Traveling woes and a Beautiful Wedding

So, how can I fit a dread and a positive into one title and post you say? Well - our trip to Atlanta this weekend definitely fits the bill. As many of you know, we have been traveling a TON over the past 8 months, including flights to WV (2), Virginia, San Diego, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and most recently to Atlanta. It seems that each flight experience has gotten a little bit worse. After a 2 1/2 hour delay, sitting on the plane on the runway on our way to Orlando, I thought it couldn't get worse. So, of course, I had to proven wrong.

Since this trip was without Daddy, it was going to be a bit more challenging right off the top. Not only dealing with the traveling specifics, but dealing with Jacob himself, who, is not the greatest kid on the plane. Anyways, the plane only took off 40 minutes late (of course, 30 minutes of that delay was while we sat on a very warm plane, waiting to take off), and we arrived in Atlanta only 30 minutes behind schedule. We had a fairly tight schedule for the afternoon in order for me to make it to the wedding rehearsal that night, but the 30 min. delay could be absorbed. The part that wasn't ok - our luggage never left Houston! Apparently there was a weight limit issue on the plane and more than half of the luggage was taken off the plane to be sent to Atlanta on a later flight that day. Evidently that was the delay we had in Houston getting off the ground. Did the airline bother to tell us that??? Of course not. Instead, we stood around the conveyor for what seemed like forever waiting for the luggage to come out. In the Atlanta airport, there are bags from multiple flights all coming onto one conveyor at the same time. So, although there was luggage coming out for quite some time, it was from 4 different flights. We decided to get our rent car while we waited on the rest of the luggage to be unloaded to the conveyor rather than just watching it. When we returned to the luggage claim area, no new luggage was coming out and we had no idea what had happened. While I wandered aimlessly looking for somewhere to report the missing bags to (this included 2 suitcases and Jacob's carseat) a man from our flight recognized me as being on the flight and told me about the left behind luggage. We then had to go stand in the Delta claims line to make a claim on our luggage. What a pain! Needless to say, by the time we were leaving the airport, it was nearly 4pm.

The rehearsal was at 4:30, and we were 45 minutes away. I called the bride-to-be and told her what happened. She was so understanding and sweet and told me not to even try to make it to the rehearsal but go to my hotel and get settled. I'm so glad she wasn't a bridezilla or things might have been much worse. I did make the rehearsal dinner - wearing what I wore on the plane and a shirt of my mom's that was a little nicer. I had to make a Target run for a few things we needed for the evening for Jacob. Quite a stressful evening.

The luggage arrived early Sunday morning, thank the Lord! I got my hair done in the afternoon and the dress I had borrowed for the wedding fit wonderfully and the whole ensemble came together great. The wedding was at an inn and it was wonderful. The ceremony was outside and the weather was perfect. Jacob wasn't too happy to be sitting with my mom in the crowd while I was up front, but my mom kept him from crying the whole time so that was good. Jacob had a great time running all over the place during the ceremony, which kept me running as I tried to keep him from falling down stairs or getting run over by someone. We had a lot of fun and I'm glad we were able to make the trip, despite our rocky beginning. The flight home was uneventful (except for a mini-meltdown of Jacob about mid-flight) and we were happy to be home with Daddy. The photographer at the wedding captured a few pictures of Jacob, so hopefully, if I get a chance to see and buy those, I'll post later, but for now, these few will have to do.