Sunday, May 22, 2011

Going South

We've made it back to the grand old state of Washington, but the trip was eventful, as usual! Our bush flight was an hour and a half late picking us up, and then we had a head wind that made an hour's flight last two hours. On the flight, Julia threw up on me several times. With no room to move an elbow, I couldn't do anything but let her throw up. We arrived in Anchorage and Bill the pilot offered to give us a ride to the airport so we didn't have to wait for a taxi. He's got seven kids, and his van (which he converted to run on vegetable oil) was knee deep in the trash of a thousand road trips. He blasted along the roads and got us to the airport in excellent time. At the airport, I had a high stress moment while the employees looked over my documents. Two days ago, I was cleaning out my wallet for the trip when I realized that my driver's license was missing!!! GONE GONE GONE!!!! I have NO memory of using it in Sleetmute, and since our house was totally packed, it wasn't anywhere inside. By sheer incredible luck I had my passport (still with my maiden name), my marriage license showing my name change, my social security card with my new name, and my birth certificate. The customer care woman assured me that these documents would work, but to anticipate that I'd be held up by extra scrutinizing. With all the delays, the extra hours in the schedule were gone, and so I was sweating bullets that we'd miss our flight. Incredibly, there was little scrutinizing, we got through security with no problems, and we made our flight with 20 minutes to spare! I even got to change Julia's diaper and my shirt. We arrived in Seattle at 2 am, and my friend Erin picked us up and took us home for the night. The next day, Grandpa Dave picked us up and took us to Mt Vernon. The day after was my sister Caroline's graduation from Trinity College in Everette. We got to attend the ceremony, meet the new boyfriend Matt, and had a celebratory lunch at Olive Garden. My dad came home with us for the night before getting back on the train to go to my sister Anna's graduation in Minnesota. 

The ice chunks are nearly gone, and boats are out on the water. 

Julia and Kiley were finally getting to be friends. They loved to hang out with the dogs. 

all empty and clean

Saying goodbye to Jane and Gus.

About to board the flight from hell. 

No time for photos along the way, but here we are in Mt Vernon on Friday. 

Sunshine! Green grass! Flowers! Washington feels like sensory overload!

Cows!

Grandpoppa Jack came through town for Caroline's graduation and is leaving for Anna's graduation

Julia picked out Grandpa Dave's hard hat as a favored toy.




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