My sister did a great job of documenting how things played out (on her blog) so I'll let her explain how we got there. Here goes:
"On Thursday December 5th at 6:30 pm, 3 of us attempted to get on the flight to Boston through Long Beach, CA with Z and her 4 children. There was only one open seat and we sent Kailee (this would be Try #1=1 of 13 people got on). We were rolled over the flight the next day at 1:30pm. This would mean a long wait at the Long Beach Airport but it would be worth it if we made it.
Try #2
Trying was Z and 4 children and G and I. We didn't make it again. There were two available seats but we just couldn't split up with 5 children, we decided it was better for us to roll over to 6:30 pm again as chances looked pretty good then. We silently hoping that there wouldn't be enough seats so that Z could stay behind and help the others leaving at 11:30 pm. They would have a better chance of getting on the flight otherwise it didn't look good for them. But if she didn't get on then the young children and I wouldn't get on. Well we had no choice and we all got on. YAY! (7 of 13 on this flight). Only 5 left in SLC.
Try #3
This flight was going through NYC to Boston. Those trying included: 4 of us and Jonas. We knew nothing of what was going on since we were flying at the time. We found out when we landed in Boston that only CR made it on the flight which was nothing else than a miracle because they were super low on the list. He was flying alone with no instructions or preparation. I talked to him while he was in NYC and walked him through what to do. And since we had to wait for Derick to come pick us up we would still be at the Boston Airport when he arrived. I was a little nervous for him but he loved going alone and experiencing something new and different. (1 of 13 on this flight. We are now at 9 of 13 in Boston.) The rest were rolled over to Saturday night."
So now the kids and I plus my sister and 3 nieces and nephews were in Boston!
We decided to go shopping and do an impromptu gift exchange. Then we went to Mo's for lunch and some of the kids fell asleep! We were all so jet lagged and tired.
That night we just hung out at Derick and Cat's house while the kids played. My sister and I were basically trying to keep each other awake until a half way decent bedtime. The next morning we woke up to the news that the rest of our group of 13 had made it to Boston, yay!! We went to church where they had a huge smorgasbord instead of the last hour of class (those Bostonian mormons, haha!) and when we got home everyone was there. We did some sight seeing that night.
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| What is better than being together with a bunch of your cousins? So fun! |
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| This is by the Charles River |
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| Faneuil Hall |
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| Hanging out in the van! |
After sight seeing, we headed home for a yummy soup dinner. In the middle of dinner we realized it was time to check in for our flight home the next day so out came all of the laptops and phones!
Then we did our gift exchange. It was so good to be with my family, I love them so much and Derick and Cat took such good care of us.
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| I love how in every pic at least one child is inevitably on a device. |
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| Opening gifts on the chair of cheer! |
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| We got to ride on the NYPD red plane! |
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| Our cute kids at the Logan airport super early! |
We took ALL of the luggage with us so that the Browns would not have to find a place to store it in NY. We met up with everyone around 10:30 am and our first stop was Santaland!
The weather was chilly but really not too bad. It was raining when we arrived but then it stopped for the rest of the day. We walked around and explored. It's a miracle no one got lost. Good thing for the buddy system.
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| gorgeous gals |
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| Beautiful Times Square So colorful and bright |
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| We happened upon a proposal at Rockerfeller Center! |
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| Playing at the Nintendo store |
And our last stop was my beloved Central Park!
Sometimes I feel like I can finally breathe when I am in Central Park.
Even for just a few minutes it made my day (maybe my year :)
At the end of the day we said goodbye to Derick and Brianna and Ellie who rode the bus back to Boston and made the long trek back to the airport. Little did we know the second leg of our adventure was just beginning. Things had changes dramatically for the worse, and not one of us made it on the flight! At that point I was so tired that the thought of getting back on the subway and finding a hotel in Manhattan for $100 was so unappealing, that this is what happened instead:
Sleeping in the airport with all of the kids? Well that was definitely a first. The little kids did great and didn't even seem to mind one bit after waking up to Dunkin' Donuts in the morning!
I'm going to let me sister sum up what happened in the next 24 hours:
"The flight didn't look that great the next day but we did have higher priority. In the morning, it was snowing and the Jet Blue Crew told us that it would be better if we tried to get out on an earlier flight to Las Vegas cause if there were flight delays or cancellations we would not make it on the flight. So we changed all of the reservations and decided to fly into Vegas and then drive home. The flight left at 10:30 so it wouldn't be to hard. Well, the flight was delayed and we were all on the plane, the door closed and they made an announcement that the plane was too heavy and they would have to deboard some standby passengers. Are you serious???
They took off the plane: Jonas and Casey and two of the Brown kids. It was so sad. And we had no time to think. We wanted to trade people but there was no time. We were split again!
Wow! We had expected not to get on but once the door is closed to be kicked off? That was not expected. But what could we do. We flew into Las Vegas. Communicated with the other group. We rented a van, got some food, did some shopping for wipes, diapers, snackes, etc. Dropped the boys of at Thorntons so that they would drive home with the other group because we did not have enough seats and we were on our way at 8:00 pm Mountain Time. The girls kept me awake and I drove the entire way! I don't know how? I've never driven that long especially at that time of the night. Angels were watching over us I know it! After dropping off C in Provo, Z's family in SLC, getting stuck in their driveway, picking up K's car from the Frontrunner station we got to bed at 4:15am!"
What a crazy and eventful way to get home but at least we were all home!
Despite all of the madness, it was worth it for all of the memories made together!
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