A moment in time...

Oh my, you would not believe the vacation we’ve had so far… I would have written sooner but between feeling so bad and the internet connection nothing has worked out.

To start the trip off we were to leave INDY at 9:05 on Friday be in Houston at 10:27 for our connecting flight to Cabo, connecting flight was to leave at like 11:20? Somewhere around there, our flight out of INDY didn’t leave till almost 10:00 – the plane was late getting in and then once we were on it they said there were mechanical difficulties… the plane was the WORST plan I’ve ever been on. Super small, two on one side and one on the other – so a total of 3 people per row, and they didn’t have us sitting together. Eva, Grace and I were in row 14 while Matt was in row 5 – I think there were only 20 rows on the entire plane – you could barely stand up when you walked down the aisle! Eva was a turd wouldn’t put her seat belt on, had to fight with her the entire flight. It was super hot, both girls cheeks were bright red, Eva had taken off her shoes and socks, and wanted to take her shirt off, and if you saw her – who would have blamed her. Grace, bless her heart was really good, but that’s no surprise! About half way through the “planned” flight I needed the Afrin b/c my head hurt so badly – but it was in row 5 with Matt. About that time we started getting a lot of turbulence, there was no way I could make it up the aisle to ask him… Eva started acting up, and about that time I thought I might get sick. I called for the stewardess – who never came, but Mattie showed up. By that point I’d already gotten sick once, a lady in a single seat behind us traded us seats, she went up to Matt’s seat and I sat solo in her seat. I continued to get sick, but thinking “not much longer till we land” when the stewardess said they were rerouting over Dallas and it would be another HOUR! I thought I might die. All in all I think I went through 4-5 puke bags. It was awful, but Matt was great, taking care of the girls and trying to take care of me.

We landed in Houston at like 12:15, we’d made friends with a gentleman on the plane that was part of Continentals Presidential Club so he got us into the fancy suite, where we learned that yes we’d missed our connecting flight. We’d hoped to get another one out later that day, but apparently our flight was the last one to Cabo for the day. Continental would not give us anything for the delay, claiming it was “weather related” I wanted to argue the mechanical portion but it wasn’t worth it. The PC was really nice, the girls had all the snacks they wanted and they took care of booking our new flight and getting us a room. If we didn’t have their help we would have been stuck in a line of 30+ people trying to get assistance.

So with our room booked – and no luggage, b/c they don’t return it, you get to see it at your final destination… we headed off in a taxi w/ the girls and Jim & Sonya to the Hotel Derek in downtown Houston (Jim figured why stay at the airport when we could make a day of it in Houston). Once at the hotel we had lunch at the restaurant there, very nice – but very fancy. I didn’t see strawberries on the menu but Grace said she wished she had some, so Sonya told the waiter that she’d like a bowl of strawberries. I bet the bowl they brought out was $10+, huge bowl, sliced long ways in slivers, the girls ate the entire thing grinning the whole time! After lunch we rested and cleaned up as much as we could, then headed out to the Galleria w/ Jim & Sonya. Apparently when Jim’s daughter Amy lived in Houston she’d moved there to help open a Nordstrom’s located in the Galleria. The Galleria was AMAZING, like the mall in San Francisco, there wasn’t a store there that was missing! They had ice skating, a jumping machine, a gazillion shops – the girls were in love. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better we passed a Juicy Couture store… which ever since San Fran Grace has wanted to be Juicy! We went in to “look” and the next thing I know Jim is picking out clothes for Grace, and Eva’s in love with a purse and before I could blink both girls are decked in their items walking out of the store grinning! Two matching pink juicy purses and Grace has on a sweater jacket that is black w/ juicy couture in silver sequence and her purse over her shoulder. From there things only got better for them… Sonya didn’t think they should just have their purses, they needed stuff in them! So we went in search of good things – and before the afternoon was over, both girls have Channel lip gloss, sun glasses and toy cell phones.

