MCM - the 'extended stay'

So, I kept my review of the marathon focused mostly on the actual "marathon" and not our trip for a reason. our trip ended up being quite the ordeal.  Our original travel plans had us leaving on Friday and returning on Monday late afternoon.  As we watched the forecast of Hurricane Sandy, we became a bit nervous that Monday afternoon would not happen due to weather.  On Saturday we made the call to move our flight up to Monday morning.  Feeling confident in our decision that we'd lose a few hours with my best friend, we'd at least make it home safe and sound.

On Saturday night I actually got to sleep pretty early in the hotel room but woke up once and checked my e-mail while I was awake (I think it was around 9:30/10:00).  I had an e-mail from United Airlines cancelling our Monday morning flight.  It just said our flight was cancelled, not offering us a different flight home.  I tried to call United but ended up on hold for over two hours.  It was after midnight and I had a marathon to run the next day, literally, so we gave up.

Yep, over two hours on hold the night before a marathon - at midnight - Do not try this at home!

Surprisingly I didn't even worry about our flight on Sunday morning or during my race.  By the time I finished my marathon we had an e-mail from United re-booking us on a Tuesday morning flight.  We kept an eye on the forecast with little assurance that Tuesday flights wouldn't be cancelled.  When Tuesday's flight WAS cancelled and again we weren't rebooked we called United and got through.  We had to decide between a Tuesday night flight out of Richmond (2 hour drive) or a chance at a Wednesday morning flight.  We decided to drive away from the storm and booked the Richmond flight.  Then we (and by we - I totally mean I) started calling and calling and calling looking for a rental car.  None.  Zilch.  Nada.  There was not a car to rent in the city.

This was Monday morning 10:55 am - yeah, we weren't going anywhere for a while

At this point I started getting pretty stressed out.  We had no plans for the boys passed Monday afternoon.  Alyssa who had stayed with the boys on Friday night said she could do Monday night but she was due to start another nanny job on Tuesday.  My mom could take all of the boys home with her Monday afternoon but the older two would miss school.  On top of that, Wednesday was Halloween and the boys had class parties and trick or treating.  We ended up sending Ross to Holton with my mom and Alyssa stayed with the older two (and said she could cover Tuesday night as well).

We called United AGAIN and told them we couldn't do the Richmond flight after all and needed to fly out of Dulles as originally planned.  They told us that all Wednesday flight options were now booked and they'd book us on a Thursday option.  I argued with the lady that we HAD to have Wednesday and she offered me a flight through Newark, NJ... ummm - apparently she didn't watch the news in India.  Eventually she found a Tuesday flight option through Charlotte and we took it.

Good thing we brought our Monopoly Deal.. we played several hands.  Here's Russ with the Hockey Ross point

So, we had a plan and a flight that seemed like it wouldn't be cancelled so I did my best to try and relax.  There is not a person in this world that gets me more than my BFF and I was stranded in her house.  Any other time I would pay an INSANE price for this to happen but I just kept worrying about items back home.  I had Ross with Grandma, Reid & Ryan with Alyssa, a neighbor taking our trash out, a neighbor watching the boys in the a.m. so Alyssa could get to work, a neighbor taking Reid to hockey practice, a neighbor looking up phone numbers for me so I could get my Halloween party volunteer items covered, two separate parents covering my volunteer items... it was insane and stressful.

3rd Grade Halloween party - funny story about getting the cheese and crackers tray covered.  I called this random stranger that also signed up for the same thing, asked her to double hers and I'd pay half.  I'm sure I caught her off guard and she thought I was a total loser but I explained my situation and she was super nice.  Then I started looking for her at the party to pay her back and it was a girl that I actually went to college with and knew rather well.. small world!!  They just moved into our elementary school area.

We were STRANDED with nothing better to do - Catherine and I went to the mall on Tuesday. 

Russ wasn't minding the trip at all - Catherine cooked us dinner every night and she's a GOOD cook!!  

But we all survived!!  Russ and I arrived at KCI at 1:05, got our car out of economy parking and drove home.  As soon as we got home I took a quick shower and went to the boys' school.  I made it there by 2:20!!  I saw Ryan in the Halloween parade and then Reid in his classroom.  While I was doing the school parties, Russ met Grandpa Jerry in Lawrence to pick up Ross.