 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
07-30-07
07-28-07
Better type this now before July is over, too
I know, I know.
We last left with the lot of us going to Bloomington, Indiana for Todd & Carrie's wedding. We picked up Shane early that morning and had our six suitcases and gear. Shane dropped us off and drove away in our van and we hauled everything to ticketing. Once we had our tickets squared away, the agent said "How many bags are you checking?" And I said "Six bags and...a...baby...seat..." I was actually looking at five bags and no baby seat. And Shane didn't have his cell phone on him. Thankfully the suitcase we left in the van was our bathroom stuff and a week's worth of diapers (easy to replace) and the baby seat - we decided to worry about it once we landed in Indianapolis, because really, what can you do?
You can rent a baby seat along with a rental car, but if you don't rent a car, they don't rent the seats. And even if they did, it's not worth the money - just buy a new car seat. Uncle Tim picked us up at the airport and we drove straight to Target, with Ever sitting on the bench seat with a grown-up seat belt across her lap, looking like she was on a giant roller coaster ride. This was after two long flights and a long layover as well. She'd had a long day, but thankfully she does awesomely on airplanes.
Tomoka and I ran inside Target and bought the stuff we were missing while Tim & Sean stayed in the air-conditioned truck with Ever (now asleep) and before long we were finally headed for Bloomington.
Our family took up two whole floors of the hotel. After some unpacking and a lot of meet-and-greeting, we walked over to the Trojan Horse restaurant, which is owned and run by my Dad's friend Denny. Tomoka had her first Greek food there! It was very, very warm in Bloomington that weekend. We walked around quite a bit that night, and I saw other cousins of mine out frolicking, but I never saw Todd.
The Germans were here!
The Germans were here! We had Alexandra and Kolja with us for a whole
weekend and it was SO GREAT to see them again. They did a big midwest
trip and then visited a bunch of people in Seattle, then stayed with us
on their way to go camping. We even played a reunion game of Settlers!
I miss them terribly.
I planned to go to Seattle with Tomoka and Ever a couple weeks ago, and e-mailed everyone and made all of these plans at these exact times. The border took over an hour, only to make us go inside. From there, Tomoka had to do some stupid paperwork and I was holding Ever, my sunglasses, my passport, my wallet, the diaper bag, etc. We finally got about an hour south and had another maybe 45 minutes to go and stopped in Burlington so Tomoka could check out the outlet mall. It was soon after that, while trying to fill up with gas, that I realized my wallet was gone.
Soon after that I realized my passport wasn't there either.
I left them at the border.
It's not like you can make a phone call to the U.S. border, either.
An hour later we approached the Canadian border, just so I could run inside the U.S. border, but of course everything's under construction, so another 45 minutes go by before I can even get out of my car. Sure enough, my passport and wallet were there.
And by then, it was 4 p.m. We had left at 10:30. And it was hot. And Ever just woke up from a second long nap. So from there, we just crossed the border and went right back home. What an infuriating day. 10:30 - 5:00 driving in the van for no reason. I am still trying to figure out when we can go down to Seattle again. I had no idea it would be so DIFFICULT.
Ever's awake - more later....
|
07-28-07
Better type this now before July is over, too
I know, I know.
We last left with the lot of us going to Bloomington, Indiana for Todd & Carrie's wedding. We picked up Shane early that morning and had our six suitcases and gear. Shane dropped us off and drove away in our van and we hauled everything to ticketing. Once we had our tickets squared away, the agent said "How many bags are you checking?" And I said "Six bags and...a...baby...seat..." I was actually looking at five bags and no baby seat. And Shane didn't have his cell phone on him. Thankfully the suitcase we left in the van was our bathroom stuff and a week's worth of diapers (easy to replace) and the baby seat - we decided to worry about it once we landed in Indianapolis, because really, what can you do?
You can rent a baby seat along with a rental car, but if you don't rent a car, they don't rent the seats. And even if they did, it's not worth the money - just buy a new car seat. Uncle Tim picked us up at the airport and we drove straight to Target, with Ever sitting on the bench seat with a grown-up seat belt across her lap, looking like she was on a giant roller coaster ride. This was after two long flights and a long layover as well. She'd had a long day, but thankfully she does awesomely on airplanes.
Tomoka and I ran inside Target and bought the stuff we were missing while Tim & Sean stayed in the air-conditioned truck with Ever (now asleep) and before long we were finally headed for Bloomington.
Our family took up two whole floors of the hotel. After some unpacking and a lot of meet-and-greeting, we walked over to the Trojan Horse restaurant, which is owned and run by my Dad's friend Denny. Tomoka had her first Greek food there! It was very, very warm in Bloomington that weekend. We walked around quite a bit that night, and I saw other cousins of mine out frolicking, but I never saw Todd.
 |
The
wedding was gorgeous. It was at the Indiana University
auditorium, both the wedding and the reception. The whole wedding
party was beautiful. I saw and spoke to Todd very briefly that day.
I got very
few pictures from that weekend in Bloomington - I'm sorry. After the wedding on Sunday my family made a giant caravan up to Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan (where my family lives) and we hung out at my Dad's and the lakehouse for a few days. After Sean left in the wee hours of the morning, Tomoka and Ever and I headed over to my Mom's and we got to visit with her & Jeff for a few days as well. (And Las Señoritas con muchos margaritas!) I am never there long enough.... |
 |
I planned to go to Seattle with Tomoka and Ever a couple weeks ago, and e-mailed everyone and made all of these plans at these exact times. The border took over an hour, only to make us go inside. From there, Tomoka had to do some stupid paperwork and I was holding Ever, my sunglasses, my passport, my wallet, the diaper bag, etc. We finally got about an hour south and had another maybe 45 minutes to go and stopped in Burlington so Tomoka could check out the outlet mall. It was soon after that, while trying to fill up with gas, that I realized my wallet was gone.
Soon after that I realized my passport wasn't there either.
I left them at the border.
It's not like you can make a phone call to the U.S. border, either.
An hour later we approached the Canadian border, just so I could run inside the U.S. border, but of course everything's under construction, so another 45 minutes go by before I can even get out of my car. Sure enough, my passport and wallet were there.
And by then, it was 4 p.m. We had left at 10:30. And it was hot. And Ever just woke up from a second long nap. So from there, we just crossed the border and went right back home. What an infuriating day. 10:30 - 5:00 driving in the van for no reason. I am still trying to figure out when we can go down to Seattle again. I had no idea it would be so DIFFICULT.
Ever's awake - more later....
|