2009 Family Vacation, Day 1

WARNING: I just re-read this and realized how much it rambles... actually, TJ read it and told me that it rambles, so I re-read it and decided that he was right (don't get used to it, TJ). So, I may try to fix it later, like in a few weeks later, when my brain is not so fried.... in the meantime, sorry for never-ending-blog-post which you may or may not want to read.

We awoke early that Wednesday morning. The sun was not yet up, and the warm, heavy, southern air clung to the darkness as we loaded our luggage into TJ’s truck. Our flight out of Birmingham was to depart at 7:00am, which meant that we needed to leave our house by at least 5:00 in order to overcome the one hour drive to the airport. We tiptoed and scurried around the house, trying our best not to wake up Lexie, our gracious house sitter, who was sleeping soundly in the guest bedroom. TJ scooped Tommy out of his bed as I grabbed his shoes and the final items needed for our journey. We managed to make it out of the door and almost to the truck when we heard the barking. Cracker had worked himself into a complete tizzy, and was incessantly barking, yelping, thrashing, and anything else that he could think of to grab the attention of the owners he was convinced had forgotten him. Mere seconds later, as TJ strapped a still sleepy Tommy into the car seat, I could see Lexie through the kitchen window trying to calm down our worried bulldog. “So much for not waking Lexie up!” I thought to myself.

Soon we were on the road, with the miles melting away. Tommy was awake by this point, absorbing all the excitement and anticipation that fills the start of family vacations. “We going to the air-PORT!?!? We going to see Aunt RAY-chil?!?!” Tommy would half ask and half exclaim. After months of planning it seemed that we had adequately built him up for the trip. This would be a trip of firsts for Tommy, first plane ride, first time so incredibly far from home, first time out of the south, and the first time meeting our friends the Thursby’s. So many new things at once can sometimes be tough on little ones, so I wanted him to be prepared and to know what to expect.

When we finally made it to the airport, there were no immediate parking spaces available on the first couple of levels in the parking deck. By the time we had gone around the circular driveway a couple of times, we were all becoming anxious about the minutes whittling away until our scheduled departure time. We finally found a space in section F-2 where we parked the truck and realized that we had less than an hour until the plane left.

After consulting a map twice, and getting at least one other airport patron lost with us, we finally found our way to the airport terminal through the maze of a parking deck. We got our 3 bags checked with ease and made our way up the escalator towards the security checkpoint. When we rounded the corner, we saw the line.

The Birmingham Airport was a much busier place than either of us had expected, and it appeared that early morning flights were very popular judging by the security line that repeatedly snaked around in all directions. When it was finally our turn, I took Tommy and my purse, and TJ took Tommy’s carry-on bag and my 50 pound camera/laptop/DVD player/video camera/miscellaneous wires/chargers bag.Tommy and I breezed through the line with ease, as TJ struggled to retrieve the backpack that had to go through the scanner three times. TJ shot me an I-told-you-so look that I pretended to ignore as he proceeded to question me again about the need to carry on so many electronics.

The plane was already boarding by the time Tommy and I had made a brief bathroom stop and found our way to the gate. We were in the first boarding group and I found a nice section of three seats next to the wing of the plane. I strapped Tommy into the window seat and I grabbed the middle one as TJ put up the carry on’s and sat in the aisle seat. Soon, we had made it to the runway and I could hear the roar of the jet engines firing up. The force of the airplane as it left the ground, gently nudged us into our seats. I heard a slight chuckle from the seats behind us Tommy flashed a giant grin and shouted “WWWEEEEEEE!!”

The flight was short as Tommy filled the time with a million questions. Before we knew it, we were descending into Baltimore, which was our first and only layover. As the plane approached the runway and we could feel the deceleration and hear the landing gear deploy. Tommy took great delight in this additional action and giggled as he exclaimed “We’re going to CRASH!!” loud enough for the entire plane to hear! Such a loud proclamation prompted an immediate and synchronous “SSHHHHH!” from me and TJ. I then quickly explained to my three year old that we were going to land, not crash, and that we really shouldn’t say such words on an airplane. He nodded in agreement, and went back to giggling once the wheels touched the pavement.

