Monday, August 10, 2009

A Rough Start to a Great Trip

Everything was going almost perfectly, until we landed in Boston...

When I heard that Craig had an upcoming conference in Providence, RI, I begged to go along! Well not really beg, but I pleaded my case that I should go along since this would be the last opportunity for a long time and I LOVE the East Coast... After some hesitation (since he knew he would be tied up for 2 1/2 days and wherever I go Gage goes too of course) Craig agreed, so the plans were made to make a vacation out of it and spend 4 days in Providence, 2 in Plymouth, MA, and 2 in Boston.

We had a very happy camper throughout our first day of travels. We are realizing more and more that when we take Gage out in public we are bound to draw LOTS of attention since he is a very cute and social baby, and his smile makes everyone happy! Even a little unhappy, crying 2 year old boy immediately turned his frown upside down when Gage flashed him his big smile while we were standing in line at our gate in Chicago. The little boy ended up sitting next to us on the plane and we had lots of fun with him through our flight.
Our little "Fly Guy" (see outfit) waiting to board our flight at the Des Moines Airport.

Making his happy "ppppfffff" sounds on the plane before take-off.

People-watching in the Chicago airport.

Although Gage didn't sleep much at all, amazingly he still had lots of smiles and happiness. So did Craig and I...until we landed in Boston and opened up our stroller only to find that the front wheel had been broken off.

The last picture ever of Gage in our beloved stroller. So heart-breaking!

To make a long story short, the airline customer service people were not going to be very easy to deal with. But my hubby isn't either in these circumstances and he held his ground. After an hour of waiting for the supervisor and then making a very good case for ourselves, she finally agreed to giving us future flight vouchers, just to finally get rid of us I am sure! We were able to get a "loaner" unclaimed stroller to get us by in the time being, which frustratingly wasn't very easy either. But we were finally on with our vacation, and little did we know, more disappointments were in store...

I am exhausted again just typing about all the frustrating madness!
So I am going to spare the details and just say that we had issues with our hotel and did not get the room we had reserved. We had another go-around with the employees (mostly spurred by me this time!). For our first night we did get a nice room, but just not a suite, so we had to figure out how to make sure Gage slept well with us all in the same room. He was a champ. Even with a loud party exploding on the street outside our window at 2 in the morning, he didn't even flinch. I, however, was wide awake for 2 hours and could not help but wonder if this is going to be the trip from you-know-where?! Errr! Why did I have to insist on coming??

Well, we are still in the midst of it, but so far it has gotten better. We were able to get a suite for the rest of our time in Providence, and things are going smoothly. Can't wait for Craig to be finished with his conference so we can all have some fun! But in the meantime, Gage is fantastic and I am thankful for the opportunity to be in a beautiful place with my family.

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