started school that next day.  My daughter only had a couple jeans that fit, two of the three pair she had were in that bag!  GAH!!

I called the delayed bag line every day for 5 days - I kept being told that it was still in LAX waiting on a plane to Atlanta.  WHY? American Airlines has three flights a day - that's 12 flights once they identified my actual bag (looks like our bag stickers got swapped) on Wednesday!  FINALLY on Friday night I got the call that they found my bag and were putting it on a flight to Atlanta through Miami!  Saturday at 5 in the afternoon my kids clothes and the rest of my souvenirs were finally delivered!!!