Thursday morning - early start, took the dog to the pet hotel and then a few hours of work. I flew from IF to Colorado Springs. My experience with United: Our gate was moved three times (IF airport only has three gates!) and arrived 40 minutes late. So, we arrive in Denver with no attempt to rush the baggage or anything else. Missed my flight to Colorado Springs by THREE MINUTES!!!
Subpar customer service to get my on the next flight - two hours later. I'm sitting at the gate waiting for an announcement and finally find out that I am at the wrong gate by checking the board - no announcement. Run down to find out the flight is delayed. Delayed 30 minutes - only when the flight is supposed to have been gone do we hear that it's delayed again 20 more minutes. Finally, we board and then spent 20 minutes on the tarmac waiting for a passenger list. News flash - if passengers aren't there after one hour delay, they ain't comin!!!! I finally land in Colorado Springs 4 hours later. Glad I paid hundreds of dollars to fly directly to Colorado Springs when I could have rented a car and got there three hours earlier!!!
Drama aside. My whole family was together for the first time in over a year so it was a blast. The girls loved having a baby girl around and nephew #2 and niece #3 are like two peas in a pod. The next day, we went to an amusement park called North Pole. It's a mini amusement park with lots of small rides. Unfortunately, many of them are spinning rides - not cool for Aunt Heather. My poor sister actually got physically sick after taking one for the team and riding one more time with her son. But the decor was fun and the kids had a ball.
The next morning, niece #2 was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In our religion, we believe that once children are of the age of accountability (8 years old), they can be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a simple, but beautiful program. Both grandmothers said prayers, her sister and mom spoke and nieces #1 and #2 sang a duet. I am so proud of her for making this important decision in her life.
Afterwards, we all went to lunch at Tucano's - Brazilian barbeque!!!! It was a carnivore's dream (which is niece #2's favorite). We ate until we were sick. AWESOME service and food. It ended with desserts and a birthday serenade!
The next day, I went to church with my brother's family. My brother is in the bishopric (a lay leader in the congregation) and conducted the service. Niece #1 sang and did a beautiful job - after a rough morning. Later, during the last hour, it POURED rain!!! In 20 minutes, the roads were flooded. Interesting that this area just a week earlier was battling horrific fires and now huge rain.
I flew out that night. Now I gotta give props to that United crew. Despite not being able to fuel the plane due to lightening and trying to load three flights at once, they got the flight boarded just fifteen minutes and even got us there early!!!! Take a lesson IF and Denver - that's customer service. I didn't get home until 12:00 am - but worth it. It was so fun to see everyone.
Funny moments:
- Niece #3 - after I was telling my parents about the magician at the North Pole, my niece said "There was a hole in the cloth" and "the bird was fake" - cynical at 6?!?!?! Then after grandpa told her she was missing family prayer: "I don't care".
- Nephew #3 - he does not like women. If any guys is within 10 yards, he will race to them. It's probably because his sisters have mauled him for so long that he looks for a male protector.
- My sister-in-law's father was in bed. He was laying there when he felt someone snuggling up to him. After realizing it wasn't his wife, he went into the bathroom. By the time he came back, Nephew #1 had grabbed the phone and looked up Gene Rayburn. Grandpa Bankhead laughed a lot and told that story at least five times!
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