Last night we all hit the hay a little after 11:00, only to have the alarm go off at 1:00 so we could leave for the airport by 1:30. Since I was by far the most alert, I drove. Rick was thinking one of us could go into the terminal with Brian and one could circle the car, but I voted for utilizing the short-term parking lot and both of us going in to see our son off on his first international trip without us (he's been to Canada once with us). That turned out to be A.Very.Good.Thing.
When everyone had arrived at the assigned ticket counter, the leaders started to check everyone in – or tried to. A rather prickly airline employee asked for a particular notarized form for each of the five minors traveling without their parents – a form we had all mailed to the organizer in Spokane, WA, as directed. The agent was adamant; said minors would NOT be allowed to fly into Belize without the original notarized form, thanks to a recent rule change. Confusion, then concern; would the whole group have to reschedule? Finally a solution was found; the airline printed off fresh copies of the parental consent form, a notary was called in (at 4:00 a.m., for a hefty fee), and thankfully all the parents were present to sign the forms.
By the time the group was checked in and headed towards security, Rick and I were getting hungry. We stopped at the IHOP closest to the airport, only to be told there was no cook; we headed down the interstate and eventually found another one. By the time we got to our lane, this was happening:
We didn't hang around to see if it got better; Rick and I crawled back in bed for a couple more hours.
The rest of my day was pretty low-key. I did some household chores and started trimming sheep feet, but only got three ewes done. I don't think their hooves have ever been that hard and dry, and my nippers (or hand?) weren't up to the task. Rick's going to sharpen the blades and then I'll tackle some more. It's actually rather alarming how dry the ground is here on the first day of spring; too bad Rick didn't have time to till the garden today!
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BTW, I really appreciate all the comments on my last post;
thank-you!
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5 comments:
Oh my such drama to start out a trip! Hope you two enjoy your teenage free time.
It was a little nerve-wracking at the time, Theresa; I was just glad we went in in case we had to take Brian back home, or wait with him for hours, or to sign the new form!
Happy to hear that the travel ails worked themselves out...stressful situation!
Hope you enjoy your relatively quiet times without the teenaged body of hormones. :)
Beautiful sunrise and oh my, that moon last night! Just spectacular.
Sounds like he finally got off on his trip! Glad you went in with him. Until the chaperones firmly take control of the group, I think parents need to be there. I would have done exactly the same.
Have you heard from Brian at all? Or maybe you don't expect to...?
I hope all will go well for him while he's gone.
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