The sun had finally risen in Baltimore and Tommy was still in his Superman pajama’s. With all the hurrying of getting to the airport, we had not had time to change him into his “Clark Kent” clothes. He was getting a big kick out of the flight attendants and everyone else calling him Superman, so I decided that it was a good idea to just leave pj's on. We had a few minutes to kill at the Baltimore Airport, so I pulled out the new robot toy that I had gotten Tommy for the trip, and we all shared a chocolate muffin from the Starbucks located next to our gate.

It wasn’t long before we were in the air again and headed for Albany, New York. This plane was practically empty and the flight attendants had taken special notice of the small Superman in our company. They graciously brought us coloring books, crayons, a deck of playing cards, a special set of wings for Tommy, and some airplane shaped cookies. We made especially good use of the playing cards which we used to practice numbers, shapes, and colors.

We landed in Albany without incident, quickly found our luggage on the conveyor belt, and made it to the shuttle bus that was from the Thrifty Rental Car agency located just outside the airport grounds. When we reserved the rental car several months prior to our trip, we were promised a "Dodge Charger, or equivalent". What sat before us on that bright, clear, Albany afternoon, was a silver Kia Optimus. Not exactly what I would consider an equivalent to a Dodge Charger. But, the rental car associate was especially friendly and polite, so we just went with it.

As soon as we settled into the rental car, we plugged up the TomTom and entered in the Thursby's address. We only had 200 miles to go. We made a brief detour to grab some lunch at McDonald's while we were in Albany. We knew that we weren't in Alabama anymore when the cashier had a difficult time understanding TJ's southern accent.

The drive up I-87 through the Adirondak Park was beautiful. The leaves were just starting to change from green to bright yellows and reds and the mountains were always peaking over the horizon in the distance. We made a pit stop at a rest area in the park and I took the first of what would be many photos of our vacation.

It seemed that the last leg of our journy would never end. We passed mountains, lakes, farms, and even the occasional wind turbine before we reached the much anticipated town of Malone. It had been over three years since we had last seen our friends, the Thursby's, and I wondered if their oldest son Tristan would still recognize me. Rachel had told me that she had not told Tristan of our visit as a surprise. To this day I do not know how she kept that a secret for so long.

We pulled onto their street, carefully scanning each house number and looking for a car that matched theirs, until we spotted Adam standing outside. He explained to us that Rachel and the boys, Tristan and Conner were inside waiting on us. We walked in their front door, and there stood Tristan, with his hands covering his eyes. Rachel was standing behind him giving

him instructions on keeping his eyes closed. She flashed a giant smile at us as we came through the door. I tried my best to sneak up to Tristan, with Tommy right behind me. When Tristan opened his eyes and saw me right in front of him, he jumped into my arms and gave me one of the biggest hugs that I have ever had. All the years apart vanished in an instant. I kneeled down to get a good look at both Tristan and Conner, who also came up and gave me a big hug. Tommy wondered over to where we were, and Tristan immediately knew all about Tommy. Rachel then said "And who's this?" pointing behind me. "TJ!!!!!" Tristan yelled as he tackled TJ with a hug.

It's amazing how fast we settled into that first night there. It was almost as if we had never been separated by miles, or years apart. We just picked up directly where we left off. And it really did feel like we were at home...

Why we went to New York State....

It had been three long years since we had last seen our friends the Thursby's. When we planned our trip to the far distant land of upper New York State, everyone would ask why we were going on vacation there. As I would explain to them that we were visiting friends, I couldn't help but think back about when we met them.

The year was 2002 and TJ and I were newlyweds and had just moved to Central Florida. I had taken a job working at a utility located there right out of college. It was the first time either of us had lived more than a hour drive away from our family, and we did not know a single person in the Orlando area.

TJ was able to transfer his job as an apartment complex maintenace technincain to a complex right down the road from my new office. This is where he met Rachel, who was also working at the apartment complex as a leasing consultant. Rachel, and her husband, Adam, were the first friends that we made in Florida.

In the almost two years that TJ and I lived in the Sunshine State, we spent many weekends with Adam and Rachel. I'm sure that, at some point, they must have gotten tired of seeing so much of us. I have so many memories of time spent with them. General memories of the good times that we spent sitting on their porch discussing anything and everything, and the specific memories, like when they got their dog, Casey, and going to the hospital when their son, Tristan was born.