Once glammed up we hit the big department stores, Macy’s, Sak’s, etc… headed straight to the shoes where Eva started learning early which shoes were the best. We were walking along, Eva was checking out the shoes, nice, nice, nice, then – oh my gosh! The oh my gosh shoes were like Ferigomo’s (who knows!) but they were oh $900? Sonya was proud. Then Eva proceeds to flip off her “sparkle” shoes and is preparing to pop into two of the most expensive display shoes w/ 4” heals! Luckily before we were a house payment in damage I stopped her, whew!

After shopping we had a dinner reservation at 8:00 for a restaurant called TruLux, specializing in seafood (particularly crab). Dinner was amazing, and shockingly the girls were good and stayed awake the entire time. There wasn’t a single thing on the menu they would have eaten but they made chicken fingers and French fries just for them – Jim thought they were so good he said if he’d known he could have eaten that he would have ordered it! I had soup and salad, Matt had shrimp and Sonya and Jim both had crab. So after a great meal we headed back to sleep in our underwear and use the hotels complementary tooth brushes – fun!

The taxi driver who brought us to the hotel picked us up the next morning at 7:30 so we could be at the airport for our 10:15 flight. We didn’t have to check in b/c we had our boarding pass, and no bags, so we just had to go through security and then check in at the gate. We had breakfast at a restaurant at the airport called Ruby’s, it was very nice – a huge step up from McD’s!

This plan was much nicer and we weren’t all together but much closer, we were all in the same aisle we thought matt was on the aisle row but two old people made him move to the window b/c that was his seat. The flight was under booked so Matt moved up and sat one seat in front of Eva. This worked out really well b/c Eva didn’t stay seated much – part of me thought the old couple should have had to suffer for being jerks… having Eva crawl back and forth and Matt get up and down, I couldn’t believe what jerks they were, or I should say how clueless they were…. Errr. This flight was much better, still a flight which I never like, but nothing like the last one!
We got in on time and Dad was there waiting to pick us up, we were able to fit everyone – Jim & Sonya included in the van and 40 minutes later we were at the condo w/ our room ready! After riding w/ dad crammed in the van w/ Mexican drivers I wasn’t feeling so hot, but a shower and a tooth brush later I was feeling better. I was concerned since I’d missed a dose of my antibiotic that I should take it right away – so I did… not sure that was the best thing b/c within 20 minutes I wasn’t feeling good. Matt took the girls to the pool while I laid down pool side. Matt ordered cheese quesadillas for me, which is something I normally really like down here, managed to eat 2 of them over an hour… and around 4:00 was sitting w/ Sonya watching the girls swim when I knew I was going to be sick. I went running up to the room where I got sick, and continued to get sick every 30 minutes till around midnight. Matt was horribly upset, I felt awful, I had diarrhea twice. I felt awful, and Matt was scared it made me scared. He was saying we’re leaving to go home (still not sure if he has made a decision on leaving or not), but it was pretty bad. The only difference from Tuesday evening when I ended up in the hospital was this time I threw up more, but they weren’t right on top of each other, and I didn’t have the awful cramping. Even after I stopped getting sick Saturday night I still never slept, I woke up at least every 30 minutes if not more often. So Sunday, Matt wanted me to stay in the room, but there is NOTHING to do in the room, the tv stations suck, and you can’t read b/c you feel bad, so I begged to go outside w/ them. He agreed as long I stayed in the shade, so I rested, napped, laid in the shade all day long – while Matt played with the girls. Made me feel awful, I so wanted to be with them. Matt would be with Eva and Grace would say watch me swim w/out my jacket! But I couldn’t b/c if she went under I was afraid I couldn’t get her. So even after laying around all day I still felt puny, all I’d eaten was a banana and saltine crackers – sort of afraid I might eat the wrong thing and get sick.

That evening we stayed in and the girls and I went to bed early, we all slept together on the fold out couch. I took Tylenol PM and slept like a log, I so needed it too! And this morning I feel better, not 100% - ready to chase little people up and down the beach but better, which I was starting to agree with Matt that maybe I wouldn’t. Which is great, b/c last night (Sunday night) he’d said he would be checking on flights home for Tuesday, I’m thinking we’ll get to stay but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what he says.

Oh and this morning Grace’s loose tooth fell out!!!