Got back from Dallas on Friday about 9. Unloaded, started laundry and on Saturday evening, Amanda, Maddie, Mason and I left for St. Louis. Arrived at the hotel about 9, and were in bed by 10. AT 3 a.m. Sunday morning, the alarm went off and we got ready and boarded a shuttle for the airport and a 6 a.m. flight. I knew as soon as the flight attendant said: "We are ahead of schedule, everyone is on board and we are ready to go" that something would go wrong. Seconds later, the attendant picked up the phone beside us and paged paramedics and a clean up crew. Then she asked the travelers if anyone had any medical background. It seems a gentleman had taken sick and had thrown up. About 40 minutes later, he walked off the plane and we were on our way. Of course, we only had a 42 minute window of time between the plane landing in Atlanta, and boarding a plane for Birmingham (our final destination). We were traveling with 2 car seats, 4 carry on bags, 2 backpacks and a 3 and 5 year old. Off the plane in Atlanta, up the escalator, down a long, long hall, down the elevator, on the train to a different concourse, off the train, down another very long corridor to the gate. Whew, we had minutes to spare. Glance at the teleprompter to discover a 45 minute delay in that flight! I have worked from sunup to sun down before and not been as tired as those few hours made me. We finally load plane # 2 (even later than we were told the delay would be), to find that the 4 of us had been separated into 3 rows. Impossible with a 3 year old and a 5 year old. The wonderful attendant helped us work this out, and we were off for a 30 minute flight (all 4 of us slept the entire flight). Our faithful friend who was picking us up at the airport arrived in time for our original flight, prior to all the delays. Needless to say, she had lots of time to kill. We finally arrive at the hotel, to find our room was not ready, and the staff had not gotten the message that we could get into Josh's room. So we stored our luggage at the front desk, and walked to the nearest diner. After the meal, we set up camp at a patch of grass on the hotel lawn, and waited for our room to be ready. Of course the point of this whole trip was to see Josh, who has been in Alabama working since July 5th. And as luck would have it, his train was delayed due to mechanical difficulty, and he didn't get back to the hotel until 7! As most tales go, this one has a happy ending. The trip was worth all the hassle, headaches and delays. Maddison and Mason gave Josh the biggest hugs ever. He had tears in his eyes as he greeted his family. A nice supper followed, and a good evening was had by all. We get a few days to rest up for the return flight(s) home. We hope to be in St.Louis by 8, and be home before midnight. It might be restful to be back to work and school. These vacations are hard on a gal!!