Monday, June 30, 2008

Day 1in OK

An alternate title would be "A series of Unfortunate Events",but that really is only applicable to Day 1.
So....Day 1. We had a crazy busy day on Saturday. TJ had a little baseball game in the morning, and Clint got a flat tire,so I had to follow him to Les Schwab to get it fixed. Then, KJ's little singing group sang at the Syracuse Days celebration. And, I still wasn't packed. We got home,and Clint gave me more or less one hour to get ready and be in the car.

We made it to the airport 3 1/2 hours before my flight was schedule to leave. Why? Well,why not? Because the BLAZE (that's the Utah's own redneck AFL team)went to the playoffs! For those of you who don't own a house on wheels, the AFL is ARENA Football League. My sweet husband, with all his priorities straight, had to take us to the airport early, because the the game started at 2,and he didn't want to miss kick-off. Turns out,since he was helping us...we were slow...you with kids,and all...he missed mthe first six minutes, and the Blaze's first touchdown. Poor Clint.

So, I had ALOT of time to kill at the airport with three little monkeys. So, first we found a restaurant,got dinner (or lunch), and headed toward the terminal, stopped at the potty, and then, as if sent by the Gods, found a little kid's play area. We spent the majority of our time there,until the kids got bored, so we bought some coloring books, went to the gate,and the kids were fantastically patient, coloring, while we waited to board.
They were fantastic on the plane, except, I'm pretty sure we spent most of the flight at the back of the plane waiting for the bathroom. Why can't my kids coordinate their bladders together,for my convenience?
By the way, I have NEVER been on a plane that small. Not even the commuter plane when we island hopped in Hawaii. I got a little nervous to be on such a small plane,but the flight went well,the kids were great and we survived.

We landed, got our luggage, went to get our rental car,and found out that it is NOT at the airport like I'd thought,and had to hitch a shuttle ride to the rental car place. Not too big of a deal. We got the car, grabbed some Arby's for dinner,and then hit the roade for the 2 hour drive to Enid.

I called Kristen to clarify directions,but was so hyped up on caffeine by that point,that I was only half listening. When I only had about 40 miles to go, heading down the highway, chatting on the phone with my hubby (by this time is was close to 10:00 pm,and dark),and saw a sign for Hwy 81, so I turned on a dime, took the off ramp on two wheels, everything flew to the floor,and for a brief moment, I was pretty sure we would roll and were about to meet our doom. But, we survived, and I didn't miss my exit! PHew! Clint and I chatted away for about 30 minutes,until I notice a sign that said I was on Hwy 81 South. South? I was supposed to be going North. I went 30 miles in the wrong direction.

So,I turned around,went 90 to make up for lost time. Can down this little hill into a small town,and saw a sign that said 40 mph. So, I slammed on my brakes, came to a redlight,and stopped. Next thing I noticed there are flashing lights behind me. Then a rap on my window,and this cop tells me to pull into the gas station after the green light.
He says he caught me going 68 in a 45, and that in the fine state of OK, going 20 over the speed limit is considered reckless driving, and that the penalty for this serious crime is a $600 fine, and 30, yeah, THIRTY days in jail. I'm sure the dude could see the panic in my eyes, as I had already explained to him that we were in a rental car,had just flown in that afternoon, and were on our way to visit my sister. So,I said to him, I have three little kids,and my husband isn't with me. He told me that he'd check my driver's license and if my record was clean,then he'd let me off with a warning.
Luckily,I didn't have any tickets on my record.
The guy were really nice about it,but seriously...30 days in jail?
I'm pretty sure he was exaggerating to scare me,but it worked! I went the speed limit the whole rest of the way.

We finally did make it to Kristen's house in one piece. The kids were so excited,it was hard to get them to bed.

Okay,that story was really long, so even though today is day 3,I think I'll stop here for now,and catch you up on the rest later.
(since I am upstairs in the office and all 6 kids are downstairs, and Kris is cutting Tyler's hair and watching all the kids,while I blog)
What an awesome host she is!

More to come...including pictures!

2 comments:

Nick and Stacey said...

Okay so that is crazy! I am glad you arrived safely! And I am glad the plane and everything went well! So many posts I haven't looked forever! I love the one about your sisters! It was fun to see! I remember that olan mills picture on your wall! So cute!

Elisa said...

Holy cow! That made me laugh so hard, I thought I just might choke!

I hope you are having a splendid time! When do you come home?