Tristan has always had a special place in my heart. The first diaper that I ever changed was Tristan's. He was so small and precious, and I was nervous about not having any sort of clue on how to change a diaper. But, with a little coaching from Rachel, I somehow managed.

The thing that I have always missed the most about living in Florida were the friends that we made there, especially the Thursby's. When we moved back to Alabama and they moved to upstate New York, it became much harder to physically visit them. We had to rely on computers, internet connections, web cameras, and phone lines to keep in touch.

Tommy was born and they had another son too, named Conner, which we had never seen. We investigated flying out to see them several times, but the price of the airline ticket always seemed out of reach for us. One day I saw an article online about Southwest airlines, which flies out of Birmingham, on their special airfare discount. It was a deal which was too good to refuse. I called to tell TJ about it, and he didn't even have to ask about where it was we should go, he simply said, "I'll call Rachel..."

UPDATE: Goals

I suppose that goals are made to be broken. I didn't make the deadline I set for myself to get all my vacation blogging done, but I did make some progress. I'm about 50% done with the DVD and about 33% done with writing all the different posts. I have a tendency to overwrite sometimes, so I think that's part of my problem now. There are so many things that I want to write down, but I just haven't had the time! Keep checking, though! Hopefully I'll be done soon!!

Something Wicked This Way Comes....

I love musicals. There is something about spontaneously bursting into song that has always appealed to me. And the musical Wicked has always seemed like one that I would love. Back around June my sister, Lexie, and I decided that we wanted to go see this play about the friendship between the witches of Oz. And since there was no way we could talk TJ into going with us, we decided that we would make it a girls night out and invite some friends along. Wicked is currently on tour and the closest to us that it was playing was in Nashville, Tennessee. That's about a four hour drive, but who doesn't love a road trip?

I had never been to Nashville, so it was fun just seeing a new city. We stayed in a hotel downtown, just around the corner from the theater. We arrived in Nashville with plenty of time to explore downtown before the show. We saw all the honky tonks and boot stores lined up along Broadway, and all the various "famous" spots that are so often shown on TV.

The play started at 6:30 and we made it through the rain into the theater with a few minutes to spare. The play was wonderful. The actors were outstanding, the sets were magical, the story was touching, and the music was inspiring. For me, the play was really the highlight of the trip. The next morning we took a bus tour of Nashville which took us by music row, the Nashville Parthenon (who knew Nashville had a Parthenon?), the Ryman Auditorium, and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Me, Lexie, Dianne, and Leigh Anne waiting for the play to start

At the Parthenon

At the Ryman, all we need is Minnie Pearl!

There were a few history buffs in our group, so we made a small detour on the way back to Alabama to see some of the civil war battlefields. We stopped at the Carter House which was ground central for the Battle of Franklin. While the museum was a tab bit creepy, with the cast iron casket and photos of disfigured civil war soldiers and all, the rest of the tour was very interesting. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and showed us 1830's era house, complete with bullet holes still in it's side.

Bullet holes were still visible on the side of the house!

We also made a brief stop by the Carton Plantation, which we did not have time to tour. We will have to put that on our list to stop by the next time we are in Nashville!

The route home carried us through Birmingham conveniently in time for supper. We stopped by Chipotle to enjoy the last meal of our trip. It was a great ending to a great trip! I loved the city, loved the play, loved the site-seeing, and especially loved the company!

Prologue - Busy September

To say that the last two weeks in September were busy would be a gross understatement. They were however, my hands-down-favorite two weeks of 2009. It kinda feels like an episode of VH1's Best Week Ever TV show. In short, it was a vacation filled firsts and memories. It is nearly impossible to cover everything that went on in one blog post, and I want to write down everything that we did so that I can remember (because let's face it, I have a terrible memory) all the details of it in the distant future. Therefore, over the next few days I will be uploading several blogs about our vacation. I am also working on a DVD of our trip to NYS to see our friends, so I seem to have a few balls in the air between all of that and work and normal life stuff. My goal is to have it all written by next Sunday. I don't really know when I'll have the DVD done by, but I'm going to try to have it done within the next two weeks. Between the fair, Halloween, and the start of deer season (ugh!), October promises to be busy as well. So it seems that I will have a lot to write about. We'll see how I do.....