so whats everyone doing tonight?

this year was a going to be a white christmas guaranteed of snow up to my knees and cold up to shoulders in bed. well...things change because of this weather i so dream of in alaska. last friday was to be our "set sail" date to anchorage alaska inevitably to wasilla, you know the place sarah palin is from? well, we get to the airport, we sit down to eat in the airport version of on the border called something or another in spanish, and realize our flight has been delayed. most likely due to the weather already taking place in seattle, "no worries," we thought, this will help ensure our meal to be enjoyable, however enjoyable an airport meal can be. i am not gonna lie i was really dreading how peanut was gonna be on this flight. when liz and i have to fly, and dutch has to go with us, we always try to time it out when he will be wide awake for a long leg of the trip. this was to ensure that he can be awake and HAPPY. well we were successful in getting on the plane with this attitude. within a matter of minutes it took a turn for the worst. here in sequence is what had taken place:

original time of departure - 2:15

time we boarded - 3:30

"not so bad" we thought, we were sure we would not make the seattle to anchorage connection anyway.

3:55 - "this is your captain, we ummm...have a low tire so, we are gonna have to put air in it to fill it up to its needed pressure. this will take about 20-30 minutes." "no problem," is what i was thinking. dutch at this point was enamored with his books and under control for the most part.

4:20 - "ummm, this is your captain, again, we ummm...need to replace the whole tire altogether, and this will take about an hour to accomplish." "yikes!" you know when the captain comes on the intercom and everyone, and i mean everyone becomes silent? well this happened just as it should when someone of importance is making an announcement, but at the moment the captain announced the hour delay and there was that brief pause of silence a man spoke very loudly, not shouted mind you, but loudly "jesus christ." it was just loud enough for the entire plane to hear, including the two young fellows who were sitting next to him. i hate that phrase more than anything, but this was humorous in the fact that he looked like a complete nerd. dutch at this point is getting restless and wanting his BED.

5:15 - "this is your captain again...well, there is good news and bad news. the bad news is that my crew and i have been up since 1am and are not authorized to fly this plane, so...the flight has been canceled. the good news is that we are giving everyone on the flight free hotel vouchers for the night and we will resume the flight at 6am in the morning" well, that is just bad news and irrelevant news for us cause we DON'T need a hotel we live here. dutch at this point has been crying his head off for well over an eternity, it seemed like it anyway. everyone on the flight, well, i say everyone only the mothers, are coming by giving us little bits of advice for what they did in this crisis. if i could put in words what i was feeling, i would no longer be considered a christian. i am just that way when it comes to screaming babies, no matter who's it is. 

6:00 - we are at the baggage claim waiting on our luggage. the funny thing is that everyone who is needing a place to stay for the night is in line to get their voucher at the ticket desk and NOT picking their luggage up. so, that means, their bags are all piling up at the carousel and, of course, none of them are ours. if you could have seen this little bitty carousel and these monstrous bags piling up clogging the carousel; clogging it so much that people were climbing up on the belt and pulling the bags onto the carousel. it was pretty funny, and it was funny at this point because peanut had calmed down and was about to fall asleep, otherwise, i would not be laughing.

8:00 - we finally get a hold of an agent to reschedule our flight. i didn't want to be one of "those guys" who yells at the customer care person, cause its not their fault but i needed to get a flight out of dallas. his name was erik and if, for some strange reason, he reads this blog, thanks a mill. 

updated flight times:

monday, december 22 7:30am

this was great cause dutch would have just woken up and he is his best when he first awakes for the day. the day comes, and we wake to the text message on liz's phone that the flight, duhn duhn duhn, has been canceled! blast!!! so, after 4 hours of busy signal on the 1-800 number, which by the way, i have never, ever, ever, heard of a busy signal on the 1-800 number, and 1 hour of being on hold once connection was made, the option was...the morning of december 26th. NO CAN DO! we will be getting a refund, and will be making a very sad phone call to grandma debbie and family that they will not be seeing us for christmas this year. i could expound on the individuals in this whole transition of weather sabotage, but my instincts tell me that even though i am pursuing a counseling degree to read people, my wife is so much more capable of reading personalities than i am. i will leave that to her. so, that leaves me with this question...what's everyone doing tonight? cause i am not doing anything!