December is the holiday season and as such, we kept ourselves busy preparing for our visit with family back East and enjoying the season. We visited Susan's family in Virginia and my family in Ohio.
December 6
On August 5, I started my four month rotation on the CPR team at work. Today was the last day. Woo-hoo! The experience of working through problems with customers was good, but I'm pretty sure it's not something I want to do on a full time basis.
December 10
The CPR team manager gave me a CAP award for my tour of duty on the CPR team. That's nice.
December 13
When I was a kid I loved getting mail. One of my favorite items to get was a new cassette from Columbia House (unless I didn't order one and had to either cough up the money or return it). Now that I'm older, I don't like getting mail as much because more often than not, it's just a bill. Recently, I thought it would be fun to relive a little of the childhood excitement by signing up for the Columbia House DVD club. I placed an order for four DVD's through a friend (so he'd get two freebies; and give me one of them). My DVD's arrived today. Only four more to go.
December 15
To get in the Christmas spirit, Susan likes to attend some type of formal celebration. This year, we went to her church's Christmas Celebration. The performance included singers, dancers, and musicians doing their thing.
December 18
Once again, the time has come to pack our bags and fly home. In the past, we scheduled the first flight of the day. As a result, we had to roll out of bed at 4:00AM to ensure we'd make it to the airport in time for our flight. This year, we decided to catch a later flight. The alarm went off at 6:00AM, signaling the beginning of a long day of travel. We loaded the Honda and drove to Seattle Sea-Tac Airport Parking. We found a nice spot, transferred our bags to the shuttle van, and were whisked to the airport.
We checked in at the American Airlines e-ticket counter and passed through security. What a change they've made here over the past twelve months. Last year, we stood in a line that weaved back and forth in a rat maze, then stretched down a long hallway and half way back to the three or four X-ray machines. This year, there was no long line and there are now sixteen scanning machines!
We found our gate and were informed that the flight was delayed one hour due to weather in the Chicago area. We found a nice spot with a view of the runway activity and waited for our flight to start boarding. The delay soon extended to an hour and a half. Eventually, we boarded the MD-80 around 11:45AM and were on our way. The final thirty minutes of the flight were the most interesting due to the turbulence generated from the thunderstorms in the area. On the ground, the taxiways and aprons were covered in standing water and the wind was driving the rain nearly horizontal. Sure makes you appreciate covered gates.
Once inside, we hurried to our next gate, only to find that our flight was not listed on the board behind the desk. We asked the attendant and she informed us of the gate change to G14. We stopped and had a Chicago-style pizza to kill some time and hunger pains; American Airlines gave us a small sack lunch four hours earlier and it had long since wore off.
After our little snack, we started walking towards G14. As we proceeded down the corridor, the numbers incrementally increased until we realized that we were now adjacent to G16. We stopped and looked at each other questioningly, wondering how we walked past G14 without noticing it. We turned around and walked back the way we had just came and soon found G12. What? Where is G14? We walked around to the back of the desk, yet G14 was nowhere to be found. Susan asked to attendant and she pointed to a stairway across the hall. Sure enough there was a small sign indicating that G14 was down the stairs.
Once again the flight was delayed due to weather. Susan called her friend Gina, who lives in a Chicago suburb. They chatted it up for awhile and I searched for a pair of seats. I sat across from a couple from Seattle who had arrived on an earlier flight than ours, but were still waiting for a flight to Cleveland. Apparently their plane had a mechanical problem. At 8:00PM, they were still waiting when our flight started to board.
We arrived in Richmond around 11:30PM. Susan's parents were waiting for us beyond the security checkpoint. We walked down to the baggage area and waited for the belt to start feeding out luggage. A few minutes went by then the buzzer sounded and the machine sprang to life. Susan thought she saw our suit bag, but a man on the other side of the belt picked it up and walked away. Then three of our bags came down the belt. Eventually, the bags stopped coming and the area was deserted. We were nearly alone with three of our four bags. We found an AA baggage claim agent and described our bag. She collected contact information from us and told us that our bag would be delivered if it showed up. We somberly thought about what was in that bag and how we would replace everything.
December 19
American Airlines called and told us that our bags had arrived - hallelujah. And even better, they would deliver them later today. Alisa in the hospital after car accident.
