Tucson?

Time for the annual pilgrimage to visit the Milanas in Phoenix. Just ask Catherine and she could have told you "We go to Arizona in the pink month!" (On our calendar the month happens to be on a pink background.) And ever since we made the plans to come both kids have been asking "When are we going to Meg Meg's house?" The day finally arrived.

After doing the last minute packing I am famous for, we were prepared for an early morning on the road. Got up at 3:30am and were on the road at 4:30. Made the trip through Milwaukee and Chicago uneventfully, thank goodness. After stopping for what we thought was a quick breakfast we got back on the road and realized that we were running late. We wanted to make the airport by 8am and it was already 8:10. Then by the time we got to the check-in desk it was 9 and the lady tagged our luggage as "late arrival" and told us not to expect it if we did get to Phoenix on the 9:25 flight. We went through the security check and made it to the gate but unfortunately all of the standby seats were taken. After a call to Meg we tried to get on another flight that was leaving at 9:40 but had a stopover. Also booked solid. The next flight was at 10:40 but the woman at the gate told us there was no way we were getting on that flight either. Apparently there were an unusually large amount of people that were trying to get to Phoenix. Another call to Meg, and a frantic fit from Catherine later (why are all of the planes leaving us here?), and we found another flight but it was going to Tucson instead of Phoenix. Meg said "Get ON." We were to board the flight at 10:20. The plane was late. Then after we were on the plane they found a leak in the bathroom so someone had to come on board and fix it before we could take off. By the time we finally made it to the runway the kids and parents were crabby. The takeoff was a big hit for Liam and he seemed to enjoy flying until we got above the clouds and he couldn't see anything anymore. Then he started going stir crazy. When I was just about ready to jump off of the plane he fell asleep. Catherine had put on her headphones and immediately nodded off. 3 1/2 hours later we touched down in Tucson delighted to have put that part of the journey behind us.

Meg picked us up and we got to drive for 2 hours through the desert to Phoenix. Note to all: there is nothing exciting between Tucson and Phoenix except for an ostrich farm. Then we got to go to the airport to find our luggage which did indeed make it. Our luggage could get to Phoenix but we could not? Grr. Day 1 down. Liam and Catherine did get to go in the pool. Hooray.