Now for your enjoyment, I will tell you about the last 3 days of our trip. On Sunday (day after Christmas) we had planned on walking around Brooklyn and getting out of the house since we had been cooped up for the last few days. This did not happen. Why? Because I got the stomach flu and was house bound all day. Darren & Ava played with toys for awhile around our apt but then headed over to C&J's to hang out for awhile. Thankfully, by the evening, I was feeling better but by that time it started to snow.
No big deal right? Well it snowed a long time and anyone who read the news that week, saw that NYC had a blizzard with like 10 inches of snow! It was nuts. We woke on Monday (when we had planned on going into Manhattan to FAO Schwarz and other fun things) to a blanket of white. Subways were not running, almost nothing was open, and we were without food. So we hiked over to my sister's house in the cold snow. Ava of course was thrilled. It was really cool but would have been better had we had ski clothes or something and had I not been pregnant. Darren carried Ava most of the way since paths had not been shovelled and the snow was 4 ft deep in some places.
The street out front
On our way to Cort & Jack's...the big mounds are cars.
Ghost town...cars were just abandoned in the middle of the street...so weird!
Anyways we made it to their house and were determined at some point to get out (cabin fever had set in!). On the walk back home, we found a pizza place open and ate there. Flights on Sun & Mon had been cxled and the airport was opening up Mon night so we figured our flight (on Tues) would still be on (it was!) but we weren't sure how we were going to get to the airport. On Tues, we found a local car service and he told us that he could pick us up at an intersection 2 blocks from where we staying.
So we hiked the 2 block in the snow (still deep) with all our luggage, Ava & the car seat. Thankfully the man we had rented the apt from helped us with our luggage otherwise it would have been really bad. We waited for 30 minutes in 27 degree weather (keep in mind we don't own really warm winter clothes) for our driver to get to us. I was cold and tired but Ava, of course, was having the time of her life, throwing snow balls ans playing. Ah to be 3 again!! The driver lived a block or 2 away but navigating the snow covered streets took time but at last he arrived! We got to the airport & made our flight. End of story? Not quite!
30 minutes before we landed in Houston (on our final descent), we woke Ava up and she starting complaining about her back hurting. At the time, I was also not feeling well as the ride had been a bit bumpy and 6 months pregnant & bumpy do not mesh well. Darren decided to hold her for a bit. All of a sudden Ava throws up all over herself and Darren. We had no barf bags on our side of the plane and any time I got within smelling distance of the 2 of them, I gagged. Luckily a nice lady across the aisle helped Darren out. A nice flight attendant helped too but sadly they only had 1 trash bag on board and very few paper towels since catering never arrived before our flight left NYC (they took a vote to see if we wanted to be delayed or just go..never thought that would bite us in the butt). I'm not sure how Darren managed all that and did not get sick, but he did. The hero of the day!
Anyways, we stripped Ava down to her undies (and no we did not have extra clothes packed in our carry-ons) and they gave us an airline blanket to wrap her in. D tried to clean himself up with paper towels and wipes that someone on board lent us. We get to Houston and we decide that Darren will carry (blanket-wrapped) Ava & I will manage the carryons. I make it half off the plane before I realize I left her bag of vomity clothes in our seat so I had to wait for most of the plane to deboard before I could go back to retrieve them.
Then we head to baggage claim and halfway there I realize I am not going to make it. Pregnancy had worn me out and I still felt nauseous so we stopped to get a cart for our baggage. Much better. Darren said he was getting lots of looks. He thought it was the throw up on his pants. I think it's because he was carrying a little homeless naked girl in a blanket through the airport. It was quite a sight! We get to baggage claim and Ava & I sit while Darren gets the bags. We then rearranged all our stuff on the cart before heading out to find D's parents. Both Darren & Ava put on dirty clothes (in D's case, pajamas) once we were in the car (hey better than throw upy ones). I felt sick the entire 1 hr drive back to D's parents' house and proceeded to throw up when we got there. End of story? Again, no!
Ava's bedtime comes and we are getting ready to put her down. That's when we notice her pink princess carry on luggage is no where to be found. And guess what? It contains all her lovies, her favorite blanket, a few new toys, her jacket and her pillow pet. I am beyond upset at this point. Too much for one day. Thankfully, I have a wonderful father-in-law and husband who decided that after calling the airport and nothing turning up, that they would drive 2 hrs round trip to see if the suitcase was still there. And guess what? 5 hrs later, it was sitting in a chair in baggage claim right where we had left it (was it me or Darren, we will never know since that was just a really hectic time). So happy to have recovered that bag!!!
Really this story could have been worse if we had been one of the 86 people who were on standby for our flight...at least we made it back. Maybe not in one piece but we all recovered from our travelling illnesses!
Not sure if anyone will read this far, but if you have, you might be laughing now. I am now that some time has passed. It really is quite the story and it's one Christmas I will never forget!
