Flying to Arizona

We knew early on that we would all be departing for AZ and possibly returning from at different times  there were many different options we tried to figure out- driving our car, renting a car, flying-

Price, time and safety wise we chose to fly.

We ended up finding good tickets our of our local Corpus Airport. A good friend from church MaKayala drove and dropped me and the boys off at the airport. We had spent Saturday morning, cleaning, packing and closing up the house for the summer months.

Check in went well and we went through security with a breeze since CRP is a small airport.

We loaded our plane on time, excited to be heading to the same state as Daniel and to have Barbie pick us up in Pheonix.

As soon as we were about ready to close the cabin door, we were delayed from a storm sitting above Houston, our connection. We were blessed to be able to unload and walk around.

In the end we ended up being delayed 3 hours not knowing if we would make our connection.

It was a VERY stressful 3 hours. 

-Should I change flights and fly tomorrow? We would have to reopen the house though.

-Fly on to Houston and A)spend the night in the airport B) possibly have to make it to a hotel and back to Houston Airport.

I went with my gut feeling to keep my tickets as is and at least make it to Houston, where there would be more options. I had packed sandwiches and snacks for dinner because our connection in Houston was so short I knew I wouldn't have time to make it to fast food joint. This was a blessing because the CRP airport only has one sit down restaurant that I didn't want to try with the boys. We ate sandwiches and snacked and were able to run and play because of the airport size with out the boys getting lost. During this time 4-5 other airplanes had landed and grounded because of the Houston storm. We finally re-boarded and were on the first leg of the journey.

Southwest is amazing and the captains had the boys come up front and visit with them. The Flight attendants were very friendly as well.

We landed in Houston and there was a ground lightning storm- which meant they couldn't get my stroller from under the plane. I was so worried this would make me miss the connection for sure. The flight attendants and pilots exited the plane and saw me standing there still waiting. They finally contacted someone brave enough to get my stroller. 

Our connection had not boarded yet!! Hallelujah! We were excited to see our Pilots and flight crew, that were not scheduled to our flight- come to fly our connection to PHX.

When we boarded we again were welcomed by the flight crew, and the front row with all the leg room was still open! We scored. Cinch had drawn the pilot a picture. When the pilot received it he came back out and visited with the boys again. Southwest is awesome!

We took off and it was not a fun ride for the first hour. So much lightning all around, rain and wind. The boys finally zonked out it was almost Midnight TX time. During the flight the Crew kept helping adjust the boys' blankets and head using the air rests. Such a great crew. We FINALLY made it to AZ, about 4 hrs later than planned. It was 1:30 am TX time and I had exhausted troopers that made it to baggage claim, to find Barbie waiting for us. It was relief to see family and to know we were in the same state as Daniel. Last hiccup of the trip was the fact our bags did not make it out of Houston with the airplane. We had the clothes on our back for now.

Chauncey had developed a slight fever and raised itchy skin, which almost took a week to get over.

Our bags were finally found Sunday around noon- but didn't get delivered until afternoon. At first they couldn't find our bags, which was worrisome, they had ALL our summer wardrobe!

They were soaking wet from sitting in Houston when they were delivered but safe and sound.