MONTANA DAY 8: Farewell (We Thought!)

We spent most of the morning packing, because our flight was due to leave at 2:00 in the afternoon, and we were going to the airport at 12:30. Andrea was driving me crazy, because she was getting underfoot, so I put together a makeshift playpen. It didn't last too long. Now that Andrea's mobile, she won't tolerate being cooped up for too long.


By the way, you can see Grama's cockatiel, Kiwi, in his cage in the background. Andrea didn't notice him too much; but he always got vocal when Andrea let out a high-pitched squeal. :))

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Grampa had to go back to work that morning, but he came home for lunch, and we said our good-byes then. He held Andrea on his lap, and let her play with his voltage checker, which lights up when it picks up electricity. He showed her how to tap it on people's skin to make it light up. She got a big kick out of that.

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Soon, it was time to leave. We loaded up the truck with our things, and Grama drove us to the airport, which was only about 10 minutes away. Grama came all the way to the security gate with us, gave us all a quick and loving farewell, and off we went.

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Then things went CUCKOO:

• Security: I had all the same items in our carry-on as before, at Detroit, where they gave us no problems--not even a second glance. This time, they went through the diaper bag about three times, and they dumped out Andrea's bottle of water (which was in a baby bottle). Then, they ransacked my purse about 5 times, ran it through the x-ray about three times, and kept asking me if I had a lighter somewhere in my purse, because they couldn't find it, and saw one on the x-ray. I insisted that I don't carry a lighter; I don't smoke, etc. Finally, they decided it was my Tide pen that looked like a lighter on x-ray, and since it had a liquid in it, I had to throw it out. Geez. I think they were bored or something.
• Flight: We sat in the lobby and waited until 1:50. When they hadn't started boarding yet, we got curious. Suddenly, the lady came over the speaker: "There will be a fifteen minute delay, due to mechanical problems." Okay, that's reasonable. And then: "There will be a 15 minute delay while we isolate the problem." People started to grumble, so she got on the system and said, "If you have a connecting flight, don't worry, we have at least an hour to play with!" (How unprofessional.) After 15 more minutes pass: "There will be a 15 minute delay while we get the tools necessary to fix a pinhole leak in the hydraulic lines." Then: "We have isolated the leak, and it should be repaired in about 15 minutes." And finally: "We're sorry, the flight has been cancelled. The next available flight will be at 7:00 in the morning tomorrow." Meanwhile, Andrea had been fussy this whole time, because she was due for a nap, she was hungry, and she wouldn't settle down until we were on a plane, and moving.
• Re-Booking: So, we had to go back downstairs, and retrieve our luggage. Then, we had to stand in line to re-book the flight for tomorrow. I was freaking out because I had a cranky baby, I was supposed to baby-sit tomorrow, and I didn't know how to get a hold of Grama, who was out to lunch with a friend! Daddy stood in line for an hour without moving, while I tried to entertain Andrea in a nearby seating area. So now we had been at the airport for 3 hours and had achieved nothing. I think this video I got of Andrea at the airport summed up our situation very well:

http://media.putfile.com/Reaction-to-Flight-Cancellation

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In the end, I finally caught Grama at home, and she came to the rescue. Daddy stayed at the airport to re-book our flight, while Grama packed up Andrea and I and took us back to the house. I was so mad, and worried, and stressed out, that I was crying; Andrea fell asleep before we left the airport parking lot, the poor baby! Then we went and picked up Grampa from work. Daddy came back via taxi not long after we got back to the house; he'd had to fight with the airline to get that much out of them! Plus, the power went out just as he got up to the counter--causing him to wait an extra 20 minutes on top of it all! Oh, the irony!

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The rest of the evening we all sat around and tried to unwind. Andrea played at swatting flies on the patio--a useful skill Grampa taught her while we were out there. :))

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On the positive side of things:

• Grama and Grampa got to keep us for an extra day!
• It's better they caught the plane's mechanical problems and grounded it, rather than discovering the leak in the air!