Vacation from hell?

Friday the 19th we left for vacation. Had to catch our first of 3 flights at 7am. Once we got on the flight, there were some technical problems so we waited.....then they fixed whatever was wrong and off we went. We were supposed to stop over in Chicago- well there were thunderstorms so after circling chicago a few times the pilot decided we couldn't land so we went to St. Louis and sat on their tarmac for over 2 hours waiting for the storm in Chicago to die down. NOT fun with a baby! At first we weren't allowed off the plane, then they decided we could get off the plane but we wouldn't be allowed back on. Well, that pretty much meant we couldn't get off the plane! Finally we head back to Chicago, but then there is lightening in the distance so we are not allowed off the plane for 15 or so more minutes. We were all hungry and tired! Thankfully the kids were all very well behaved. We make it off the airplane and of course our next flight is delayed a few hours so we eat some really horrible pizza and then get on board. Off to DC. Well, since our flight was so delayed we ended up missing our Pennyslvania flight by about 4 hrs. They said they couldn't get us on the next day so we would have to wait for 2 days in DC (on our own dime of course!) and then they would be able to get us on a flight. Well, since Jim's family reuinion is the next day that is unacceptable. I cried to the ticket agent and she gave us a hotel room for the night. No luggage though- that will take a few hours to find they say. So off to the hotel- we have no pullup for Cameron (in the suitcase) and he still wets at night- yep- peed all over the place. Up early the next morning- put our dirty clothes back on and head back to the airport to get our luggage. We had decided to rent a car and drive to Pennyslvania. Unfortunately not many agencies allow one way rentals so the only one we could find was in down town DC at Union Station. We get our bags- one is missing (they say it made it to Johnstown already- weird, WE didn't make it that far so how did our bag???) my suitcase was all ripped up but don't think anything was missing.

OK- we have our bags now so we catch a taxi to take us to Union Station so we can get a rental car. The taxi driver talks us into letting him just drive us all the way to PA, and we jump at the chance- it means we don't have to drive through DC and it means we get to actually relax a bit. He says it will only cost about $50 more to have him do it- well worth it if you ask me!

On the ride out there I ask if he is Muslim (he is wearing a turban on his head), no- he is Sihk- so he taught us about his beliefs. It sounds like a really nice religion actually. We learned that ALL men in his religion have the last name Singh- ALL women have a different same last name. Apparently this was done to get rid of the class system that Hindus use, as their last names tell what class you are in. In Sihk all men and women are the same- nobody is more important than anyone else. Fascinating!

Phew finally in PA- the taxi ended up costing $400 which was more than the driver estimated, but it was still worth it. We even got there before the reunion was over ! WoooHooo!

Since we were getting to PA later than expected we weren't going to be able to pick up our rental car- so we called Bob and asked if he would please rent it for us (suuuure, we will pay you back Bob, of course we will! ) He had it waiting at the reuinion for us.

Finally we made it to our destination and things don't look so bleak.