December 21
Saturday was set aside specifically to be with our nephews, Gabriel and Caleb. Our initial plan was to go to the Science Museum of Richmond and see the Titanic exhibit, but the day dawned bright and beautiful. We decided to save the indoor tasks for a rainy day and instead decided to go to Colonial Williamsburg instead. Colonial Williamsburg is a well preserved fragment of the 19'th century surrounded by modern life. It is the perfect place to get submersed in history, and get some fresh air and sunshine at the same time.
We picked up the boys around 10:30AM and started our adventure. We soon discovered that neither nephew had enough film, and that one of the cameras had a dead battery. A pit stop was in order, so we swung into the nearest Walgreen and bought film, batteries, and some cold drinks for later. Back on the road by 11:00, it was smooth sailing east on I-64 to Williamsburg, Virginia.
We arrived at the visitor's center and parked the car. To be sure we could find the car later, I took a picture of Caleb pointing out our location on a map of the facilities. As we gathered our drinks and backpacks, Caleb noticed that I had a thick book in my backpack and asked me if I was carrying around a Bible. The "Bible" was in fact a book about software security techniques that I brought along to review while on vacation. Caleb couldn't resist the urge to tease me about it the rest of the day.
Inside, we debated the need to buy tickets and decided there was plenty of free things to see. Across the bridge we went and were transported back to the 19th century. We pulled out our map and agreed on a plan. First we'd go to the right, then find something to eat, then head back down Main Street to the other end, then back to the starting point.
Along the way, we stopped for pictures - most of the one's of Caleb were of him doing one silly thing or another. At the courthouse, Susan and Gabe walked in and took a seat. I was left outside with Caleb wondering where they ran off to. We peaked in the window and saw them taking in a presentation. Later, I informed them that they needed tickets for that location - oops!
The boys soon grew tired and sore from all the walking, so we decided to head back to Richmond. The plan was to meet the Pearces downtown to see the lights. We were hungry, so we grabbed some food in Yorktown, then headed west on I-64.
Once in Richmond, we explored the reindeer display and looked at the giant ginger bread house.
December 22
Sunday didn't start off as planned, missed Susan, Fuddruckers, met Gina & Ed at TGIFriday's for lunch.
December 23
With one day remaining before picking up our rental car from Alamo, we decided one last time to see if Enterprise had a Jeep Liberty available. Previously, we had tried the Internet and we tried calling -- both to no avail -- so we thought we might have better luck trying the old-fashioned method; stopping by in person. We pulled in their driveway and were pleased to see a Liberty on the lot. We went inside and Douglas told us that the Liberty was currently available and it had no reservations on it for the next week. We pulled out the plastic and placed a reservation on the spot.
With reservation papers in hand, we pulled out our Alamo reservation information and gladly cancelled our Alamo rental. After several failed attempts, we were very pleased to know that we were going to be driving the vehicle that we had been trying to rent for weeks.
Later that evening, we met Susan's friend, Kathleen, and her adopted daughter, Daphne, for dinner.
December 24
Soon after picking up our Jeep Liberty, I noticed that the interior temperature was still pretty cold. I fiddled with the knobs, but could not make any heat come out of the vents. I waved down Susan and turned around. Back at the rental office, they took a look, but couldn't get the heater to work, either. We knew we would freeze driving to Ohio, so we canceled our rental and rented an Infiniti instead.
As usual, Christmas Eve was held at the Haksch house.
December 25
On Christmas day Susan and I woke up early with great anticipation -- not to see if Santa Claus left us goodies, but to begin our journey to Ohio. Christmas at Patti's.
December 26
Shopping with Mom, in search of picture framer, bought DVD's for us, Mom, Ray, Herb, ate at A&W.
December 27
Went shopping for infusers, deep-fried turkey dinner, bought computer with Patti.
December 28
Pittsburgh picture framer with Mom, Station Square.
December 29
Breakfast with Patti & Kelli at Bob Evans, Church with Susan & Mom, computer speakers with Kelli, visit the Francy's.
December 30
Return to Virginia, late start, visited Carolyn and John (and Brandy) in Morgantown, West Virginia.
December 31
Returned rental car.
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