Snow Family Reunion 2015: Travel Edition

Andrew finished writing his thesis at 3:00am on Friday morning. He sent it off to his committee at 8:30am and then we finished packing and cleaning. We left for the airport at 1:30pm and made great time, despite the rain. When we parked our car at the economy lot a torrential downpour started with the biggest drops I have ever seen. In running 15 feet from our car to the shuttle we were all soaked through, as if we had taken a shower with our clothes on.

After boarding the plane on time, we sat on the tarmac for close to two hours while the mechanics tried to diagnose and fix a mechanical problem. It was then decided to move us back to the terminal so everyone would be more comfortable.

Two hours later they canceled our flight.  Because we lived outside of a 50 mile range we were given the option to stay in a hotel in case they did get the plane fixed to fly out the next day.  Emily was in good spirits and had adoring admirers everywhere she went. She stood up at the window shouting “wa-nee-nee, wa-nee-nee” over and over again for a long time while Andrew found and booked a hotel for us.

Andrew’s telling of the night in a family email: “We decided driving to the hotel that yesterday was one of the most laid back travel days we’d had. Thankfully we had low expectations (in a good way, like going with the flow) and weren’t as upset as some people at the airline but they didn’t provide much confidence in the process. It was pretty crummy service. We were doing ok until last night, which was rough. Emily didn’t go to sleep. For the first time ever she slept in bed with us because she was so upset and scared. After going to bed super late (4 hours past bedtime), she woke up at 2:30 am and wouldn’t go back to sleep even after repeatedly singing “I love to see the temple” (562 times) and walking around with her. Eventually we turned on Cailloo and she watched it in between us on the bed so we could sleep. I woke up a little later, not sure when, and she was passed out on top of the iPad. We’re going to make it to St. George today and my family will be awarding us some prizes. We’re going to be really really low on diapers so mom, bring some to the airport. Those aren’t the prizes, just to clarify. Happy birthday to me.”

We had a slow morning, getting breakfast at the hotel, running to walmart to pick up a few more food provisions, and filling up the car with gas before heading back to the airport for our 2pm flight. Andrew made Emily a little pillow bed for her and her baby while we were waiting to head out. We were filling incredibly grateful that we chose to pay for airport parking instead of taking a shuttle or having someone drop us off.

When we finally arrived in Las Vegas 24 hours later than planned, we were met by Sam, Hannah, Mindy, and Kimby who made the two hour drive to pick us up. We grabbed dinner (and they grabbed lunch) at Wendy’s before we drove to Grandpa Snows condo.

Emily was done traveling and for awhile the only way we could get her stop was by having her take pictures of herself. Then it was by singing “the babies on the bus go waa, waa waa” over and over. And then of course I Love to See the Temple.

Andrew and I were also done with our 24 hours of travel and took pretend happy pictures with Emily.

We arrived a little after 7pm MST and were met with a party of Jackson’s and Spencers (Andrew’s aunt, uncle, and cousins). We put our extremely tired Emily to bed soon after and then talked for a couple of hours before heading to bed ourselves.