ahhh, home!!!!

 So Florida for the weekend, what warmth and fun!  

We left here on Thursday morning, all snug in the car with Paul driving us to the airport.  Molly and Kathryn, both married and mamas to young children, Camille, and I...looking forward to a few days away.  As we prepared to go up to security at the airport, we got our boarding passes on our phones, and took out our ID...and oops, Camille hadn't brought any!   I had thought a few different times to remind her, but then never did, and oh dear.  Molly called her husband, he was heading over to my house to pick it up, then would bring it to the airport...it would take just under an hour, if all went well...we were going to be cutting it close.  Molly and Kathryn went up to go through security, and were going to tell them at the gate that we would be coming, as if they would wait a plane for us.  

As we sat there helplessly waiting, I flagged down a nice TSA lady, and asked her about a minor flying within the U.S. with a parent, and no I.D.  She recommended we go on up and ask them, so we did...I have TSA preCheck, so Cam does too, and we were able to go right up and ask someone...it was FINE.  As long as I had my passport and she had a boarding pass, right through we went...we were through before Kathryn and Molly, and when we called over to them, they were shocked to see us...we let Josh know that we appreciated his efforts (he was already at my house), but we didn't need it...ahhh.  stress.

Soon it was time to board, and more stress!  We flew Frontier Airlines, and they are cheap.  Direct flights from here, not expensive, but they get you on the extras:  even a carry-on bag...you can bring a personal item, but it has to be small.  Well, we've flown them before, and not had any issues just each bringing a backpack.  Well, this time they had each and every passenger with a backpack, line up and drop the backpack into a bin...if the passenger even had to use one hand to push it down, the lady sent them over to pay ninety nine dollars.  $99.   Camille's backpack isn't tall, but it was fat, as everything smushed down, so it wouldn't go in, thankfully Molly brought her to the back of the line and put some of the stuff into her own backpack. 

 

It was just a little bit of stress.

(We decided to just go online and pay $64 for an carry on, and bought a duffel bag at Walmart, to put extra things in, so we didn't have to stress on the way home)

Anyway, once we got there, the fun began!  We got to pick out our rental car, chose a Jeep.  We stopped and got some food on the way from the airport, and ahh, got to Grandmas and could relax, what a day.  She was so glad to see us.  

Friday morning...we sat around solving the world's problems and catching up with grandma...it's sad, because she is sharp and smart and capable, but her short term memory is not always there.  She is 93, and does tire out, so around eleven, we headed for the gulf coast, and the white sands of Clearwater beach...the sun was shining, the ocean was warm, the waves were fun...ahhh.

Iced Americanos on the way home, then Chilis for dinner, catching up with Grandma...

Saturday morning:  coffee, and talking with Grandma, and some shopping...the beautiful heated pool...then Starbucks, burgers from Five Guys, the quick trip to Walmart, and back to the pool...ahhh.

We had to stop at Publix!  Molly Rose, me, Camille, Kathryn...

We did take a quick trip up to Culver's for ice cream too...we ate it outside in the beautiful warm weather...and laughing until our stomachs ached...

This fine morning, I had time for two cups of coffee on Grandma's porch, before we packed our stuff and hit the road, for the Orlando airport.   Security was a breeze for Cam and I, with preCheck, it took Kathryn and Molly a good half hour to get through.  Once we were off the tram and close to our gate, with time to spare, the girls got sandwiches.   The rest of the trip was smooth sailing, we watched Alice in Wonderland on the way home, then Paul was there to pick us up...home, ahh home.  

All the stress of travel is worth it, and it's interesting how in the moment, how intense things can be, but later, it's easy to see it's just another trial.  It was a short trip, but so much fun...now, back to reality.