A January Story

Once upon a time, two crazy parents awoke their three little children at four in the morning to load the van and head to the airport. The young family boarded two planes that day, with a forty minute layover in Chicago, to get to Buffalo, New York. At the Buffalo airport, the children were stir crazy and enjoyed making their mother chase them in both directions holding the newborn while the father worked on getting the rental car. Finally, the middle child was captured and then flirted innocently with the car rental attendant, who bumped the family to gold star members knocking $100 bucks off the car rental. Then the little family drove two more hours to Erie, PA where three smiling faces greeted them through the window as they pulled in at 7pm.

The families visited and played and toured Erie and watched hours of Little Einstein. They visited the Tom Ridge Center (a display of the life along their Presque Isle peninsula), they dined at the Crackerbarrel, Olive Garden, and on Angie's delicious cooking, they stayed up late wasting money on lousy Redboxes, and they celebrated the New Year together (though the hosts fell asleep early).

The kids enjoyed wrestling,

playing with No Bake Cookie play dough,
checking out the Presque Isle peninsula,

having their first New Year Party together (at 7pm),

bonding,
playing store at the children's museum,

playing castle at the children's museum,

face painting,

exploring the museum,

and sledding.


After a week of event-filled days, a close call with denting the piano, late nights and early mornings, Rhett going to work conferences, and Brittney splurging at Charming Charlie's jewelry shop, the family packed up their things, and headed out the door at 7am Erie time, loaded the rented Jeep (another free upgrade), and headed to the Buffalo airport eating white cheddar popcorn for breakfast. They had a three hour layover in DC (where they chased a bird in the airport, rode the airport tram in circles to waste an hour, then ran up and down some deserted ramp to exert all energy before the next flight), had another three hour layover in Denver (What did we do there??? I don't remember. It's all just a blur now.), and finally got home to Spokane at 8pm Spokane time.

The parents were proud of how well their children did during all the travel, and they were so grateful for the kind hospitality they found in Erie. They wondered if their family in Erie had ever experienced such chaos, but they were grateful for the time they got to spend with them. It was a trip never to forget!